Boise State roster countdown 2018: Day 14, Tyler Horton

Yoooo, we’ve got two weeks left until kickoff and I’m giving you the green light to get that portable grill out of the shed. Today, we’ll take a look at #14 on the Boise State roster—Tyler Horton

#14, Tyler Horton, Senior, CB

Stats:

Height: 5’ 11”

Weight: 190 lbs.

High School: Edison HS, Fresno, CA

How’d he get to the Blue™?

It kind of seems like a common theme about guys being good at football. In Mr. Horton’s case, he was really good at football. He was a three star recruit on Rivals, Scout, and 247Sports. As for where he ranked in high school as a corner back: 64 in the nation; 12 in the west. His offer sheet was impressive with the University of Miami, Washington State, and the Broncos vying for his services, and Boise State withstood a late push by the University of Florida to retain his services.

Nickname

“T-Bone”

Look-a-like

Disney actor Tyrel Jackson Williams

Career Highlights

Bednarik Award, Bronko Nagurski Trophy, and Jim Thorpe Award watch lister before his senior season. All-Mountain West first teamer in 2017. Mountain West Defensive Player of the Week for his performance against WSU in 2016. Mountain West All-Academic Team member in 2015.

In his high school years, he had quite the résumé that would be impressive for anyone. Fresno Bee Fab 50, MVP at the DBGuru All-Star game, and in his junior season in high school he nabbed a first-team All-County-Metro selection.

2018 Prospectus

Not much intrigue around this one—Horton is the MAN at corner (at least one of them) and will stay the man for one more season with the Broncos. He started all 13 regular season games last season before having to sit out the Vegas Bowl (Jalen Walker started in his stead) and put together a first-team All-MWC resumé. Strictly speaking, quarterbacks just don’t test Mr. Horton all that much so sometimes he’ll get a little lost in the wash as other players get the sexier INT numbers (he had two last season), but if you really watch the tape (as coaches and media were wont to do before voting on all-conference teams), you’ll see a guy that’s just one or two clicks from “lockdown”.

I think one of the most impressive games from Horton last season was, at first blush, one of his worst. Boise State had traveled to Fort Collins to take on Colorado State and it was to be Horton’s task to shut down an NFL talent wide receiver (Michael Gallup). Well, Horton was not succeeding to say the least, and many fans (myself included) wondered just what the deal was with the now-senior. Right around halftime, news that Tyler Horton’s high school position coach had died came down the wire and Tyler’s lack of focus seemed to imply it was weighing on him pretty heavily (and rightly so). But when play resumed after halftime, Horton was a completely different player—he composed himself and pretty much shut down Gallup for the remainder of the evening, allowing the Broncos to mount an insane comeback...and it was Horton who pounced on Rashaad Boddie’s fumble in OT to seal the win.

Horton’s probably had better games as a Bronco—in fact, I know he has—but the Colorado State game is one that will stand out to me because Horton showed the kind of heart he has. This season, I expect him to show a lot more of that heart, and plenty more of his skill. He’s become a great leader on the Bronco defense and I think his senior year will be his best yet.

Is he on Twitter?

Yup...and this video pretty well underscores everything that’s been said above.

Completely made up fact

In practice, Horton once gave up an easy touchdown and when pressed by the coaches as to why, he acknowledged that, in that very moment, he’d heard a Who.