Star quarterback A.J. Long has left Pius X

http://blogs.mcall.com/groller/ FROM KEITH GROLLER Record-breaking quarterback A.J. Long, who has thrown for 6,547 yards and 73 touchdowns in just two seasons at Pius X, has left the school. Pius X coach Phil Stambaugh, contacted at about 5:30 early Monday night, said he has had no contact with his prized pupil all day. Long's mother, Angela, who lives in Tennessee, reportedly showed up at the Roseto school this morning and withdrew Long from the school where he has flourished as a football player in the past two seasons and was expected to re-write the record book with two seasons still to go. "I have tried to reach out to A.J. and his mom, but I haven't been able to do," Stambaugh said. "I have exchanged text messages with his father, Asar, and he didn't know this was going to happen either. I really don't know what's going on. I am as much in the dark as anybody." Stambaugh said this situation has absolutely nothing to do with the rumors that were rampant late last fall that Long was going to transfer to another area program, perhaps a school in a higher classification. Stambaugh, in conjunction with A.J.'s father Asar Long, strongly refuted those rumors in January and insisted that A.J. was staying at Pius X. Stambaugh said that this situation is not related to any of those false rumors. "This happened out of the blue," Stambaugh said. "I was the one who told [Asar Long] this morning that this happened. I had no idea he was being disenrolled." The timing couldn't be worse. "We have finals in two weeks and I don't know how this is going to affect his sophomore standing or anything else," Stambaugh said. "All I can tell you is that schools [colleges] are coming in left and right to talk about A.J. and when they come in and he's not there, I don't know how that's going to affect the process. It can't be a good thing that he's not there. "He's a good student, right under a 3.0 GPA. I don't know what the underlying issue was. This wasn't something that was discussed. It wasn't like he came to me and said he might be leaving at the end of the year. Nothing like that. "I don't know this means for his future. I don't want to speculate about a family issue. I honestly don't know." In leading the Royals to a 12-2 record, the District 11 Class A title and the state quarterfinals last fall, Long threw for 3,700 yards and 46 touchdowns. He also ran for 931 yards and 18 touchdowns. According to a blog post on ESPN.com he has already received an offer from UCLA and has been invited to camps by Syracuse and Penn State.