Former Don Bosco Prep Captain Matt Hennessy Wants to Be a Giant

With the Giants potentially needing a long-term answer at center, former Don Bosco Prep star Matt Hennessy would love a chance to earn that spot.

During his college career, Temple center Matt Hennessy was one of a select number of football players chosen to bare a privilege traditionally reserved for the program's toughest players: the right to wear a single-digit number in practice. 

Hennessy swore No. 3, a number he also bore on his helmet during games. Now as one of the draft's top center prospects, Hennessy longs for the chance to bring that tri-state area toughness to his childhood team. It's a toughness that was bred a mere 30 minutes away from Metlife Stadium, 

“It’d be incredible,” Hennessy said at the NFL Combine about potentially being selected by the Giants in next month's draft. “I grew up a huge Giants fan. Season tickets--I went to every game, probably like through 2010."

Hennessy, a Bardonia, New York native, attended Don Bosco Prep in Ramsey, New Jersey, one of the nation's most prestigious high school football programs. Under former Don Bosco head coach Greg Toal, Hennessy was a two-way starter on the offensive and defensive line.

As a senior captain in 2015, Hennessy helped lead the Ironmen to the non-public Group IV New Jersey state title. He then went on to an esteemed career down the New Jersey Turnpike at Temple, especially his senior year in which he was named a Midseason First Team All-American by Pro Football Focus, before suffering an injury in Week 8.

Hennessy, whose older brother Thomas is a long snapper with the Jets, witnessed the inconsistent play of the Giants offensive line throughout the years. If given the opportunity to compete for a spot, the Giants, in Matt, would be getting a highly intelligent athlete and a young international leader.

In May 2018, Hennessy joined several of his Temple teammates on a week-long trip to Japan, hosted by Temple University Japan and the Dome Corporation, which is Under Armour’s Japanese distributor.

There, the players led clinics at Hosei University, the University of Tokyo and Kansai University to teach Japanese collegiate athletes the fundamentals of football.

In addition to that excursion, the post-season awards for his athleticism and leadership racked up. While earning Midseason First Team All-American from Pro Football Focus, Hennessy was also named Midseason Second Team All-American by the Associated Press and was named to the Rimington Award and Wuerffel Trophy Watch Lists.

One of Hennessy's biggest honors though, came in 2018 when he was named the American Athletic Conference Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

“When he got that award, we were all super proud of him, and he was like, ‘Thanks very much,’ and after that, it was over and he was on to the next thing,” his mother, Andrea Hennessy, told The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Hennessy excelled through college at an accelerated pace, only needing three years of credits to graduate with a finance degree in the spring of 2019. According to Hennessy, it's an academic standard set by his father and reflected by his brother Thomas, who earned his undergraduate degree in biology and a master’s degree in business from Duke.

Thomas, who has been with the Jets since 2017 and who signed a contract extension with them in October 2019, believes his younger brother has what it takes to be successful in the NFL

“Not only does [Matt] perform so well in academics and football, but Matt treats everybody in an elite way,” Thomas Hennessy told The Philadelphia Inquirer. "[Matt] loves football and wants to be the best and is so disciplined in working in football and in the classroom ... He is the hardest worker."

Giants general manager Dave Gettleman has made it known that he prioritizes character among potential draft picks and that when he took over in 2017, his goals included restoring the Giants' culture and improving the offensive line.

Selecting Hennessy could fulfill both.