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Redshirt freshman's martial arts skills coming in handy for Texas Tech football
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- Redshirt freshman's martial arts skills coming in handy for Texas Tech football
Joey McGuire had a long list of players he could have singled out following the Texas Tech football team's scrimmage last Saturday . One of the names he brought up was that of redshirt freshman inside linebacker Justin Horne .
Horne, though, said he almost didn't make that list. The first half of the scrimmage was stressful for the New Orleans native. The break between sessions allowed Horne to sit down for a second and regroup. Then a play by fellow linebacker John Curry got him on a roll.
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"At the end of the scrimmage," Horne said Wednesday, "John had a good rush on the quarterback and I got a pick. That made everything better. After that pick, that's when I started to get better plays and tackles."
Josh Bookbinder said his goal during preseason camp is to figure out a four- or five-man rotation of inside linebackers to roll out during games. Returning veterans Jacob Rodriguez and Ben Roberts are the presumed starters, but Bookbinder said the competition is fierce for which other players will see time throughout the season.
Horne is in the mix of those other young linebackers. His standout performance in the scrimmage was a good start. The interception he came up with was also a good chance to how off his "ninja hands," as Bookbinder calls them.
"Every time I rush the quarterback," Horne said of Bookbinder, "he says something about my hands."
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The son of a martial arts instructor, Horne is a third-degree black belt, taking part in just about every variation there is. He took up karate when he was around 2 years old and also competed in kickboxing, taekwondo and sanda, which is a mix of all martial arts.
Horne said he gave up martial arts around his junior year of high school, but the skills are transferrable. He credited his past athletic life for his hands and flexibility, and a bit of footwork as well.
"I still do stretches that my dad taught me," Horne said, "basically just meditation and stretches and anything that would help me that's not actually physical."
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Texas Tech's Justin Horne does a drill at a spring football practice, Thursday, March 21, 2024, at Sports Performance Center.
The most notable martial arts achievement for Horne came when he was around 12 or 13. Having already won one tournament, he advanced to another in Biloxi, Mississippi, where he won the grand slam championship by beating opponents much older than him.
"I didn't like my competition at the younger age group, so I did older," Horne said. "It was harder, but that's what I wanted. I feel like me going up against older people, that made that day special."
Horne saw action is just one game last season — the Independence Bowl against Cal — but has seen everything start to slow down in his second year with the Red Raiders.
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"Getting the reps in is really helpful," Horne said. "Like when we're actually going through the motions slowly instead of going, going, going, that's also what slows down things. It's getting higher, higher, higher to my coach's expectations every day."
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Martial arts skills paying off for Texas Tech football's Justin Horne
