From Autzen to the small screen – Devan Long’s journey to star on CBS’s Ghosts

A former star Ducks football player and one of the stars of CBS’s comedy Ghosts, Devan Long’s journey from Autzen Stadium to the small screen has been fraught with catastrophic curves and unforeseen opportunities.

A standout player from Anacortes, WA, Long, BS ’05 (political science), arrived at the UO in 2001 on a full-ride football scholarship as a defensive end. It was an exciting time for Ducks football. Under the leadership of Coach Mike Bellotti, the team had been ranked #2 in the nation.

Long’s personal stats at the UO were impressive. In addition to being selected to the all-conference team multiple years, Long still ranks fourth all-time for sacks at the UO. Squarely on track for a successful career playing professional football, he was picked up by the Carolina Panthers, but injury during training camp cut his dreams short before he ever got to play.

“Essentially, I lost my identity,” he said. “The Devan Long that I had come to know identified as this football player; had a number after my name that was just taken. The rug was pulled out from under me. I was lost for a while.”

Feeling adrift and without purpose, he kicked around for a few years, working odd jobs here and there, and wound up living at the beach in Southern California. Like many new LA transplants, Long tried his hand at screenwriting.

“I loved comedy, and I loved movies, so I started writing some feature scripts for comedies. I figured I was good at football because I liked it. I liked writing comedy; I’ll be good at this too . . . and that was not the case. I submitted some stuff, and they were like, ‘that’s great, congratulations for writing a script but also, this is not good.’”

Flat broke, a friend suggested he audition for television commercials, which turned out to be great advice. It was fun and the exposure led to other acting opportunities, including being hired to play Viking ghost Thorfinn on the CBS series Ghosts. Slipping into the Viking persona was a near seamless transition for the beefy, more than six-feet tall former lineman.

“When this character popped up, I was like, ‘oh my god, I know this guy.’ I knew his kind of voice. I didn’t even think twice,” Long said. “Sometimes you have to do a lot of work on certain characters, but this character was so easy. It was a Cinderella shoe for me.”

Thorfinn, the oldest ghost—he died around 1007 after being hit by lightning—loves cod, likes reality TV, hates the Danes, and has a bit of a crush on Flower (played by Sheila Carrasco), a hippie spirit who was mauled by a bear during a concert in the 1960s.


The hit series (on CBS Thursdays and streamed on Paramount+) follows the story of Samantha and Jay, who move into a centuries old manor with plans to turn it into a bed and breakfast. However, the current ghost inhabitants, each of whom died on the property across time, have other plans. To scare the new tenants away, they accidentally send Samantha tumbling down the stairs. However, after being revived at the hospital, she can suddenly see the ghosts. Although they are reluctant to trust her, they quickly discover that there are perks to being seen by the living, including enjoying modern marvels such as movies, television, and the internet, as well as friendship and a connection with the world of the living.

Possibly foreshadowing his future incarnation as a TV ghost, Long had a real supernatural experience while attending the UO. His first year out of the residence halls, he lived with five other guys, including teammates Adam Snyder, BS ’04 (public relations), and Scott Vossmeyer, BS ’05 (public relations), in a rented house off campus that was rumored to be haunted. Strange things started happening, like the faucets and dishwasher turning on by themselves.

“The first week I was there I had this experience in my bedroom. I was trying to get some rest and I remember hearing a weird sound outside in the backyard that sounded like a cocktail party was going on. There were a bunch of people laughing and talking and I was like, ‘what is going on?’”

He thought it was weird but laid back in bed. Five minutes later, the radio turned on by itself, and the song that was playing was Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’”! Eventually, he dozed off again but awoke to sleep paralysis, a terrifying sensation of feeling conscious but unable to move.

“I panicked for two seconds that felt like two minutes. Then finally when my body reactivated, I ran into one of my roommate’s bedrooms screaming. I ended up sleeping on his floor that night,” he said. “Long story short, we all ended up moving out of the house within like a month.”

Several years later, he was at an alumni function with Snyder and Joey Harrington, BS ’01 (business administration), and conversation turned to the haunted house they lived in. “Joey was like, ‘wait where did you guys live?’ Adam told him and he said, ‘dude we lived on the same block!’ He said they would hear footsteps running up their stairs. Obviously, nothing crazy, nothing terrible happened, but I kind of believe something was going on there.”

Although he hasn’t returned to Oregon for a game recently because of conflicts with his shooting schedule, Long keeps up with Ducks football. “I love the program and what they’ve done. I love that every year Oregon’s in the mix,” he said. “I’m so proud to have been part of it and to see how far they’ve come. Anytime I see anyone wearing an Oregon hat or shirt I look at them and yell GO DUCKS!”

When he’s not shooting, he loves hanging out with his family, surfing with his stepson, and cooking. “Honestly, one of my main hobbies is going to the grocery store and getting a lot of food and cooking. I love cooking all the time for my family.”

While acting may seem light years away from football, whether it’s on a set or in Autzen Stadium, both require teamwork.

“With acting and football, you have to learn the playbook. You’ve got to learn the offense—we practice, we rehearse, and they call action; and you’re playing the game—the ball snaps, and you’ve got to throw it all out there and see what happens. Sometimes you make a play. Sometimes you drop your line. Sometimes it’s a good scene, and sometimes it’s a bad play, but at the end of the day if you have more good scenes, more good plays, you have a good team and maybe your team makes the playoffs or doesn’t get cancelled,” Long says.

“It’s all about doing your job, relying on others, and having fun.”

– By Sharleen Nelson, BS '06 (journalism: magazine, news/editorial)