Welcome to UCF Knights on SI's countdown to kickoff!
In this series, we are going to introduce you to every single player on the 2026 UCF football roster so that you can know what to expect from them or even pinpoint the ones you want to follow throughout the coming season. We are going to go through the Knights' roster in reverse jersey-number order, with the day each player's entry is published corresponding to the number of days remaining until UCF's season-opener on Sep. 3 at 7 p.m. against Bethune-Cookman.
With zero days to go before kickoff, let's meet the final two players on this list: UCF tight end Dylan Wade and defensive tackle Horace Lockett:
Position:Tight End
Class:Senior
Height/Weight:6-foot-2 / 240 pounds
Hometown:Orlando, Florida
High School:Jones High School
After playing his first two seasons of college football with Maryland, where he started one of the 23 games he played in, Wade returned to his hometown team ahead of the 2025 season.
Wade made history at UCF in 2025, with his 43 catches for 523 yards and five touchdowns all being the most by a Knights tight end since 1996, according to his UCF Athletics profile page. He was named an All-Big 12 Honorable Mention for his efforts.
Thanks to his performance last season, Wade proved he can work as a core feature of the Knights' passing attack. So, he is back as a starter for the Knights in 2026. However, with wide receiver being one of UCF's deeper position groups and the recovery of fellow tight end Caden Piening , who was listed as a co-starter alongside Wade on the Knights' Week 1 depth chart, the Orlando native may not need to handle as many targets as he did in 2025.
On his first weekly radio show of the 2026 season, coach Scott Frost told 96.9 The Game's Marc Daniels that Wade was "even faster than he was, and he's blocking a lot better." This could help him branch out to perhaps serve as a slot receiver, something new tight ends coach Cooper Bassett said was "the next element" to Wade's game during spring practice.
"You know, he's not as big as your prototypical [slot receiver], but he is violent," Bassett said. "He's aggressive. What's really stood out for me with Dylan is just he has a genuine love for his teammates, and that's showing up right now with how he's blocking downfield; he's finishing plays. There's a lot of thing we got to clean up, some details with his footwork and his pad level and sustaining and finishing blocks, but he's got an eagerness and a willingness, and he sets the tone for our room right now."
Position:Defensive Tackle
Class:Redshirt Senior
Height/Weight:6-foot-6 / 355 pounds
Hometown:Atlanta, Georgia
High School:Westlake High School
After a brief period in the transfer portal over the offseason, Horace Lockett is once again back with the Knights in 2026. The decision to enter the portal in the first place was "family-based," Lockett said during the Knights' local media day.
"My mom was going through like a lot of health complications, especially like with her heart and her well-being, so most of it was just really to try to get back closer to home, so I can be near my mom," Lockett said.
With his father passing away in 2021 due to a post-surgery heart attack, Lockett's mother, who Lockett said would drive him an hour away for rec ball practice, even when she was sick, is his only surviving parent.
"She all I really got, so it's like I got to be there for her with no doubt, so it was great," Lockett said.
However, once Lockett was informed that "everything was gonna look good" for his mother, he said he called UCF defensive tackles coach Kenny Martin about returning to UCF.
Lockett recorded 13 tackles, eight of which were solo, three tackles for loss, a sack and two pass breakups during the Knights' first four games of 2025 before an injury ended his season prematurely.
Now recovered from his injury and with a hunger that he said was "100 times worse" than the one he had after missing the entire 2024 season due to injury, Lockett is set to feature on the Knights' defensive line in 2026.
Back during spring practice, defensive tackle coach Kenny Martin said Lockett could be "an all-conference, possibly an All-American guy."
However, for Lockett to fulfill that potential, he is going to have to play a full season, something he has yet to do in his collegiate career. Should he stay healthy enough to have a consistent presence up front, then he could prove to be one of the Knights' defensive high points.
One way UCF seems to be trying to ensure a full season out of Lockett is having him listed as a co-starter alongside RJ Jackson Jr. on the Knights' Week 1 depth chart. This strategy is also being used at the other defensive tackle slot with Thomas Collins and Jeffson Lafontant . So, while Lockett may not be an every-snap player, if only to ensure he makes it to the end of the season, his size and success in a small sample size from 2025 still make him a player central to the Knights' plans at defensive line in 2026.
Read the rest of the list below:
This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/ucf as Meet The 2026 UCF Knights: Countdown To Kickoff - No. 0 Dylan Wade and Horace Lockett .
