After a baptism under fire during his freshman year at Rutgers, senior Jules Heningburg is reaching his peak in the college lacrosse world at just the right time for the Scarlet Knights.
Heningburg has 57 points for an 8-3 Rutgers squad that will play at defending national champion Maryland in a nationally-televised game on Sunday night. His play has him working his way into the discussion for the Tewaaraton Award. It’s quire an achievement for a player that didn’t attract much attention from top-tier Division I programs coming out of Seton Hall Prep (N.J.).
But if you ask him, it’s no surprise he’s found himself in this position. He knew he had what it took to be one of the top players in the nation.
“With the opportunity on the offensive end with the pieces around me, it’s allowed me to flourish,” he said. “I believe in myself and my teammates believe in me. If I play my game and I do what I know I can do, I think I’m one of the best players, if not the best player in the country.”
Those are bold words coming from Heningburg, an all-around player that has taken on multiple roles within the Rutgers program through his four seasons. But it comes as no surprise given his upbringing in the lacrosse hotbed of Maplewood, N.J.
The fifth-youngest of six siblings — two of which were adopted when he was in fourth grade — Heningburg has taken on plenty of roles in his family unit. The grandson of civil rights activist Gus Heningburg, and the son of Gus Heningburg Jr., who works as a technical producer in the entertainment industry, Jules Heningburg has the confidence and the dedication to working with others that have made him one of the top leaders in the game, and one that’s not afraid to take on any challenge.
“Why is Jules such a solid teammate and player?” Gus Heningburg Jr. said. “Why does he understand his role even when his role changes within the confines of a single game? Because he’s No. 5 of six. Each day, his role changed. Each day he had to navigate the nuances of older siblings.”
Heningburg doesn’t shy away from the attention of being a Tewaaraton candidate, but he’s more focused on his team’s goals this year. For a program that has had a recent resurgence thanks to his senior class, which includes Christian Mazzone and Michael Rexrode, Heningburg believes there’s no ceiling for its potential.
“This is the most confident the program has ever been, in terms of what we believe we can do,” Heningburg. “We put the most work in and we made the most sacrifices. If we execute —Big Ten championship, beating Maryland and a national championship — are all things we can accomplish.”
“As a whole, the senior class has been outstanding with their leadership and their drive and the purposeful will to change the program and put their stamp on it,” coach Brian Brecht said. “Individually, as a player, Jules has been the lead guy.”
But he didn’t start that way. Heningburg grew up in a household with three older brothers — Dylan, Matt and Chris — and two younger sisters, Chiara and Adrian. And with the Heningburg family being ultra-competitive, he learned at an early age he’d have to step up.
Whether it was in lacrosse, basketball or another activity, Heningburg was paired with and against his brothers. No one wanted to lose.
“Scrabble can be a contact sport in this house,” Gus Heningburg Jr. joked.
Gus Heningburg Jr. credits his son’s toughness to growing up in the family of eight.
“You can’t be No. 5 in the six and be soft because I dropped 20 pounds of chicken on the table and get my hands out of the way and let these dudes go,” Gus Heningburg Jr. said.
“He exaggerates a little bit,” Jules Heningburg said. “It was a [mess], but it was fun.”
With older brothers playing lacrosse, Jules joined Maplewood Lacrosse Club and often played against players years older than himself. But he had great mentors in former Columbia High School greats (and his father’s former classmates) like Steve Ramos, who helped coach him.
Heningburg’s competitive fire was evident early on, like when he his Maplewood team was down two goals and he told Ramos “‘Hey, Coach. Give me the rock. I’m going to put up six and we’re going to win this game. That’s it.’” He followed up on his promise.
Playing in Maplewood for years, Heningburg wanted to etch his name in Columbia High School along with legends like former Bobby Bianchi, whose No. 7 he stills wears today in honor of the former Star-Ledger's New Jersey Player of the Century.
After starting out at Columbia, he chose to transfer to Seton Hall Prep (N.J.) to finish out his high school career. He was starting to garner interest from Division I schools, but most low-to-mid-tier programs. He dreamed of playing for North Carolina, but the slots for his 2014 senior class filled quickly — as it did with many historic programs.
“I was pretty devastated when I saw that all the spots were filling up,” he said. “It definitely effected me. But Coach Brecht really believed in me and saw something in me that maybe other coaches didn’t see or they just had other kids.”
Brecht had seen Heningburg playing for Leading Edge, his club team, between his sophomore and junior years of high school and thought he fit in nicely for his program. Heningburg, the US Lacrosse All-American, decided on the Scarlet Knights, who play home games less than an hour’s drive down the Garden State Parkway from his home.
Heningburg credits his transfer to Seton Hall Prep with making him ready for the rigors of the college, and Brecht put him to the test immediately. In a season in which Rutgers struggled to a 5-10 record, he started every game at attack and scored 21 goals.
“Where we were as a program, having him in for all 60 minutes in all the situations — in transition and man-up and 6-on-6, we needed him on the attack for 60 minutes,” Brecht said. “It was baptism under fire a bit during his freshman year, but he’s only gotten better each year since then.”
Despite earning his playing time on the field, Heningburg wasn't sure he wanted to stay at Rutgers after that first year, but he gave it another shot. He began to blossom as a player that could play attack or midfield, who could ride with the best of them. His toughness and competitive spirit impressed Brecht from the start. By his sophomore year, he was a Big Ten All-First Team selection playing alongside another star in Adam Charalambides. He also found somewhat of a mentor in All-American Scott Bieda.
“He was a big guy for the leadership of the program. He molded my view of how to do things,” he said of Bieda. “That passion and that voice has been passed down to me from other guys. We really just believed we were going to define our experience and not let anyone else do that.”
With Charalambides on the roster, Heningburg shined in 2016. But Charambides went down with an ACL injury before the 2017 season, forcing the new leader of the offense to step back into an all-around role.
Heningburg became a mentor to freshman Kieran Mullins last season, and Tommy Coyne and Ryan Gallagher this year. He regularly invites teammates to his place to watch game film. He’s a call away to help his teammates the same way Bieda did with him.
But this season he's come with a different goal — attack more than ever before. He’s become a focal point of the offense, putting up a handful of highlight reel goals, like the one against Michigan that hit SportsCenter’s Top 10.
“This year, with all the new guys and those that came on to help, I really feel like I could be the player that I thought I could have been last year,” he said. “The way things have evolved this year, I’m definitely more assertive and that’s because I’m given the chance to be more assertive and the freedom to do things.”
With that freedom, Heningburg is becoming one of the more recognizable faces in lacrosse. But the job isn’t done and he knows it. He wants to avenge a triple-overtime loss to Maryland in 2017 this Sunday. He wants an NCAA tournament berth. He wants a national championship. And the unheralded recruit out of Maplewood with a chip on his shoulder will continue working to get them.