Rien Vartan Long is an American football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 defensive tackle who is currently a free agent

Free agent

In professional sports, a free agent is a player whose contract with a team has expired and who is thus eligible to sign with another club or franchise....

. He was drafted by the Tennessee Titans

Tennessee Titans

The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. They are members of the South Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Previously known as the Houston Oilers, the team began play in 1960 as a charter...

 in the fourth round of the 2003 NFL Draft

2003 NFL Draft

The 2003 NFL Draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. The draft is known officially as the "NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting" and has been conducted annually since 1936. The draft was held April 26–27, 2003 at the Theatre at...

. He played college football

College football

College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...

 at Washington State

Washington State Cougars football

The Washington State Cougars football team is the intercollegiate football team of Washington State University. The team is a member of the Pacific-12 Conference...

.

College career

While playing for Washington State University

Washington State University

Washington State University is a public research university based in Pullman, Washington, in the Palouse region of the Pacific Northwest. Founded in 1890, WSU is the state's original and largest land-grant university...

, he won the 2002 Outland Trophy

Outland Trophy

The Outland Trophy is awarded to the best United States college football interior lineman by the Football Writers Association of America. It is named after John H. Outland. One of only a few players ever to be named All-America at two positions, Outland garnered consensus All-America honors in...

 as that year's best college football

College football

College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...

 interior lineman and was named an All-American as a junior.

Tennessee Titans

The Titans drafted him in the fourth round in 2003, and he started five of 39 games through his first three seasons with 9½ career sacks and 99 career tackles. He missed the 2006 season with a torn Achilles' tendon, then was placed on injured reserve for 2007 with a knee injury before being waived.

Florida Tuskers

Long was drafted by the Florida Tuskers on the UFL Premiere Season Draft

UFL Premiere Season Draft

The UFL "Premiere" Season Draft was the inaugural draft of the United Football League. The results of the draft were announced via press release on June 19, 2009....

 in 2009 and signed with the team on September 3. He was released on September 22.

Personal

He is the brother of Devan Long. He is of one-fourth Armenian

Armenians

Armenian people or Armenians are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.The largest concentration is in Armenia having a nearly-homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian....

 descent and cherishes his heritage greatly. He has a tattoo of the seventh letter of the Armenian alphabet

Armenian alphabet

The Armenian alphabet is an alphabet that has been used to write the Armenian language since the year 405 or 406. It was devised by Saint Mesrop Mashtots, an Armenian linguist and ecclesiastical leader, and contained originally 36 letters. Two more letters, օ and ֆ, were added in the Middle Ages...

 (Է) over the Armenian flag on his biceps. Rien Long's trip to Armenia

Armenia

Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...

 and Nagorno-Karabakh

Nagorno-Karabakh

Nagorno-Karabakh is a landlocked region in the South Caucasus, lying between Lower Karabakh and Zangezur and covering the southeastern range of the Lesser Caucasus mountains...

 in March 2006 was the subject of a feature-length documentary, "The Long Journey from the NFL to Armenia" (www.globalistfilms.com).

Just before midnight on January 21, 2008, Long crashed his 2005 Ford Mustang

Ford Mustang

The Ford Mustang is an automobile manufactured by the Ford Motor Company. It was initially based on the second generation North American Ford Falcon, a compact car. Introduced early on April 17, 1964, as a "1964½" model, the 1965 Mustang was the automaker's most successful launch since the Model A...

into a rockwall while driving too fast on an I-40 on-ramp near downtown Nashville. Long was taken to Vanderbilt University Medical Center where he was in critical condition. On January 23, doctors upgraded Long's condition from critical to stable.