The phone rang immediately after the final pick of the 2022 NFL Draft.

Then another. And another.

Within minutes, Tanner Conner had about 10 teams calling, each offering him an undrafted free agent contract. The kid from Kent, Washington, who couldn’t even get a scholarship offer for football out of high school, suddenly had his pick of an NFL destinations.

“That was a whirlwind of emotions,” Conner recalls.

Now, more than three years later, the former Idaho State standout is preparing for what he hopes is his fourth season with the Miami Dolphins.

“It’s extremely cool and fulfilling,” said father Andy Conner. “It’s just a great story, because that doesn’t happen all the time from Idaho State.”

In fact, Conner is the only active ISU alum currently in the NFL.

He joins an exclusive group that includes tight end Josh Hill (New Orleans Saints), center Evan Smith (Green Bay Packers, Seattle Seahawks and Tampa Bay Buccaneers) and soon-to-be Hall of Fame defensive lineman Jared Allen (Kansas City Chiefs, Minnesota Vikings, Chicago Bears and Carolina Panthers) among Bengals to reach the NFL.

“It’s really cool to look back on because it was always like a dream to get here,” Conner said. “But the dream was always beyond that — giving confidence and faith to those who might be in a similar position to me, that as long as you keep your head down and keep going, you can make it.”

Which in Conner’s case, was easier said than done.

Even being the son of a former University of Oregon star linebacker, football just wasn’t for him at first.

It didn’t help that his high school team wasn’t very good either. Kentridge High School won just three games during his junior and senior seasons combined.

“I don’t have a very aggressive personality, which is usually what football players have,” Conner said. “I’ve always been a reserved, laid-back kind of guy, never too overly physical or violent as a person. So playing football was never my first love. I played basketball, ran track.”

Even with his father’s college football connections, recruiters just weren’t calling.

“I pulled out all the stops trying to get his film to scouts and schools,” Andy said. “I didn’t realize how difficult it was — a guy from Washington told me they get 10,000-plus films coming through all the time. Since Conner’s team was terrible, he just didn’t get looks.”

But luckily, track opened the door.

After taking second in the 110- and 300-meter hurdles as a junior, Conner broke through for his first and only state title in the 300 as a senior. It got the attention of in-state schools Washington and Washington State, which both offered him scholarships. But when Conner inquired about also playing football, he was met with the same response.

“That’s not really the plan.”

But enter Hillary Merkley, Idaho State’s track and field coach since 2016.

When Conner spoke with her during a visit, Merkley — a former multi-sport athlete herself — was all ears.

“I talked with him about how sometimes in the past that hasn’t always worked out easily, but I was open to him doing that,” Merkley said. “I took him up to the football offices to meet with the coaches.”

He showed his four-minute highlight reel to former ISU head coach Rob Phenicie, and before it was over, Conner had a football scholarship, too.

“They said, ‘I can’t believe we missed you,'” said Andy, who accompanied him on that trip.

Arriving at Idaho State in 2018, Conner was a lanky 180-pound wide receiver and runner.

He went on to win the 110 hurdles at the Big Sky Conference Outdoor Championships, break the Big Sky Conference Indoor 60 hurdles record (7.73 seconds) and earn all-conference honors in the 100 and 4×100 relay team.

But his heart was in football.

Conner redshirted as a freshman before combining for just 13 receptions and 173 yards over the next two seasons. But he broke out as a junior with 47 catches for 792 yards and eight touchdowns. This included him going off for four receptions and 117 yards in a 51-24 win over Portland State at the ICCU Dome on Sept. 28, 2019. All but one of those catches resulted in touchdowns.

Conner followed that with 34 receptions for 685 yards and three touchdowns in a six-game COVID-19 shortened season. It got people’s attention with Conner being named to national pundit Bruce Feldman’s College Football Freak List going into the 2021 season.

So NFL scouts were suddenly showing up at Idaho State’s practices. His combination of size (6-3, 235 pounds), speed (a 4.34 40-yard dash) and versatility, made him an intriguing prospect that senior year.

“Very early in the fall season, during workouts and training, he told me, ‘Hillary, I want to go to the NFL,'” Merkley remembers. “I said, ‘OK, well then, let’s make that happen.'”

