Tye Hylton has always had a tendency to stand out on the football field. Standing at 6 ‘5, 272 pounds, the offensive tackle not only has the size to help him excel in football, but a tremendous love for the sport he’s been playing most of his life.

Hylton’s history with the sport began at the age of four years old in the player’s home state of New York when the offensive tackle started playing flag football. Just three years later, Hylton made the switch to tackle football at seven years old. 

After playing on Oviedo’s Freshman Football team in the 2020 season, Hylton made the Varsity team as a sophomore and received a considerable amount of playing time. This isn’t traditionally common for an underclassman, considering the highly competitive nature of Oviedo’s historic football program. 

“My goal freshman year was to work hard at football,” Hylton said. “…but then after that year, I realized I could make something of myself and go D1.”

The next season as a junior was what led Hylton to receive a flood of Division 1 (D1) offers as the Lions went 10-2 in the 2022 season, making it to the second round of the state playoffs after beating the Wharton High School Wildcats. 

“One of my favorite memories was definitely when we played Wharton,” Hylton said. “That was a good game because we went into overtime and came back and won.”

Considering the offensive tackle’s stature, Hylton didn’t have trouble standing out to college recruiters of any division. Although size is an important characteristic of most D1 athletes, Hylton has the skill and drive that earned him his three-star rating out of five stars per 247Sports. 

Hylton’s first offers were from the University of Central Florida (UCF), the University of South Florida (USF), and Marshall University in May 2022. After the player’s junior season, Hylton received 23 other D1 offers from January to May 2023, including the three-star’s future school: Florida State University (FSU).

Many Oviedo students may recall rumors of an FSU helicopter landing on the football field to visit Hylton in the 2022-2023 school year. Although the helicopter never ended up landing on John Courier Field due to complications with the school district, FSU head Coach Mike Norvell still came to visit with Hylton and Oviedo’s head football coach, Greg Odierno.

2023 was Hylton’s year to make a commitment to one of the 26 schools. Starting in March, the player’s first official recruiting visit was to Rutgers University in New Jersey. Hylton went on to visit UF later in the month and a second time in May. Next, the offensive tackle went to Pennsylvania where Hylton visited Pennsylvania State University in early June. 

On June 9, Hylton narrowed the field of choices by revealing the player’s top eight schools: UCF, UF, FSU, Penn State, University of Miami, Texas A&M University, and Vanderbilt University.

Hylton announced a verbal commitment to the Seminoles via an Instagram live on July 14. The three-star celebrated the decision with a Seminole tomahawk chop. 

“It’s definitely a brotherhood over there, it’s like a family- like a true family,” said Hylton.  “Everybody’s cool with everybody, everybody has each other’s backs. It’s a big football environment.”

As of Fall 2023, FSU has the #6 ranked recruiting class in the class of 2024 per 247Sports. This is mainly because much of the team’s offensive and defensive lines will either graduate or go to the NFL draft within the next year. With the Seminole’s recent resurgence of success in college football, the team has earned their first top-five ranking in the Associated Press NCAA Football Poll since 2017 with former head coach Jimbo Fisher. Hylton is one of many skilled recruits who will be filling out the team to continue the Seminole’s recent success with Norvell.