Connor Spears followed family ties to USC

Many students and alumni are united by the bonds of the Trojan Family. For redshirt sophomore tight end Connor Spears, the cardinal and gold runs deep. After playing a year at Columbia University, Spears followed family ties to USC.

“I wasn’t enjoying the football aspect of Columbia as much as I was hoping,” Spears said. “My sister went to school out here, so I got to be here for her last year here. I really had just wanted to go to USC my whole life. I was always coming to games and spent a lot of time here. My grandpa taught in the medical school for 35 years, and my great grandpa went here, too, so I kind of have it in my blood.”

For Spears, football has always been a way for him to connect many aspects of his life. After spending the early years of his life in San Diego, Spears moved to Iowa before his freshman year of high school.

“I played football growing up — I played a couple years in middle school — but I really got started freshman year as a way to meet people since I had just moved to Iowa,” Spears said. “Football gave me that bridge to get to know my new classmates and I just fell in love with it sophomore year. That’s when I decided I was going to make it a goal to play college ball.”

Spears began his football career as a quarterback, a fitting position for his 6-foot-6 frame, but decided he enjoyed being on the receiving end more and switched to tight end.

“I played quarterback in middle school, but I really liked playing receiver and realized I wasn’t fast enough to be a receiver,” Spears said. “So, I figured I should just try to put on some weight and try to figure out how to block, so tight end kind of fit that role perfectly.”

Once Spears started playing high school football, he made it a goal to play college ball. Spears attended Bishop Heelan High School in Sioux City, Iowa. He was an All-District tight end his junior and senior seasons and earned All-State second team honors his senior season. His success on the field resulted in offers from Columbia, Cornell, Yale and Northern Iowa.

“Recruiting is pretty sparse at my high school; we don’t have a whole lot of guys shipping out,” he said. “I took an official to Cornell and Columbia and then committed to Columbia early February of my senior year. Going to Columbia gave me the opportunity to really get a good education and play football so I thought that’s where I was gonna end up.”

Spears’s father and grandfather both swam at Dartmouth, so Spears felt it was natural to continue the Ivy League tradition. Spears is a business administration major with a B-plus average.

“My parents always stressed the importance of academics and how far that’s taken both of them in their lives, so I knew when I was going to go to college it was going to be to improve my education and get the best degree possible. Football gave me an opportunity to really pursue that,” Spears said.

Spears played one season at Columbia before deciding to change schools. He reached out to wide receivers coach Tee Martin, who offered him a preferred walk-on spot, which he accepted almost immediately. Per NCAA rules, Spears was forced to sit out last season because he transferred, but said the year spent on the sidelines improved his game.

“Sitting out gave me a really good opportunity to learn from the older guys, and I was able to watch them and see how they worked,” Spears said. “It also gave me a chance to really focus on school and get bigger. I actually put on 25 pounds that season. Being ineligible was a bummer, but it definitely made me a better player because of it.”

The tight end’s first eligible season got off to a less than ideal start when former head coach Steve Sarkisian was fired after the Washington game. Spears isn’t letting it get to him, though, and insists that the team has come together and rallied around interim head coach Clay Helton.

“At the end of the day, it’s just about what happens on Saturdays,” Spears said. “The beginning of the year wasn’t ideal, but we’re sticking together and trying to make it happen. We love Helton, and he’s done a great job of keeping us together. It’s tough, but it happens. You just have to deal with it and win games.”

Spears is so much in support of his coach, in fact, that he is hoping to see Helton named the next head coach at USC.

“We’re all in support of him,” Spears said. “He’s done a great job of taking the situation and turning it around and I don’t think we’ve been closer as a team since I’ve been here. I would love for him to get the job. I think he would be a terrific coach, and he would really thrive in that position.”

In the face of adversity, the Trojans are one win away from claiming the Pac-12 South. Spears and the Trojans will face the Bruins on Saturday in the regular season finale with the Pac-12 race on the line.

“Knowing that we’re up against a wall and it’s us against the world at this point, we know we have each other, but there’s not a whole lot of support coming from elsewhere,” Spears said. “We know we have to stick together if we want to win games. We know what we have to do and just stay together.”

As for Spears, he’s ready to be called on at any moment.

“I always prepare like I’m going to be the guy that week,” Spears said. “You just have to be ready to go because that’s the game of football. You just have to be ready for the opportunity when it’s there.”