Editor’s Note: In mid-May, Montana State announced the addition of 11 preferred walk-ons to its roster when fall camp opens in August. This is the fifth of a series of profiles about each of the late additions to the Bobcats. This story originally ran in January. Floden was the first of the 11 walk-ons to commit to MSU.
The state of Montana proved to be a pleasant surprise to Connor Floden. The El Dorado Hills, California native took a summer trip through Missoula and Bozeman for individual camps at Montana and Montana State. He forged a solid relationship with MSU offensive line coach Jason Eck. Floden felt Montana State was the right fit even if the Bobcats didn’t have a scholarship to offer.
Then a harsh reality of college football blindsided Floden. Following Rob Ash’s firing on November 23 Eck was not retained. Floden was close to pledging his verbal commitment to join Montana State as a prefered walk-on center but the swift change left him in state of uncertainty.
Oak Ridge center Connor Floden
“It was really rough because I thought I had made my decision, wanted to go to Montana State and nothing else was coming through and I was supposed to talk to Coach Eck on the phone on Tuesday night before Thanksgiving break and Monday morning, Coach Ash got fired,” Floden said. “I really didn’t know what was going to happen or what I was going to do. My dad told me to quit being a baby. I was being a little wuss about it.”
Floden bucked up and contacted new Montana State offensive line coach Brian Armstrong through a national recruiting service. He connected with Armstrong and expressed his interest in the Bobcats. Armstrong reciprocated.
“The confidence he talks with about the program and the coaching staff they are putting together up there is awesome,” Floden said. “What I like that he’s talked about is the coaching staff, putting together a lot of experience together. And I think he really likes to work with his players individually and get to know them better. He was one of the best NAIA coaches around (at Rocky Mountain College in Billings) and that’s why. That’s what I look for in a coach because when I’m out of state and away from my parents, my coach is going to be like my second family.”
Floden first heard from Montana State early in 2015. Eck reached out and invited Floden to MSU’s Junior Day in March. Floden attended the spring ball practice. He stopped in Missoula and checked out the University of Montana on his way to Bozeman.
Floden also had interest from UC Davis and Northern Colorado and a preferred walk-on offer from Southern Utah. But he felt most at home at Montana State from his time spent in Bozeman in 2015. When new head coach Jeff Choate and Armstrong told Floden his preferred walk-on offer still stood, the Oak Ridge High School senior offensive lineman jumped at the chance to continue his football career.
“When I went out there, it was a beautiful area, which I wasn’t expecting and it caught me off guard how much I liked the area as well as the football atmosphere,” Floden said. “They average 19,000 fans a game and that’s something I would love to be playing in front of. I went to two games and the experience I had, the crowd reacts to the players and they love the way they ball out. One player puts his arms up and the entire stadium is on its feet making noise. The amount of respect I have for the community, just walking around I was asked if I was a player, a commit and they all respected me and showed me love. I loved the area.”
The 6-foot-2, 275-pound Floden says he can bench press 350 pounds, squat 500 pounds and run a 40-yard dash as fast as 5.14 seconds. At a regional combine, he ran a 5.52 in the 40 and notched a 28-inch vertical at 255 pounds.
His recruiting profile reads: “Examples of my dedication include: happily training fifty-one weeks a year, being the youngest person in my high school to ever make the 1,000 pound club – and holding the schools weight lifting records, while also studying the mental part of the game as much as working on the physical aspect.”
He earned first-team All-Sierra Foothill League honors during Oak Ridge’s 10-3 season that ended in the semifinals of the San Joaquin sectional for the California Division I playoffs.
Oak Ridge center Connor Floden
“My high school program has really prepared me well, especially this past season,” Floden said. “We switched to a spread offense, made things a little more complex. I was able to learn another aspect of the game and now I’ve played through a couple of different offenses, a Power-I, a Wing T and some spread. It’s really expanded my knowledge of the game. In this area, we play a lot of really great competition. I went up against an Alabama commit, a Boise State commit, a University of Washington commit. We play great competition and a lot of guys I’ve gone up against help me prepare to play at the next level.”
Floden has a keen interest in strength training, stating his dream job would be as a strength and conditioning coach for a college football team. He will major in exercise science at MSU. On the field, the all-league guard will transition to center. He started the first few games of the season at Oak Ridge at center because the team’s starting center was suspended. He said he feels comfortable with his hand on the ball and worked with Oak Ridge’s second team offense all season to adjust to the fundamentals of the position.
The first preferred walk-on in MSU’s Class of 2016 is the one player overall MSU will add on February 3. Two transfers — quarterback Tyler Bruggman and center Alex Neale — are already on the team. The group also includes 12 prep players, including two from California. The opportunity to play college football is a culmination of hard work for Floden.
“It means a lot to me,” Floden said. “There’s a lot of people who helped me get here, my parents, my family, my friends, my coaches. It’s really a dream come true because up until this point, a few years ago, I didn’t know what I wanted to do for college. So I set one goal and that was to play college football. I didn’t know where, I didn’t know what I was going to do. All I knew was I wanted to play in college. This has really opened my mind and let me know that if you set your goals and look toward the future, you can live your dream. It’s really exciting it is coming to fruition.”
