ORLANDO — In the days after his UCF return, Horace Lockett remembers walking out of the Orlando airport and driving toward campus.
Seeing palm trees. Cruising down familiar roads. Passing his old house.
“It was like, ‘Damn, bro. I don’t know what I’d do without this place,’” Lockett said. “This place brought me so much happiness.”
Which is why he’s back.
Yes, the hulking defensive tackle — listed at 6-foot-6 and 355 pounds — spent a few January days in the transfer portal. He set up recruiting visits to Nebraska, Notre Dame and other blue bloods before quickly pivoting and rejoining the Knights.
“I feel like most of my reasoning for leaving was family-based,” said Lockett, who resided in his native Atlanta during the hiatus. “My mom is going through health implications and needed two surgeries. It was more me going back, trying to be closer to my mom since I did lose my dad in 2021.”
But when doctors gave Lockett’s mother, Brenda, good post-op news, he dialed up UCF defensive line coach Kenny Martin and stated his interest in a comeback.
Martin didn’t have to deliver a fancy pitch.
“We’re family, man,” Martin said. “The way I try to build this room is a lot of camaraderie and really a family bond. It wasn’t hard to try to get him back because he knows ain’t nobody going to love him the way I love him and ain’t nobody going to coach him as hard as I’m going to coach him and push him.
“He trusts the process. He saw the potential he could have in the first four games (last fall), and man, we want to see what a full season looks like together.”
How Horace Lockett fits on UCF D-line
So do the Knights.
They invested heavily in him after losing three other defensive tackles — John Walker, Derrick LeBlanc and Rodney Lora — to Ohio State, Maryland and Purdue, respectively.
Lockett arrived at UCF ahead of the 2025 campaign following three years at Georgia Tech. He thrived for four games, rattling off three tackles for loss and a sack before suffering a season-ending pectoral injury.
It continued a run of health misfortune. Lockett also missed all of 2024 while with the Yellow Jackets.
He was limited through spring practice this year while still recovering. But now, he feels 100%.
As a redshirt senior, he also feels a desire to make up for lost time.
“But I feel like God does everything for a reason,” Lockett said. “I can say during the time I have been hurt, I definitely got smarter within the game of football, just breaking down film more, learning O-lineman sets so I can defeat blocks faster. I feel like I got smarter in the room and it helped me translate it to here.”
Lockett worked on his conditioning during his rehab. Martin said he dropped approximately 20 pounds, focusing on his lower-body strength and his conditioning.
“He’s looking good, man,” Martin said. “I’m excited.”
His teammates are, too.
“He makes our life 100% easier,” senior defensive back Braeden Marshall said. “Having a guy like H-Lo, great guy off the field, great teammate, great guy in the locker room. I think every DB would love a guy like him up front.”
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Why Horace Lockett couldn’t stay away from UCF football
Reporting by Chris Vinel, Daytona Beach News-Journal / The Daytona Beach News-Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Chris Vinel, Daytona Beach News-Journal | USA TODAY Network
