Syracuse head coach Scott Shafer said AJ Long’s most recent concussion — the one that eventually forced him to be medically disqualified — happened during a contact portion of practice. They spent the past few days waiting to hear back from the medical staff, and reached the decision to end his career on Tuesday.

“It just breaks your heart when any player can’t play the game anymore,” Shafer said on the Atlantic Coast Conference coaches’ teleconference Wednesday morning.

Shafer refused to address how a quarterback — usually protected in practice — could sustain multiple concussions. But he said he was proud of the QB, who stepped up in 2014 when then-starter Terrel Hunt suffered a season-ending injury in the fifth game. Shafer also said that Long had been dealing with a lingering hand injury most of the season after suffering a broken bone in his right hand during the offseason.

Long had not appeared in any games this season, despite two of the starting quarterbacks suffering injuries. Shafer said at the time that Long was having trouble throwing the way he was capable of throwing.

“The concussion was in practice,” Shafer said. “It was a normal practice … that’s probably why we were most concerned. Because it wasn’t a real big hit at all. That was real concerning too to all of us.”