UCF Wide Receiver Tyren Hornes Discusses Breakout Performance Against No. 2 BYU

You guys, you kind of reflect on Saturday night, you know, you come in, you're playing, you know, more and more of the true freshmen, obviously have performed well enough, the coaches sort of trusting you to promote you to a starting position, and then to go out and have that breakout game against the number two team in the nation, just kind of what was going through your mind after Saturday night? After the game, I know I had a great game. Our team played very well. The lights played very well. But I just got to keep my head on the swing. Keep it on straight and keep working. Keep my head down. Play good every game. I know you want to keep it going, but that had to be exciting to put that kind of performance together in that sort of spotlight. What was your reaction maybe from your friends and family after seeing the game that you had? It was very exciting. My mom was at the game, my sister. and they were happy for me. Was there a favorite play you had in that game? I would say the screen when I broke out. I wish I would have scored that play a bit better. Did you know the guy was coming to get you? Did you think you were scoring on that play? I actually thought I was going to run by him. I seen him in the corner of my eye. How did you guys, you were able to build a relationship with Keywan? Were you able to step into that starting spot and be able to have the success that you did on the tournament? I've been getting reps with lights at second string. We've been getting reps with B, just moving the first string and getting better at chemistry. What about your character and the preparation? A lot of you have stepped into a solo role, a step into a role in your career. I'm just keeping my head down every day, taking it each day out of town and working hard. I want to ask also following the game, just what was your immediate reaction, fan-storming the Bureau? Have you ever been a part of something like that? How was the first time it was? It felt great, going to the fans, going to the field, shout out to the fans. The student section was great. It felt amazing. How have you matured? How do you feel your confidence has grown? Just playing the game with confidence and coming to practice every day, knowing what to do at practice, studying the playbook. What's it like being under Coach Beck? Coach Beck, he does a lot. He came from UCF after he played here, so he knows what's going on. He still teaches a lot more. A lot of things. Yeah. How's that coming along? I got to stay up while I'm bad when I'm blocking down the field. I can control that by myself. You had 111 receiving yards for the season entering this game. You broke out, had 137. I mean, what clicked for you in that game? Just having me on the field with the team. Like I said, having chemistry with Lykes. He knows what to do out there. He took control of the game, giving me the ball. and as you your true freshman working your way up the depth chart what's been the biggest challenge in doing so the biggest challenge is just the speed of the game they've been getting uh slower to beat uh because i know what to do out there you mentioned the screen pass did you see the tackler coming with just a instinct like how that kind of worked as far as bouncing off that back or accelerating but no i didn't see him come i didn't bounce off it as a muscle what do you What do you work on as an athlete to get better at improving contact balance and staying on your feet in moments like that? Just being in the weight room every day. That's really it. The weight room helps out with that type of thing. Trying to find different types of passes from T1. You got some of those screen passes. You got a few that were on the deeper side. What's it like in these different sort of passing situations? I have to keep doing what I'm doing on the field. He likes, he's a great quarterback. So when he scrambles, I know I have to move around with him, cuz he's most likely gonna get the ball down the field. And to see such a game like that go into overtime, get a big play there as well. What's that like for you, especially on a play like that with Marvin? It's a great play, I just have to keep fighting, keep playing. Right, a lot of attention around you and your performance after Saturday. How do you make sure you avoid kind of all the attention that's surrounding you and not getting and staying grounded? Keeping my head straight, taking it each day at a time, just focusing on the next one. Did you see any of the reaction, like post-game, that you were scrolling on Twitter and seeing your name pop up in the feed? Yeah, I've seen a few of those. It felt great seeing that. How does it make you feel seeing that? It felt great, yeah. T.W., I can talk more about that two-point conversion catch you had. It comes out of Joe Montana. I'm not sure it looks like it might be low, but you come and dive and get it, just kind of where were your eyes on that play? Not just me being a playmaker, catching the ball with my ball skills. And just talking to you, you said you're close with Keywan. You kind of, you know, he was your quarterback. You know, you were on the second team for a while. Just what did the other night mean to him? Because, you know, he's been the starter, and I know he was probably beating himself up over mistakes he made in some other games. But to come through and have that kind of performance against a great team, how do you think that really impacted Keywan? I feel like it impacted him a lot. He did very well out there, as I said. He can take leadership as a team, as a quarterback. Coach Ross said that you called on your team to be raised to another level and then to BYU. Nobody seemed to answer that call more than you did. Can you talk a little bit about the mindset going into the BYU game and how you're going to maintain that going forward? Just coming in every day, fighting. As our team, we all have the same mindset coming into the game at BYU. We believe that we can win the game. You're the highest ever ranked offensive recruit for UCF. Before you committed to the Knights, you had plenty of offers from national contenders. Do moments like the game against BYU make it worth it staying in Orlando? Staying in Florida, going to Orlando, make it be a hometown? A lot, yeah. It's worth it coming here. I love playing with this team and the coaches. You're more focused this week. You've got Baylor coming into town. What do you know about Baylor and their defense and how challenging could it be? They have a good defense, they have a few cornerbacks out there that, you know, just got to take it each day at a time, keep studying, watching film, and picking up our students. Tyron, what does it mean to be able to contribute like this, this early in your college football career? Did you ever think that you would be able to? Yeah, I just came in here with my head down, working, fighting to get on that first-string offense, and I did it. Now we big goals right now. After your breakout performance time, you know, defenses are going to start paying more attention to you. Going into Baylor, does that give you an added responsibility? And if so, how does it? I just have to keep doing what I'm doing. On my behalf, keep fighting every day, coming in and working hard, keep my head down, yeah. Excited to play in your first space game, space uniforms? Are you excited about that? Yes, sir. I can tell you that. Did you attend last year's space game? Yeah, I came.