Before former Montana State offensive tackle Conner Moore entered the transfer portal, his name was pretty much unknown in East Lansing, Michigan. The former zero-star recruit from Millbury, Ohio didn’t even really want to play football for much of his high school days.

“My high school recruiting (process) was pretty crazy,” Moore said on Thursday. “Growing up, I wanted to play baseball, and I wanted to play baseball until I was like halfway through my junior year of high school, and then I ended up going to, like — I think I went to, like, two camps. I went to one at Wayne State, and then, I can't remember, I think I went to one at Miami-Ohio, and that was pretty much it. I wasn't a big camper or anything like that.”

Eventually, Moore found his way across the country to Montana State, one of the top programs at the FCS level. After redshirting in 2022, Moore grabbed a starting spot the following year and didn't let it go, starting all 28 of the Bobcats’ games over the last two seasons. His efforts culminated in being named an Associated Press second-team FCS All-American and a first-team all-conference player last season, helping lead Montana State to the national championship game.

With that combined team and individual success — Moore allowed just one sack and 11 pressures all season in 2024, according to Pro Football Focus — came the possibility for him to make a jump in competition, not just from FCS to FBS, but all the way to the Big Ten.

“I kind of knew toward the end of year there was going to be something I was going to do,” Moore said about his thought process toward the end of last season at Montana State. “I entered the portal. I thought I had the talent to move up to the next level. After our season ended, I mean, it was a long season — we ended January 6, I think was the national championship game. I think I entered the day after that (and) had a couple teams reach out.”

Moore was interested in several different teams from several different conferences. The 6-foot-5, 309-pound redshirt junior who had two years of eligibility remaining showed interest in returning to his home state. He visited Cincinnati and also was planning a visit with Ohio State, which was en route to a national title while recruiting him. Moore said he was also planning to head south and visit Auburn, as well.That was before he visited Michigan State, however.

Moore showed up on MSU's campus on Jan. 9 and saw the Spartan men’s basketball team dismantle Washington, 88-54. In the tunnel of the Breslin Center, Moore had the kitchen sink and then some thrown at him, getting surrounded and having a conversation with head coach Jonathan Smith, athletic director Alan Haller and university president Kevin Guskiewicz.

“That was pretty cool,” Moore said about his visit. “I think my plane had landed late, so I got to the game right at, like, halftime and I had no clue I was going to meet all those guys. So it was pretty cool. I got to walk on the court. I got to go shake hands with all those guys. I thought it was pretty cool, for sure.”

He even had one of the famed Melting Moments ice cream-and-cookie sandwiches.

Michigan State also included former left guard Luke Newman in the process. Newman also transferred into the program from an FCS team (Holy Cross). He ended up being MSU’s second-highest graded offensive lineman by PFF and didn’t allow a sack all season. That’s led to Newman having a shot at being selected in the upcoming 2025 NFL Draft.

“He (Newman) actually reached out to me when I came on my visit here, just giving me some pointers and stuff to look out for the Big Ten level,” Moore said. “But yeah, they brought it up to me, too, just showing me some of his film and stuff like that on my visits. It was good.”

After Moore’s transfer portal visit to East Lansing concluded, he ended up canceling his upcoming visits to Ohio State and Auburn and committed to join the Spartans — the team he grew up rooting for — on Jan. 11.

“I grew up a Michigan State fan, so that was, I guess, a huge thing for me,” Moore said. “I thought it was really cool to be able to come play for my dream school growing up. I also really like Coach M (offensive line coach/run game coordinator Jim Michalczik). I like the culture they’re building in the O-line room. I thought it was pretty similar to the things that I'm used to at my old school. I thought that was the main reason why I wanted to come here.”

But how did Moore end up becoming an MSU fan? His family raised him to root for the Buckeyes and his hometown of Millbury is located about 20 minutes southeast of Toledo.

“When I was younger, I did grow up an Ohio State fan — my whole household is an Ohio State family,” Moore said when discussing how he became a fan of the Green and White. “But then randomly on, like, one of the old NCAA (Football video) games, I just started using Michigan State and I started to like them. And then in 2013, they won the Big Ten championship, they won the Rose Bowl, and I don't know, I just changed and I became a fan of them ever since."

Michigan State had some wins over Ohio State during the Mark Dantonio era that stood out to Moore while he was growing up.

“It was definitely pretty awesome to talk smack with my friends and stuff like that, because I feel like Michigan State's not a team a lot of people like in Ohio,” Moore said about MSU’s success against the Buckeyes at the beginning of his fandom. “I feel like they're all Ohio State or Michigan fans. So I thought it would be pretty cool to be able to root for a different team.”