ESM alum drafted by the Colts

Matt Goncalves, Manorville native and Eastport-South Manor 2019 alumnus who played ball at University of Pittsburgh has now reached the highest level of the football world.

On the evening of April 26, Matt Goncalves was drafted by the Indianapolis Colts in the 3^rd round. The University of Pittsburgh Offensive Tackle was the 15^th pick of the 3^rd round and was selected 79^th overall after the Colts traded 3 picks up with the Arizona Cardinals where Indianapolis prior had the 82^nd overall pick to select the Manorville native.

 The burly O-Lineman Goncalves is 6’6”, 327 pounds and made 24 starts in 38 games with the Pittsburgh Panthers in 4 seasons from 2020-2023. Goncalves recently received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Pittsburgh in Administration of Justice.

He was a team captain for Pittsburgh in 2023 but played in only 3 games due to a season ending injury. In his collegiate career Matt played Left Tackle where he participated in 697 snaps in 11 starts on the offensive side of the ball and Right Tackle where the captain partook in 973 snaps (13 starts).

In 4 seasons of NCAA football Goncalves only made 4 penalties, did not allow one sack in 2022 and 2023 and in his collegiate career allowed just 3 sacks in 900 passing block snaps. In 2022 his Pro Football Focus pass block grade was 76.2 and it was 77.3 the following year.

At the NFL Combine in March, Goncalves impressed averaging 5.20 on the 40-yard dash, 2.99 on the 20-yard split, and 1.79 on the 10-yard split. The ESM grad has a wingspan of 81¼” and an arm length of 33¼”. 

After redshirting in 2019, in 2020 the Football Writers Association of America named Matt the honor of Freshman All-American. In 2022 he was selected to the All-ACC on the 3^rd team and was a member of the All-ACC Academic Football team.

In 2023 the ESM alumnus was named Preseason All-ACC Offensive Tackle and received the invite to play at the East-West Shrine Bowl.

Training camp begins in July and Matt Goncalves is both eager and delighted to suit up and wear the Blue and White for the Colts this fall as he will use his O-Line skills to protect Quarterback Anthony Richardson and block for All Pro Running Back Jonathan Taylor.

There was a total of 6 native Long Islanders going to the NFL, 3 that were chosen in the 2024 NFL Draft.

The others both are Running Backs: Dylan Laube from Westhampton who was selected by the Las Vegas Raiders and Jawhar Jordan who was drafted by the Houston Texans whose hometown is Farmingdale. 3 other Long Islanders were signed as undrafted free agents.

Tight End Messiah Swinson a Bayshore native who attended LI Lutheran HS in Brookville was signed by the Green Bay Packers, Wide Receiver JJ Laap from Ward Melville signed with the Los Angeles Rams, and Running Back Chris Collier Lawrence HS alumnus signed with the Baltimore Ravens.