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Princeton University Athletics
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TigerTime: 5 Questions/Feature Story On Matt Boyer
October 01, 2010 | Football
(story taken from the Sept. 25 Princeton Athletic News)
They were 10 weeks that would help determine his future. They were 10 weeks he prepared for, then worked tirelessly during, and they were 10 weeks that proved worthwhile in the end.
And although an Ivy League football season is also 10 weeks, he never put on a helmet or shoulder pads this time. Sure, his competitive juices kicked in, but they never did so after he got his ankles taped.
Senior defensive lineman Matt Boyer is used to the physical contact on the football field; he has been banging heads with offensive linemen since his freshman season. But during a 10-week internship with CitiGroup this past summer, he dealt far more with the social contacts.
“It was a great experience,” Boyer said. “It's a great place. I loved the culture there. I loved the competitive feel on the trading floor. I think it really suits my personality and the personality of athletes in general.”
In an era when jobs aren't easy to come by, especially for recent graduates, Boyer entered his summer internship with a pretty basic understanding of what was at stake.
“First-year workers are analysts, and most of those jobs come from summer internships,” he said. “My internship was a summer analyst program. Basically, once you're there, it is your job to get or your job to lose.”
Through long days, which began at 6:30 a.m., and serious social networking, Boyer ended up on the right side of the job fence. He was offered a position, accepted it and signed a contract. He credits much of his success in the internship to lessons gained on the gridiron.
“When I was interviewing, they want to know why you're qualified, they want to know what you get from being a student-athlete at Prince-ton, especially playing football with all the long hours we put in,” said Boyer. “The intangibles you get from that are exactly what you need to be successful in almost any industry, especially this one, because the hours are long and it's such a competitive environment.”
If Boyer can thrive in another competitive environment, it would go a long way for the Princeton football team. While the summer 10-week journey was the first for one area of his life, this current 10-week journey is a punctuation mark for another. One of the most highly touted Tiger recruits in the Class of 2011 is wrapping up his football life.
Boyer was an all-state lineman at Governor Livingston in North Jersey, where he set a school record with 22 sacks as a senior. He turned more than a few heads in the recruiting process and received offers from the likes of Rutgers, Wake Forest and Northwestern. In fact, he was close to choosing the latter, a rising power in the Big Ten, before taking a trip to Princeton.
“I was really happy with my previous visit to Northwestern, but I knew immediately after a visit to Princeton,” he said. “The biggest thing, as I got further in the recruiting process, I wanted to find the best balance between the best athletics I could find and the best academic institution. You realize that football is a fleeting experience. If you're good enough to play professionally, I feel strongly that you can do it from anywhere, especially from an Ivy League school.”
Like any newcomer, Boyer was hoping he could contribute more than he ultimately would as a freshman, but he didn't allow all of his scholarship offers to give him a sense of entitlement. He knew he'd have to earn his time, and while he did break into the defensive line rotation, he spent that opening season adjusting his speed and technique to the college game.
By his sophomore year, he was a steady contributor. He had 17 tackles, including four for losses; he more than doubled that total last season and added five pass breakups. He had nine tackles in a victory over Cornell and went on to earn All-Ivy League honorable mention.
But there is no pressure quite like preparing for your final season, and even his CitiGroup internship wasn't going to keep him from the workout room. And if he needed additional motivation, there were guys willing to provide it.
“My first week, I worked a few desks away from (former starting quarterback) Matt Verbit '05,” he said. “Those guys wanted to make sure we were keeping up with our workouts. They weren't asking about the job. They wanted to know about the workouts.”
Having experienced their own senior seasons, the football alumni at CitiGroup were ready to push Boyer in the offseason. They didn't need to; a trio of 4-6 seasons and a coaching change was more than enough for the leader of the defensive line.
Former All-Ivy center Bob Surace '90 was introduced as the head coach following the 2009 season, and he brought in a staff that included Jared Backus, the new defensive coordinator. Backus introduced a new 4-3 system, which will need Boyer to be an effective force in the middle of the front. For his part, Boyer sees an opportunity to leave a major mark on this historic program.
“It's a great feeling,” he said. “We definitely feel, as seniors, that we have a responsibility to set the new staff, the new program in the right direction. There's nothing I want more than to set this off right, set a new tradition and get things off right for the younger guys and the teams to come.”
And while all that may be true, future Princeton teams are not his most immediate concern. Since winning an Ivy League title in 2006, the Tigers have yet to produce a winning season. Boyer has experienced three losing records, and he's uninterested in a fourth.
“We owe it to ourselves and we owe it to the University,” Boyer said. “We feel we're capable of doing so much more.”
The Ivy League season may be a week away, but Boyer is looking to start a dominant defensive effort tonight. The loss of linebacker Steven Cody puts even greater pressure on Boyer to produce both as a player and as a leader.
After last summer, he's more than ready.