Still, he's come a long way from a walk-on freshman to an established veteran going into his junior season. He was a 1,000-yard rusher at Lakota West High School in Cincinnati before turning down scholarship offers from smaller schools to walk on at UK.
He played three games on special teams in 2005 before a season-ending injury allowed him to take a redshirt season. He played in all 13 games each of the last two years, and started four games in 2007. He touched the ball 13 times last year, and scored four touchdowns.
So rather than worrying about whether he will get to play, he can now concentrate on making sure he's becoming the best possible player he can be during preseason practices.
"I am feeling pretty confident. My experience is up and think our offense can make a big impact this year," Conner said. "I don't have to worry about proving myself. It helps my confidence and now I feel like I can just go out and make plays and help this team.
"It helps my confidence not having to worry about showing what I can do. I pretty much always had confidence in myself, but it was just portraying it to the coaches and my teammates and making them see they could depend on me to make plays."
Conner doesn't concern himself with individual goals, a great trait for a blocking fullback.
"I am a team-first kind of guy. I will do what I can to help the team. That is pretty much my main focus with me always being second. If the team wins, you will never see me unhappy," Conner said.
So how does he judge his success?
"I look at if the running backs are getting yardage, I am getting the short yardage I need and I am catching the ball, then I feel like that is a successful game for me as long as we win," he said. "If we don't win, nothing matters."
Obviously, running backs should love him not only for his blocking, but also for his attitude.
"I hope so. I am kind of like a second offensive lineman for them. They will say thank you or look at film and say that was a good block. Sometimes they block for me, but it would be nice if did it more to return the favor."
With Kentucky expected to run the ball more this year to take the pressure off sophomore quarterback Mike Hartline, Conner's blocking could be even more vital, especially when UK opens the season Aug. 31 at Louisville.
"I also have to block and carry the ball to get short yardage, and also catch the ball. I just have to step it up, study my film and make all the blocks I have to do this year if we really do run the ball more," Conner said.
He says it's not that hard to block for speedsters Alfonso Smith and Derrick Locke.
"They have great speed, so I know if I am slow on a block, their speed will make up for that. Those guys both are real fast. Sometimes you don't have to make a great block for them. They sometimes have the speed just to get around guys on the outside by themselves," Conner said.
"I feel like I have pretty decent speed to keep up with them, but they force me to be fast."
Senior Tony Dixon, the expected starting tailback, and backup Moncell Allen are slightly different runners.
"They have pretty decent speed, too, but they are more power guys. They can break tackles," Conner said. "But it is fun blocking for all of them. I don't care who is running the ball, my job is to block."
