An optical fiber connector for terminating a fiber cable comprising a plurality of optical fibers, comprises an outer connector housing, a ferrule essentially free of adhesive, a backbone, and a collar body disposed between the ferrule and backbone. The collar body includes a remote gripping region to remotely grip the plurality of optical fibers outside of the ferrule. In some aspects, the collar body includes a fiber comb portion that separates potentially tangled fibers, arranges the plurality of fibers in a uniform pitch, and provides for straightforward feeding of the fiber array into ferrule bores during a fiber cable insertion process. In some aspects, the connector includes a resilient element disposed between the backbone and a rear portion of the collar body, and an intermediate spring element disposed between a front portion of the collar body and a rear portion of the ferrule.