McConnell Thinks He is Set to Major on Offensive Line this Season at Choctaw
OKLAHOMA CITY -- Cade McConnell has been on a solid incline toward a future college football experience, but he hasn't given up anything in the process. McConnell also plays baseball and he has stayed on the diamond. His dad was a multi-sport athlete before coming to Oklahoma State to play football and then moving on to become an All-American at Pitt State. Cade is a very athletic prospect that is not afraid of work and has stayed with it throughout the pandemic.
I asked him at the i4Football Camp what he had been doing with all the time he had at home?
"Just working out, putting in the work," McConnell answered. "It's unprecedented, we're not even sure if we are going to have a season. We hope so, you never know."
There's plenty of reason to have a season at Choctaw. McConnell is one of those juniors that is really a good prospect and the junior season is the one that schools use most often to decide on whether to push on you in recruiting. On top of that, the Yellow Jackets are favored to at least compete for their district title.
"We have a very good football team, and I'm ready to go," McConnell said.
McConnell speculated that he may not play baseball in the future, but he did some in the spring before using the pandemic to get back to his offensive tackle size.
"I've been trying to put some weight on, good weight. I lose weight playing baseball running around out there," McConnell said. "You know I've been putting that back on and getting to my goal and getting stronger."
He is a solid 6-4, working on 6-5 and weighs right around 285 consistently. He has good skills and I've seen him on both sides of the line of scrimmage. He competes hard, but I agree with his assessment that he will be playing more offense this season. It was fun to see him in the i4Football Camp as he went against Stillwater's Luke McEndoo a bunch. In fact, those two did a big one-on-one pass pro at the end with McEndoo on defense and McConnell on offense with McEndoo getting the win. Throuhgout the evening McConnell had his victories too.
"This year it is going to be primarily offense, but I can see myself jumping in some there on defense," he said of playing this season.
So far, Iowa State and TCU have offered and those are two really good schools.
"TCU and Iowa State, got those schools," McConnell said with a smile. "We'll see on others."
One of those is Oklahoma State. They know him well, have had him in camp, and will evaluate him further this fall. They won't be the only ones.