Michigan State has received a big commitment from former Montana State offensive tackle Conner Moore out of the transfer portal, providing help to the Spartans’ offensive line.
The Millbury, Ohio native will have two years of eligibility remaining and was listed at 6-foot-5 and 310 pounds at Montana State this past season.
Moore recently told Spartans Illustrated that he grew up as a Michigan State fan, with East Lansing being just about a two-hour drive from his hometown. He attended the MSU men's basketball game against Washington on Jan. 10. He continued his visit to MSU on Jan. 11. The Spartans rolled out the red carpet for Moore while on the visits.
He also visited Cincinnati and was coveted by other schools, including Auburn, but ultimately chose the Spartans. Moore also canceled a visit to Ohio State shortly before committing to Michigan State.
Moore is coming off a fantastic season with the Bobcats, receiving first-team All-Big Sky honors, along with being named a second-team All-American by the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA). He started 15 out of 16 games on the campaign.
Montana State ended its season with a 15-1 record, defeating FBS New Mexico and only falling to North Dakota State in the FCS national title game.
In total, Moore played a whopping 904 offensive snaps this past season, with an additional 28 on special teams, according to Pro Football Focus.
The redshirt sophomore exclusively played left guard during Montana State’s first three games of 2024 before only playing left tackle the rest of the way. PFF gave Moore a total offensive grade of 76.7, along with a 77.1 run-blocking grade and a 69.7 mark for pass-blocking.
Additionally, Moore only allowed 11 total pressures and one sack in 356 pass-blocking snaps. There was a stretch during the season where he only allowed one pressure across 10 games. He did get penalized four times, but that is still a lower number than each of Michigan State’s returning starting tackles, Stanton Ramil and Ashton Lepo, who each drew six penalties in 2024.
Montana State also has a very recent history of turning its offensive linemen into starters at the Power Four level. This past season, Bobcat transfers Rush Reimer and Omar Aigbedion played at Cal and Baylor, respectively. Reimer played in 12 total games and started 10 of them. Aigbedion started all 13 of Baylor's contests and had an overall PFF grade of 74.1.
Buffing up the offensive line this offseason has been a big focus for head coach Jonathan Smith and offensive line/run game coordinator Jim Michalczik in order to improve Michigan State’s run game in 2025, while also putting an emphasis on protecting quarterback Aidan Chiles.
Through the transfer portal, MSU has added center Matt Gulbin from Wake Forest, and guards Luka Vincic from Oregon State and Caleb Carter out of Western Carolina to the interior of its offensive line.
Moore is the first tackle to be added to Michalczik’s unit from the transfer portal this cycle, and it was a priority position in which the Spartans needed to add a player with the potential to start at heading into the 2025 campaign.
Moore joins a Michigan State tackles group in 2025 that could also include Lepo, Ramil, Rakeem Johnson, Andrew Dennis, Rustin Young, Charlton Luniewski, Mercer Luniewski, true freshman Justin Bell and others.
Overall, Michigan State has now added 16 total players in the winter transfer portal cycle. Moore also marks the ninth player to join offensive coordinator Brian Lindgren’s offense.
To keep up with all of the Michigan State transfer portal activity, please view the Spartans Illustrated transfer portal tracker.
