Free State junior Bryce Torneden runs against Manhattan on Oct. 24, 2014, at Manhattan.

Free State High senior quarterback and safety Bryce Torneden wanted to let his college recruitment play out, but he always had his eyes set on North Dakota State.

Torneden traveled to the school on Friday for one of its football camps. Before walking around the team’s facilities with some other recruits on Saturday, NDSU head coach Chris Klieman wanted to talk to Torneden in his office.

“He asked me, ‘What’s it going to take to get you to be a Bison?'” Torneden said. “I just told him I needed to find the right time to sit down and tell him. I’ve wanted to commit for a while — I just needed to get up there. He was really excited.”

After announcing his oral commitment to the head coach, he rejoined the group and later shared the news with plenty of happy assistant coaches.

“I’ve kind of been wanting to go there since my sophomore year,” Torneden said. “I didn’t really think I’d have the chance to, but they offered me. I wanted to hear all of the schools out because it would be dumb not to, but I think I’ve always wanted to go there. I finally went up to North Dakota, saw the campus and stuff, met all of the coaches and that’s where I wanted to be.”

The main coach who recruited Torneden was familiar with his family. NDSU’s offensive line coach, Conor Riley, recruited Torneden’s older brother, Camren, out of high school when Riley was the offensive line coach at Nebraska-Omaha.

Torneden led the Firebirds to an 8-4 record and the Class 6A state semifinals last season, throwing for 1,064 yards and 10 touchdowns, and running for another 1,277 yards and 15 touchdowns. On defense, he had 42 solo tackles, 15 assisted, and one interception for a touchdown.

The 5-foot-10, 180-pound Torneden is expected to play running back for the Bison.

“They told me probably running back just because of the depth,” Torneden said. “When I get there it will probably be limited. I mostly talked to the running backs coach. The head coach, Chris Klieman, told me that I’ll probably be on the offensive side so I’ll probably be running back. But I’m open to anything and they could also put me at safety or anything.”

Torneden drew some interest from some FBS college football teams, but he wanted to commit before his senior season and he was drawn to NDSU’s winning tradition. The Bison have won four straight NCAA-FCS national championships.

He chose the Bison over Northern Iowa, another school he visited this summer. He also had offers from North Dakota, South Dakota, South Dakota State and Western Illinois.

“I grew up in Texas and I’ve always been a big Longhorn fan,” Torneden said. “But when I got here, my sophomore year I just noticed them because they were winning their second or third (championship) in a row and I felt like if I worked hard enough I could get there. Instead of (Kansas University) or (Kansas) State, I thought that was a more realistic goal. I’m just glad that I’m finally there.”

With less than a month before the start of practices for his senior season, Torneden is already proud to be a part of his future school.

“Just talking with all of the coaches, a couple of them had some FBS jobs and they turned them down just because of its tradition,” Torneden said. “It’s a great place to be. I’m glad I committed.”