Conner Olson, a 6-foot-5, 275-pound junior tackle from Monticello (MN) High, became the latest in-state product to commit to Minnesota when he recently picked the home state school.
Olson helped lead the Magic to a 6-4 mark last season, losing to St. Michael-Albertville 27-7 in the second round of the Class AAAAA, Section 6 playoffs.
Gopher Hole caught up with Olson to learn the latest on his decision.
Gopher Hole: You committed to Minnesota the other day. What was the main reason that you decided that Minnesota was where you wanted to play college football?
Conner Olson: I have always wanted to play at a place like Minnesota. For the longest time, I did not think that it was possible, so when they offered me, I really had to pinch myself and make sure that I wasn’t asleep or something. It was just a great moment in my life and I knew that this is where I wanted to be and from that point, it was just a question of how soon I was going to commit and that opportunity presented itself two days after.
Gopher Hole: Had you even thought that you would be committing this early or were you thinking about going to some camps this summer. Has this even caught you a little off guard how quickly it did happened?
Conner Olson: Yes. It definitely went a little bit quicker than I had planned on doing it. Originally, I was going to go on a camp tour of the schools that I was interested in, but once Minnesota offered, there wasn’t much more that I needed to see or hear. I was pretty ready to go at that point.
Gopher Hole: What offers did you have when you committed?
Conner Olson: I had an offer from the University of South Dakota and offers from Harvard, Yale and Princeton.
Gopher Hole: What other schools were you hearing from besides those schools?
Conner Olson: I was hearing from a couple of other schools, NDSU, Northern Illinois, Illinois State, Wisconsin, actually meet with my coach the day that I was heading down to the U of M to commit, so I am not sure if there was anything there at that point. I think that schools were starting to come out and see me since I was starting to put on some good weight and wanted to see if I was worth the look.
Gopher Hole: Minnesota has gotten more commits on in-state kids than they have ever gotten based on how well the team has done the past couple of years. Have you gotten to know any of those kids well and was that something that you wanted to be a part of Minnesota kids staying here and playing at Minnesota?
Conner Olson: Oh, yes. I definitely think that, like everyone else, wants to play for the home team. I have beginning to get to know them. I have been in contact with a couple of them. We are still newly clicking and talking and getting to know each other.
Gopher Hole: Your brother plays college football, but it is out East for Princeton. How nice will it be to have your family and friends be able to watch your games?
Conner Olson: Well, I think that it will be awesome. Everyone is telling me that they want season tickets out of me and I tell them that is kind of hard to do. Everyone is super excited for me. The whole town is excited for me. That is really cool and everything. It is good that I can go out and represent “my town for a team that everyone loves”
Gopher Hole: Does that make it even more special since you mentioned Monticello as your home town. The city has been known for producing basketball players like Joel Przybilla, who went to Minnesota, but you are the first big-time football player to come out of that small school?
Conner Olson: I think that is something that is really cool, but every single kid that goes to that school comes out and gives it their best. I have been blessed with the opportunity to play at a place like Minnesota, but every single kid that plays athletics at Monticello, I think that they are deserving of the same chance. I just have been so blessed with this opportunity and it is really cool and has been awesome.
Gopher Hole: What has been the reaction of your family and friends?
Conner Olson: They are super stoked. A lot of my family members and friends, for that matter, were slightly concern that I was going to end up out East as well, so they wouldn’t see me that much either. But now that I am in town, I am close, everyone is happy that they can still see me and everyone has been pretty happy because there is a pretty good round of Gopher support going on throughout my high school. Everyone was pretty excited when they heard about the commitment.
Gopher Hole: I know that you just committed, but does it feel like a weight has been lifted off your shoulders already?
Conner Olson: Yes. It is definitely nice. I enjoyed speaking with all the coaches during the recruiting process, but it is nice. I feel that I have some more free time. There is a lot less to think about and I can focus on my game and just getting better.
Gopher Hole: What things are you going to be working on, not only to have a big senior year, but also to get ready to play college football?
Conner Olson: One of the biggest things that I would really like to work on is putting on healthy weight, because I think that has always held me back a little bit, so I am going to keep going. Keep going for that as well as maintain my foot speed and get even faster and strength training as well.
Gopher Hole: Talking to your high school football coach, one of the things he brought up is that you are a very athletic player with a great broad jump and you are very strong and one of the best lifters that they have had at Monticello. Is that something that you have always been working on with the eye of playing Division I football?
Conner Olson: Well, you know for the longest time, up until senior high, I was a running back and a linebacker, so I had more of that athletic side. Once I started growing a little bit, I realized that I had grown out of that position. I think that it has kept with me as I have developed and it has gotten better along with me moving to being a lineman.
Gopher Hole: Did you get a chance to go to many Gopher games last year?
Conner Olson: Yes. I believe that I went to three home games and I watched most of the others on TV.
Gopher Hole: What were your impressions of the Gophers last year?
Conner Olson: Playing there is great. I love the atmosphere. I love everything about the Gophers on game day. It is just the greatest feeling sitting there in the stands. I can’t imagine what it would be like to be on the field.
Gopher Hole: What about Monticello? What are the expectations for you in your last year of playing high school football?
Conner Olson: As far as I am concerned, everyone expects me to just go out and be a beast. From the team standpoint, I think that everyone is looking forward to a pretty productive year out of us. We won the conference last year and I think that potentially, we are poised to do that again. We have, I think, one of the strongest team that we have ever had at Monticello. I really think that it is going to be a good season for us.