Ever since he could remember, Chase Horne sat on his couch watching WWE SmackDown on Friday nights.
As a child, Horne was captivated by the Hardy Boyz as the tag team jumped off ring ropes and landed on opponents. Already a hyper kid with a brother three years older than him, it didn’t take the Horne brothers long to start imitating the moves they saw on TV on the couch, trampolines and even the neighborhood pool.
It eventually brought their parents to enroll the brothers in wrestling practices. Horne went on to win four Georgia State championships as a high school heavyweight and committed to N.C. State. But after a redshirt freshman year and inconsistent playing time, Horne transferred to a Maryland program in need of a heavyweight.
“I only have a limited time in college. So I really want to get my time to compete and wrestle and have fun,” Horne said. “I just needed an opportunity.”
Horne’s father first took him to a wrestling practice when he was six — and the experience stunned him. Expecting to see WWE moves and flying acrobatics, he watched technical motions on the mat instead.
Horne picked up the skill quickly. By seventh grade, Horne was talented enough that he practiced with his older brother on the high school varsity team.
“It’s the only time we’ve ever allowed a seventh grader to come up and practice with high school, with parental consent,” said Mitch Lawhorn, Horne’s high school wrestling coach. “Chase was definitely way more mature than a lot of his middle school counterparts.”
Regardless of the age difference, Horne was competitive in practice. Lawhorn credited Horne for improving his practice partners during training, who both later won state titles.
[Maryland wrestling continued its slow climb through the Big Ten]
It was not until eighth grade that Horne broke out.
His moment came during Christmas break when Horne was partnered with his older brother, then a senior. The two got paired in “take down kings,” a drill where athletes aim to record as many takedowns in two minutes as possible. Even with an 80-pound difference, Lawhorn said Horne “embarrassed” his brother.
The drill’s intensity continued to escalate as the two exchanged blows and were separated by the coaching staff. The Horne brothers didn’t speak to each other during dinner that night.
Lawhorn and another coach noticed the brothers had gotten close to blows before in the previous few practices.
“This is going to happen today,” Lawhorn remembers telling another coach ahead of the practice.
A year later, Horne dominated the Georgia high school wrestling scene. He finished his career with a 194-2 record while winning two Georgia State Titles at the 220-pound weight class and two at the heavyweight class. His only two losses came as a freshman, Lawhorn said.
Horne’s high school success caught the attention of N.C. State, who reached out to him during his sophomore campaign. Horne could not take an official visit due to COVID-19 restrictions, so the Wolfpack sent four-time All-American Trent Hidlay to Georgia to recruit him.
Horne arrived in Raleigh as MatScout’s No. 3 recruit at the 285-pound weight class, but elected to redshirt his freshman season because of a crowded heavyweight room.
The competition did not get easier for Horne as he progressed through college. Fellow heavyweight Owen Trephan was just a year older than him, and sixth-year Isaac Trumble jumped from 197 to the heavyweight class last year, earning an All-American nomination.
[Maryland wrestling star Ethen Miller transfers to Virginia Tech]
Horne’s coaches recommended that he drop down to the 197-pound class to compete more, but Horne’s transition was tough. To make the weigh-in for his new weight class, Horne needed to drop about 53 pounds.
“It was an insane cut and something that really hindered my performance,” Horne said. “I was way more worried about the weight than the actual wrestling I was doing.”
The experience drove Horne to the transfer portal. He believed he’d transfer to West Virginia, until he received a notification. The message did not come through the transfer portal, but instead from Maryland’s All-American Jaxon Smith over Snapchat.
Smith and Horne knew each other growing up in Georgia and played on the same travel wrestling club.
“Before I got the portal, I was thinking [Maryland] could be someone who may want to reach out,” Horne said. “I was pretty set on West Virginia, and then he reached out and completely shifted me.”
Maryland’s coaching staff soon arranged for Horne to visit on Easter. Not long after his visit, he committed.
The move was necessary for Maryland as heavyweight Seth Nevills’ graduation left a room with just 20 combined collegiate matches between three other heavyweights.
Horne now hopes to bolster that position for the Terps and add to a program that has gradually won more conference matches in the last three seasons.
“This is the best I’ve felt,” Horne said. “I’m gonna win a lot of matches. I’m gonna be totally different than some of my past results.”
