Talk to St. John’s Prep football coach Jim O’Leary about his former star Jonathan Goff, and what comes across is Goff’s unselfishness about playing.”In his junior year, he was a quarterback, and in his senior year, he was a quarterback coming in,” O’Leary said on Sunday, the day the New York Giants made Goff a fifth-round pick (165th overall) in the National Football League draft. “He never said a word. He had a great year.”Goff is from Stoneham, but he is listed as a Lynner on the Vanderbilt website (his mother, Gwendolyn Tyre, is a former Lynner). He has enjoyed subsequent success at Vanderbilt, where he played linebacker for the Commodores and, for the past two seasons, served as a captain before graduating in December with a degree in mechanical engineering. Now he has a chance to play for the team that ended the New England Patriots’ dreams of invincibility in Super Bowl XLII.”I know,” said Tyre, who was celebrating her son’s accomplishments with Jonathan and other family members on draft day. “Well, you know, Jonathan’s mindset was that he just wanted to play.”She added, “We’ve always been New England fans. I guess that’s going to change.””(Giants coach Tom) Coughlin’s one of those guys who wants to see people working hard,” O’Leary said. “That’s not going to be a problem at all.”Goff compiled a diverse portfolio at the Prep, where he played football, basketball, and track. He also sang in the choir, which gave him a chance to travel to Europe. He graduated in 2003.”Clearly, he was a wonderful athlete, but he was a better person,” O’Leary said. “He was one of our finest kids, a gentleman. He was very quiet, but a leader in his own way.”In his junior and senior seasons, Goff played on teams that went undefeated in the regular season. His fellow Eagles included Nick Borseti, who later played college football at Notre Dame; Matt Antonelli, who would get selected 16th by the San Diego Padres in the major-league baseball draft and is currently playing in the Padres’ Triple-A system; Jonathan Loyte, who attended Vanderbilt with Goff before transferring to BC; and John McCarthy, who would get drafted by the National Hockey League before deciding to play at BU, where he has served as a captain.”It was an exceptional group,” O’Leary said.In Goff’s last two years in Danvers, Everett played the role that the Giants would assume against the Patriots in the Super Bowl. The Crimson Tide foiled the Eagles in the playoffs in Goff’s junior year and in the Super Bowl a year later. O’Leary called the latter matchup one of the best games in Super Bowl history.”I had the opportunity to play at St. John’s, which is one of the best programs around, athletically, for high schools,” Goff said. “The Catholic Conference is a competitive conference, too.”O’Leary said that Goff’s selfless play provided opportunities for teammates as well as for himself. His switch to tailback as a senior allowed John McCarthy to play quarterback. McCarthy is currently a hockey captain at BU.”We were able to get another athlete on the field,” O’Leary said. “When the coach asked you to do something, I think there’s always a reluctance for some kids, which is not bad – they always have some views about what (their playing path) should be. They’re not going to say, ‘No,’ but they won’t be happy. Jonathan would be anything you asked him to be, and he’d still be happy.”Asked what was the source of his selflessness, Goff said, “It’s just from growing up, how I was raised.””What my parents used to tell me and my siblings was, ‘Idle hands are the work of the devil,'” said Tyre, a juvenile court judge who guest-lectures at a law course at St. John’s. “When I was growing up, I was always very busy. When my children were growing up, they were always busy. Whether it’s Boy Scouts, debate, football, Boys and Girls Club, I think you ought to stay busy.”I always encourage young people to engage in extracurricular activities. It’s not important what activity it is. Engage in somethi