USA TODAY analyzes the offensive linemen available in the April 26-27 NFL draft. Also in this article: Teams in need and the cream of the crop among offensive linemen.
Michigan left tackle Jake Long survived a 2004 trial by fire no NFL pass rush can rival.
The Miami Dolphins could very well select the two-time Big Ten offensive lineman of the year as their first overall pick in the April 26-27 draft, but Long has another reason to feel blessed to be invited to New York City's Radio City Music Hall.
During the biggest day of his life, Long can reflect on what was almost the last.
Want to know how he handles pressure?
The way Long fought through the early morning fire that gutted the house leased by 10 Michigan players provides a strong hint. To look at the 6-7, 313-pound drive-blocker now, there is no sign of the surreal ordeal four years ago that left Long in intensive care fighting for his life.
Long jumped out a second-floor window only to face greater peril.
"When they sucked all that smoke residue out of his lungs, I realized if the EMTs hadn't insisted on taking him to the hospital, Jake might have died," former Michigan coach Lloyd Carr says. "He fought the biggest battle of his young life."
The son of a Lapeer, Mich., foundry worker grew up an hour from Ann Arbor dreaming of following Michigan's esteemed offensive line lineage. He couldn't have imagined the nightmare he'd have to tackle first.
"I was in shock and didn't want to go to the hospital," Long says. "I told everybody I was fine. But I couldn't breathe very well. I was coughing and puking.
"The doctors told me they had to knock me out to put a tube down my throat. When I woke up they told me I had been out three days while they sucked the soot and black phlegm out."
Had Long not been so big and strong, he might have succumbed to smoke inhalation.
"When I got to the hospital, Jake was in bad shape, his whole body filled with black tar," his dad, John, says. "They had him on a respirator."
It was a chilling wake-up call.
"I woke up from the fire alarm and the smoke was up in my room," Long says. "I tried going out my bedroom door, down the staircase. But the fire was right outside."
Long dove out his window onto a cot propped atop a friend's Bronco.
"I got over there about 3 o'clock in the morning and we watched that house almost burn to the ground," Carr says. "Jake was on a gurney. His biggest complaint was, 'Coach, I don't want to go to the hospital.' There was an ambulance waiting and the attendant said, 'Coach, we need to take him to make sure he's OK.'
"I went home, back to bed. I got a call the next morning. They said, 'Jake is literally fighting for his life."'
He was back practicing in three weeks.
Says Long: "I told coach Carr, 'This won't slow me down. Football almost got taken away from me. It showed how you're one play, one incident away from losing everything."'
Should the Dolphins pass, the St. Louis Rams would be tempted to use the second pick on a mauling drive blocker who can play left or right tackle.
Carr will never forget that Long, who allowed just one sack last season and two for his 40-game Michigan starting career, called teammates aside and rallied them after season-opening losses to Appalachian State and Oregon ruined the national championship bid Long returned for.
"Nobody could have blamed Jake if he had decided a year ago to leave," Carr says. "He would have been at least a mid-first round pick. I coached 30 years in the Big Ten Conference. There's always a lot of discussion about, 'Who's the greatest football player you ever saw at Michigan?'
"Jake Long belongs in that discussion."