However, the Bengals went 1-10 that season — their worst in nine years — and Phenicie was fired as a result. Conner still put up 735 yards and four touchdowns on just 42 receptions. But it still cost him from earning back-to-back All-Big Sky Conference first-team selections.

“That was ridiculous based on his talent,” Andy said. “You’re not using your best player effectively.”

It may have prevented him from being a late-round selection.

During the 2022 NFL Draft from the Caesars Forum near Las Vegas, Conner eagerly watched for hours, hoping like many others, to hear his name called. However, the moment never came.

“After the draft ended, I had about 10 or 12 teams call offering a contract,” Conner said.

Miami stood out because of tight ends coach Jon Embree, who had coached Hall of Famer Tony Gonzalez and All-Pro George Kittle of the San Francisco 49ers.

“He told me, ‘Man, I just see a real bright future for you. It’ll take a minute for you to develop, but I really want you to play tight end for us,'” Conner said.

Conner had never played tight end before.

“I didn’t really know how to block or anything like that,” Conner said with a laugh. “But when you have a guy with that kind of track record, it just seemed like the right fit.”

Conner made the Dolphins’ 53-man roster his rookie season. His debut came against the Baltimore Ravens in Week 2 on Sept. 18, 2022 when he played on special teams. But it was still quite the experience for Conner being part of a  21-point fourth-quarter comeback in a thrilling 42-38 win.

“Playing in Baltimore is a phenomenal environment — the atmosphere was electric,” Conner said. “It was super surreal. It’s a lot different than the atmosphere at Idaho State, just with the pure amount of people and all the fandom. You definitely don’t forget a game like that.”

He appeared in 13 games that season. But injuries, including a torn PCL, have limited him to just 11 games over the last two seasons. Conner spent most of the 2023 campaign on the practice squad before returning to the active roster last season.

It was then when Conner made his first official NFL catch during a Week 3 game in Seattle on Sept. 22, 2024 — just a 1-yard reception in the second quarter, but it happened in front of several friends and family just 20 miles from his hometown.

“You’re in the NFL and you get lost in the moment of it, but at the end of the day, you have so many people texting after the game saying it’s so cool to see you out there — people from high school, family members,” Conner said. “To them, they don’t know many NFL players personally, so I forget that’s kind of a role I have in some of these people’s lives, which is really cool.”

Conner added two more catches for 15 yards against the Tennessee Titans the following week at home. He then saw action over the next few games, but suffered a season-ending knee injury in Week 10 against the Los Angeles Rams.

But Conner was back at the Dolphins’ OTAs (Organized Team Activities) last month and will also be in attendance at the team’s training camp that begins July 22.

“For a while, I didn’t really think I had it in me,” Conner said of returning from another injury. “Then I figured out that all you need is just a little confidence, and it can take you a long way.”

Conner will now look to not only make the active roster, but earn a much bigger role in the offense.

The Dolphins just traded their Pro Bowl tight end Jonnu Smith, who had 884 yards and eight touchdowns last season. So now the only other tight ends on the roster are journeyman Pharaoh Brown, third-year pro Julian Hill and Darren Waller, who just came out of retirement.

While Waller, who was selected to the 2020 Pro Bowl, is the likely frontrunner, Conner still could see some significant playing time. He’s up to 240 pounds — the heaviest he’s ever been − is the longest tenured player in the room and has a command of the playbook like few Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel has ever seen.

“He was a wide receiver that we moved to tight end and now owns the entire playbook,” McDaniel told reporters. “One of the rare, rare players that — there’s probably three in my whole career — that knows fullback and then can line up at the slot receiver and run two-minute, which is all memorized word association.

“There’s nobody that has the rules of our offense and how to execute at every level down more than Tanner Conner does.”

Conner’s phone still rings.

Only now his call logs are filled with coaches, teammates, friends, family and of course, his countless supporters from the Gate City.

“I really had one school that was going to let me do both — Idaho State,” Conner said of the opportunity to play football and track all those years ago. “They really gave me an opportunity to show what I could do. Without them, I really don’t know what would have happened.”