{"id":373892,"date":"2026-08-17T18:52:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T18:52:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/373892\/"},"modified":"2026-08-17T18:52:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T18:52:16","slug":"ucf-freshman-wr-tyren-hornes-turning-heads-in-preseason-camp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/373892\/","title":{"rendered":"UCF freshman WR Tyren Hornes turning heads in preseason camp"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tyren Hornes may only be 18 years old, but UCF<\/a>\u2019s newest wide receiver has the temperament of a seasoned veteran.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t have any pressure on myself. I just come in and do what I gotta do to help the team,\u201d the true freshman said.<\/p>\n

Hornes became the highest-ranked wide receiver in program history when he signed as a four-star standout from Booker High School. The Bradenton product finished with nearly 2,500 total receiving yards and 35 total touchdowns in 32 games during his career with the Fighting Tornadoes.<\/p>\n

He announced his decision to commit to UCF during the Under Armour All-America Game.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just wanted to be out there, to let it be known that I\u2019ve come to UCF and it was my home,\u201d Hornes said of the moment captured live on national television.<\/p>\n

The 6-foot, 175-pound Hornes has emerged as one of the breakout performers in preseason camp. A naturally gifted athlete, he\u2019s consistently impressed both his teammates and coaches, receiving abundant praise throughout the first two weeks of training camp.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s just a really good athlete. He\u2019s got the upside to be a really special player,\u201d coach Scott Frost<\/a> said. \u201cIt\u2019s just about how quickly it clicks on and how fast they can be reliable and consistent. He\u2019s certainly taking some huge strides and making good plays out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe see the progression of him and the development. Now I\u2019ve got to do a good job of really keeping him and not letting him relax, keeping him ascending up,\u201d added receivers coach Sean Beckton Sr<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Offensive coordinator Steve Cooper<\/a> has already seen growth from the talented wide receiver since his arrival as an early enrollee in January. He believes Hornes can be an explosive playmaker for the Knights\u2019 offense.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m ecstatic that he\u2019s here. I love Ty,\u201d Cooper said. \u201cHe\u2019s come a long, long way since he got here. He\u2019s got great hands and he plays almost like a veteran. You\u2019ve got to figure out a way to get off man (coverage) or press (coverage) and get great separation. He\u2019s got a real good natural knack of doing that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hornes isn\u2019t letting himself get too high or too low throughout the process.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just came (into camp) wanting to work,\u201d Hornes said. \u201cI keep my head down every day while taking stuff from the older guys, helping me to get better.\u201d<\/p>\n

The true freshman finds himself surrounded by a diverse group of receivers, with senior Duane Thomas Jr. taking the lead. However, it\u2019s another former freshman who most coaches believe he resembles the most.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe reminds me a lot of Waden (Charles),\u201d Beckton said. \u201cWaden was more of a natural leader when he first got here. Hornes is quiet and you never really hear from him, but he\u2019s very physically gifted.\u201d<\/p>\n

Charles broke onto the scene late last season, emerging alongside Thomas as one of the go-to options in the offense. He was third on the team in receptions (26) and receiving yards (290) and put together one of the best seasons by a freshman since Gabe Davis in 2017.<\/p>\n

\"UCFUCF freshman receiver Tyren Hornes signed with the Knights as the highest-rated receiver in program history. (Rich Pope\/Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n

\u201cWaden played last year partly because he was doing really well and partly because I don\u2019t think our receiver room was what it needed to be,\u201d Frost explained. \u201cTyren walks into a little bit of a different receiver room where we\u2019ve got guys coming back. It\u2019s a deeper group, so the competition\u2019s been good at that position.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hornes has learned to lean on Charles, especially when it comes to the playbook and watching film. One thing he didn\u2019t learn in a classroom was his explosive speed.<\/p>\n

When asked his top 40-yard dash speed, he preferred to defer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know right now, but I\u2019m fast,\u201d Hornes said with a smile.<\/p>\n

Please find me on X, Bluesky or Instagram @osmattmurschel. Email: mmurschel@orlandosentinel.com<\/a>. Sign up for the Sentinel\u2019s Knights Weekly<\/a> newsletter for a roundup of all our UCF coverage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tyren Hornes may only be 18 years old, but UCF\u2019s newest wide receiver has the temperament of a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":373893,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[111,28,114,1335,139,141,140,76046,110,3865],"class_list":["post-373892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-college-sports","tag-florida","tag-latest-headlines","tag-orange-county","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-social-sports","tag-sports","tag-ucf-knights"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=373892"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373892\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/373893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=373892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=373892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=373892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}