Long redshirted for the Iowa Hawkeyes in 1981. However, the redshirting rule was new, so Long was only able to take a couple of snaps during his redshirt season. The current redshirt rule (2018) allows a player to participate in up to four games during his/her redshirt season and retain a year of eligibility. While Long played very sparingly in 1981, he did run a couple of plays at the very end of the 1982 Rose Bowl; because of this, he later became the only College Football Player to ever play in five bowl games.