One of the top offensive linemen in the transfer portal committed to the Michigan State football team Saturday.
All it took was a little visit to Breslin Center.
Just two days after visiting East Lansing, former Montana State offensive tackle Conner Moore committed to Michigan State. The 6-foot-5, 310-pound rising redshirt junior announced his decision via social media.
Moore just finished a run to the Football Championship Subdivision national championship game, where he and Montana State fell to powerhouse North Dakota State.
Moore earned FCS second team All-American honors last season.
Michigan State has extensively targeted both sides of the line in the transfer portal, having already picked up commitments from center Luka Vincic (Oregon State), guard Matt Gulbin (Wake Forest) and tackle Caleb Carter (Western Carolina).
But Moore might be the most important pickup yet. Across 904 offensive snaps with Montana State, he stood out as a threat in the run game while also making a difference in pass protection.
Pro Football Focus, a football analytics company that grades players on a scale of 0 to 100, gave Moore an overall grade of 76.7, which ranked 59th among all offensive tackles in both subdivisions of Division I football. Moore stood out with a 77.1 grade in run blocking, which ranked 39th in the country.
While those ratings come from film against lower level competition than what he will face in the Big Ten, he was one of the top offensive linemen left in the transfer portal.
To put these figures into context, Michigan State left tackle Ramil Stanton ranked 482nd with an overall grade of 55.4.
Run blocking, he rated 57.9.
Right tackle Ashton Lepo checked in at 45.3 and 51.4, respectively.
The help is much needed for the Spartans, whose line struggled to make a difference in both the running and passing game. Michigan State picked up an average of 115.3 yards rushing, which ranked in the bottom 25 of the Football Bowl Subdivision. Thirty times last season, quarterback Aidan Chiles found himself sacked, and that number should’ve been higher had the sophomore not frequently escaped the pocket to avoid danger.
Moore should be an upgrade to improve those figures, as are the three other linemen Michigan State already picked up.
It’s clear that Michigan State knew how much Moore could bring to the team next season, as shown by Moore’s recruiting visit. As the Michigan State men’s basketball team ran Washington off the court in an 88-54 blowout, Moore took in the game with head coach Jonathan Smith and offensive line coach Jim Michalczik. And whatever pitch the two coaches laid out was clearly convincing enough to earn Moore’s pledge.
Moore is the 15th transfer to join the Spartans since the portal opened on Dec. 9.
Michigan State’s transfer additions include: offensive linemen Luka Vincic (Oregon State), Caleb Carter (Western Carolina), Matt Gulbin (Wake Forest) and Conner Moore (Montana State); wide receivers Evan Boyd (Central Michigan), Chrishon McCray (Kent State), Omari Kelly (Middle Tennessee) and Rodney Bullard (Valdosta State); running back Elijah Tau-Tolliver (Sacramento State); defensive tackle Grady Kelly (Florida State); defensive backs NiJhay Burt (Eastern Illinois), Joshua Eaton (Texas State) and Malcolm Bell (Connecticut); and edge rushers/outside linebackers David Santiago (Air Force), Anelu Lafaele (Wisconsin) and Aisea Moa (Brigham Young).