A former UCF football player has made a name for himself with his voice. Mike Lynche, who played in 20 games as a Knight from 2001-02, has made the cut for the Top 24 on the extremely popular FOX TV show American Idol.
Lynche, whose competition dramatically overlapped with his wife’s final days of pregnancy, was amongst the first contestants to find out on last night’s show that they had made the cut to advance on in their quest for stardom.
Lynche played defensive tackle for the Knights from 2001-02. He made an immediate impact as a freshman out of St. Petersburg’s Gibbs High School which also served as UCF’s practice site for the 2009 St. Petersburg Bowl.
Lynche had 24 tackles in 2001, 17 of them solos, with eight tackles for loss and a sack. As a sophomore in 2002, Lynche played in all 12 games and started each of the last three. He had at least one tackle in 11 of those contets and finished the year with 46 tackles in all, including a pair of sacks and six TFLs.
He left the team just before the start of the 2003 season to return to his native St. Petersburg and help care for his ailing mother, Michele.