After making seven catches for a career-high 198 receiving yards and a touchdown, the nation was reminded of the hardships Colorado Buffaloes wide receiver Jimmy Horn Jr. is playing through.
“Jimmy just came back from court seeing his father’s sentence, man,” CU head coach Deion Sanders said in the postgame presser. “And he’s gonna turn around and flip it and come out there and give you that?”
Immediately, the college football world felt for Horn. They had the same wonder as Sanders: how could someone perform at such a high level despite the circumstances?
Yet, no one would have guessed if Coach Prime didn’t bring it up.
“Jimmy comes to work every day with a professional mindset, that’s the only thing he knows,” assistant coach and WRs coach Jason Phillips said of Horn. “He gives us his best effort on every day. So its been a joy to coach him on the field. But off the field, he’s a great kid, very joyful, a pleasure to be around.”
Horn addressed the media on Thursday, discussing his huge season-opener and hatred for red, just as he did before last year’s Week 2 matchup against the Nebraska Cornhuskers. The same 5-foot-10, 170-pound Horn stood in front of the media as before. Quiet, yet confident with a Florida accent foreign to Boulder ears.
With Sanders’ postgame quote on the minds of Horn and his media scrum, though, the wideout eventually dove deeper into his father’s situation and spoke of their postgame chat. In the same tone he responded to all the other questions, Horn shared that the talk was the last for a while due to his father heading to prison.
“I just gotta go even harder, ya feel me?” Horn said. “It just felt good to talk to him, that just pushes me even more. It’s a lot of adversity that go on through life. You just gotta keep thriving and pushing through. That game there, that was a career-high for me and I ain’t gonna let that get to me. I’ma just keep going, keep grinding. I’m hungry, for real.”
In a locker room of 100 players, Horn isn’t the only one fighting a battle and many teammates will never experience what the soon-to-be 22-year-old is going through. Either way, Horn’s resilience and focused mindset speak to those within the Colorado football program, especially when it translates to the field.
Knowing what he has to do for himself and his family members, which has extended to the Colorado football program, Horn looks to continue his stellar performance in hopes of “making it right for pops when he gets out,” as Coach Prime said. But, it may just fuel a Buffs team heading into a hostile Memorial Stadium.
“I just play with a chip on my shoulder, that’s really what drive me,” Horn said. “I know what I’m doing this game for and I love this game. I do it for me and I do it for the ones I love.”
Cover photo by Talus Schreiber/Sko Buffs Sports
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