UW Roster Review, No. 2-99: Around the Horn, Huskies Have Big Foot in Waiting
Two guys wear No. 37 on the University of Washington football team.
Tim Horn and Jack Westover.
One's a placekicker, the other a tight end.
Put them side by side, and it's almost hard to tell them apart.
At 6-foot-3 and 220 pounds, Horn, a sophomore from Honolulu, Hawaii, possesses a noticeably bigger frame than the typical college or NFL kicker, who tends to be a little more on the slight side while possessing a whip-like foot.
After all, Garo Yepremian, one of the game's most legendary field-goal specialists at any level of the game and a Cypriot-American, checked in at a wispy 5-foot-8 and 175 pounds.
Kickers have been so small, in fact, that the meatier and nastier pro football players continually make fun of them, insinuating that perhaps they don't belong in the game at all, that they don't understand it.
Yepremian was mocked with the everlasting slam that, "I kicked a touchdown."
Nobody messes with Tim Horn.
"Tim has a lot of potential, as everyone sees," Husky coach Jimmy Lake said. "He has a strong leg."
Horn also has big shoulders, biceps, thighs, calves, an extra-large body for what he does.
To that end, he has been credited with 1 tackle in his UW career.
Going down the roster in numerical order, this is another of our post-spring assessments of all of the Husky talent at hand, gleaned from a month of observations, as a way to keep everyone engaged during the offseason.
Horn has been the UW kickoff specialist for two seasons since arriving on campus, launching more than 100 of them, looking to do more.
However, he's been unable to dislodge junior Peyton Henry, originally a walk-on from Danville, California, a three-year Husky starter, a 2019 second-team All-Pac-12 selection and a little more compact at 6-foot and 200 pounds, as the lead field-goal kicker.
This past spring practice, the competition between Horn and Henry — the H boys — was closer than ever.
The Hawaiian import, in fact, appeared to have a better overall spring than the incumbent.
Horn's kicks cleared the goal posts by a significantly longer distance, up to 10 yards more, than his fellow Husky booter.
Yet in the spring game, each kicker converted a pair of short-range kicks. Horn was true on 34- and 36-yard field goals, while Henry knocked through 3-pointers from 36 and 39 yards.
Under pressure, it was a wash.
Horn always has been the exception to the rule among the better UW kickers. All-Americans Chuck Nelson and Jeff Jaeger initially were required to walk on with the Huskies, as was Henry, before each received a scholarship,
Since arriving on campus, Horn has been fully paid for.
He and Henry represent a college football rarity — two place-kickers on scholarship at the same time on the same roster. That just doesn't happen.
These two players now enter the fall battling each other for the field-goal and extra-point duty, with the understanding that no one should get complacent, that both guys are worthy of the job.
"I'm excited that we have two quality kickers on our football team," Lake said, confirming that thought.
With one of them bigger than most.
Horn's 2021 Outlook: Kickoff man and projected backup placekicker
UW Service Time: Played in 17 games
Stats: 103 kickoffs with 50 touchbacks, 1 tackle
Individual Honors: Not yet
Pro Prospects: NFL free-agent signee
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