WRs can get hurt. A lot. Especially in a pass oriented offense like ours.
Consider our plight at WR at the end of the season.
We had Zeed still out.
Pena was banged up and playing anyway (ribs).
JRS was still playing with a bad hamstring,
Hatcher was out. Appeared to have suffered a major leg injury. Believe he did it playing special teams. Did we ever hear what his status is now?
Gill was our only WR in our regular rotation who was fully healthy. Almost had to use true frosh (Hornsby and Ross), who I assume were mostly playing scout team this year, just to have extra bodies to give guys a rest.
With the scholarship limit expanding to 105, adding an extra WR is a good idea. It would be much better to have an experienced guy who is good in the locker room and totally buys into DART available than having to bring in kids who don't really understand the playbook and what it takes to be a P4 level WR yet.
If Long was on the roster this season, he would have played in the UM game for sure. Probably a bunch of others as well.
There are 20 more scholarships in play. It is smart to address depth across the board with this to try and ensure we can field a solid team in November.