Prep alum Goff’s career could take Giant step

Things are looking promising for Jonathan Goff, a St. John’s Prep graduate now heading into his third season with the New York Giants.Goff, a fifth-round selection in 2008 and a former Lynn resident, is penciled in as the Giants’ starting middle linebacker, said Jim O’Leary, his former coach at St. John’s. The Giants’ camp begins a week from Saturday.”He played a lot at the end of last year,” O’Leary said. “As long as he stays healthy, I think he’ll be in good shape.”Antonio Pierce, the starting middle linebacker in 2009, sustained a serious neck injury that kept him out of part of last season ? and perhaps his career.Goff’s competition includes Gerris Wilkinson, a 2006 third-round pick out of Georgia Tech, and Philip Dillard, who was drafted out of Nebraska in the fourth round this year.O’Leary said that Goff possesses a good combination of mental and physical skills for the position.”(Goff’s) got a degree in mechanical engineering,” O’Leary said. “He’s bright. There isn’t anything he’d be mentally unable to pick up.” He also praised his physical skills – “He’s six-three-and-a-half, 245 pounds, and has great feet.”O’Leary has not seen Goff play for the Giants yet (“only on TV,” he said), but for several nights this week, Goff was at The Prep’s conditioning program. Fellow Prep alum Brian St. Pierre, a former quarterback for BC, the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Arizona Cardinals who is currently an unsigned free agent, has also stopped by the program.”It’s always open to them,” O’Leary said. “They’re just regular guys who played for us. They’re great with the kids.”