Temple University Athletics
The Other Side of the Line: Kevin Hornbeak’s Path to Temple
10.1.26 | Football
For years, Kevin Hornbeak Jr. lined up behind center with his eyes fixed on the defense.
These days, quarterbacks have to keep an eye on him.
Before becoming a defensive tackle at Temple, Hornbeak spent most of his football life at quarterback. The two positions occupy opposite sides of the ball and require entirely different skill sets, but Hornbeak has found that his past behind center still follows him onto the defensive line
"I can really diagnose plays well because I played quarterback," Hornbeak said. "I kind of know what's coming before it even comes."
His teammates see it, too.
"He is a very intelligent kid," fellow defensive lineman Kaleb Artis said. "Coming from quarterback to now playing D-line, he knows a lot about the defense and also the offense. He tells us easy keys, a lot of tendencies that offenses may have."
It is an unusual combination of experiences, but little about Hornbeak's path to Temple has followed a straight line.
Growing up in Toledo, Ohio, Hornbeak was raised primarily by his mother, who introduced him to sports at an early age. He tried just about everything. He swam. He played basketball and baseball, including travel ball.
But football, and his position at quarterback, was the constant.
Hornbeak played quarterback throughout his childhood and into high school at Whitmer. Then, during his junior year, a serious ankle injury put his future in the sport in doubt.
"I tore all the ligaments in my left ankle, and I was like, 'I'm not gonna play football anymore. I'm done,'" Hornbeak said.
He wasn't.
Hornbeak returned for his senior season, helping Whitmer to an 11-2 record and a playoff appearance. Still, when the season ended, the college football opportunities he had hoped for were not there.
Another sport offered him a way forward.
One of his mentors, the father of his high school teammate Bryce Keller, noticed the explosiveness Hornbeak displayed on the football field and suggested he try track and field. Hornbeak took his advice and gave throwing a chance.
It did not take long for the decision to pay off.
"The first track meet I had, I won it," Hornbeak said. "So I'm like, 'Yeah, I might as well just start throwing, man.'"
The same explosiveness that had served Hornbeak on the football field translated naturally to the throwing circle. He competed in shot put, hammer, and weight throw, and track ultimately provided his path to Tiffin University.
Football, however, never really left the picture.
Hornbeak arrived at Tiffin on a track scholarship, but he still wanted to play football. After being unable to walk on as a freshman, he joined the team the following year.
When a new coaching staff arrived, Hornbeak got his chance to play. It came with a position change.
He moved to the defensive line.
Despite spending his football career at quarterback, the transition did not feel as drastic to Hornbeak as it might have looked. The position allowed him to use the explosiveness that had served him in both football and track, while his years at quarterback gave him a different perspective on the offense in front of him.
There was another part of the position that suited him, too.
"I feel like I'm just angry a lot, so D-line, that really helped me," Hornbeak joked. "You get to really be angry out there."
Hornbeak developed into a regular contributor on Tiffin's defensive front. In 2024, he recorded 13 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss, a sack, three quarterback hurries, a forced fumble and a blocked kick. A year later, he finished with 16 tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks in 11 games.
Following the 2025 season, Hornbeak entered the transfer portal, and Temple was one of the first programs to call. When he arrived in Philadelphia for a visit, head coach K.C. Keeler gave the Toledo native another reason to consider becoming an Owl.
Temple was going to Toledo.
"One of the first things Coach Keeler told me was we're playing Toledo Week 3," Hornbeak said. "I was like, 'Dude, it's only right. Like, it's only right I go here and come back home.'"
Hornbeak transferred to Temple in January. Coming from Division II, he was not entirely sure what to expect from a Division I locker room. Instead of the egos he had heard about, he found a group that welcomed him immediately.
"When I got here, they embraced me as if I was already here," Hornbeak said. "So I'm like, 'Man, this feel like home.'"
That connection extends beyond the football facility. Hornbeak lives in the same apartment complex as several of his teammates, and his apartment has become one of the places they gather to watch film, spend time together and talk about how they can improve.
Artis was among the teammates Hornbeak spent much of his summer with.
"We just talk about football and we talk about how we all get better in all aspects," Artis said. "It's not just individually, but the whole entire D-line room all across the board."
That time together has also given Hornbeak opportunities to share his experience with the rest of the room. Artis said he helps make younger and less experienced players comfortable while sharing what he sees on the field.
"He's a mature guy when it comes to football," Artis said. "He has experience, and he knows how to bring a room altogether."
But Artis said Hornbeak also knows when it is time to lighten things up.
"When it's time to go, it's time to go," Artis said. "But, like, we know when to have fun and when not to."
The discipline Artis sees in Hornbeak is something Hornbeak traces back to Toledo and his mother, Samantha.
Growing up, Hornbeak said she filled both parental roles and kept him on a "tight leash." That has not stopped just because her son is now playing college football eight hours away.
"To this day, at the game, she's recording me and sending me videos, like, 'Kev, like, you're not low enough on this play,'" Hornbeak laughed. "I'm like, 'How? What do you know about being low enough, man?'"
Hornbeak might joke about the critiques, but her presence at his games still matters.
"I need that," Hornbeak said. "I love seeing my mom at games."
His decision to come to Temple eventually brought one of those games back to her.
In Week 3, Hornbeak returned to Toledo and the Glass Bowl, the same stadium where he played his high school football. On Temple's first defensive play, Hornbeak forced a fumble that the Owls recovered.
The player who once thought an ankle injury might end his football career had returned home playing Division I football at a position he never expected to play.
By the time he returned, his expectations for where football could take him had changed, too.
Just a year earlier, Hornbeak was preparing for the possibility that his time in the sport was nearing its end. A finance and accounting major, he planned to become a financial advisor. Football was something he loved, but not necessarily something he expected to build his future around.
"I was probably like, 'I'm not going pro,'" Hornbeak said. "I'm gonna be a financial advisor. I'm going to just play football because I love it so much."
He still wants to become a financial advisor someday. What has changed is what he believes can happen before then.
"Now I'm like, I think I could go out there and compete with anybody," Hornbeak said.
After years of finding new ways to stay connected to a sport he once thought he was finished with, Hornbeak is no longer preparing for football to end. He wants to find out how far it can take him.
And for the first time, he has a clear answer for where he hopes that will be.
"Of course, it's to go pro," Hornbeak said. "One thousand percent."
