Matt Peart

Early life

Peart was born in Kingston, Jamaica and his family immigrated to the United States when he was four years old, settling in The Bronx, New York. Peart played basketball and participated in the Oliver Scholars Program, which prepares students from underserved communities for top independent schools. Peart earned a scholarship to attend The Governor's Academy in Byfield, Massachusetts. Despite never having played the sport before, Peart became an offensive and defensive lineman for the school's football team and helped the Governors to four straight Independent School League championships. Rated a two-star recruit, Peart committed to play college football at the University of Connecticut.

College career

Peart redshirted his true freshman season at UConn. He was named the Huskies' starting left tackle during spring practice after redshirting started all 12 of the team's games at that position during his redshirt freshman and sophomore seasons before moving to right tackle before his redshirt junior season. Peart again started all 12 of UConn's games as during his redshirt junior season. In his final season, Peart was named first-team All-American Athletic Conference. Peart started all 48 games during his four seasons of eligibility.