{"id":218022,"date":"2025-09-11T11:21:12","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T11:21:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/218022\/"},"modified":"2025-09-11T11:21:12","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T11:21:12","slug":"from-navy-to-nfl-rayuan-lane-iii-relishes-his-role-with-jacksonville-jaguars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/218022\/","title":{"rendered":"From Navy to NFL, Rayuan Lane III relishes his role with Jacksonville Jaguars"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Rayuan Lane III arrived for work in Jacksonville, Florida, this summer, he discovered quickly that he had an unusual disconnect with a few of his teammates.<\/p>\n

When they learned he spent his four-year football career at the Naval Academy, suddenly they would picture him as Rambo.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s kind of mind-boggling for them \u2014 they don\u2019t understand too much about the military,\u201d Lane said on a recent phone call, laughing through the anecdote. \u201cThey think I\u2019m in the Army. They think I\u2019ve been living in barracks and shooting guns for the last four years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Playing for a service academy is undoubtedly a different college football experience than most, with morning formations, crisply pressed uniforms and rigorous academics. <\/p>\n

But, like the rest of his new co-workers, Lane also spent the previous four years perfecting his craft on the field, becoming one of college football\u2019s outstanding safeties and perhaps its finest special teams gunner<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The sum of that career \u2014 43 consecutive starts for the Midshipmen with 244 tackles, eight forced fumbles and seven interceptions \u2014 led to the Jacksonville Jaguars spending a sixth-round draft pick on the Gilman School grad this spring (just the fourth Navy player to be drafted this century<\/a>). He watched the draft broadcast at his parents\u2019 house in Howard County, grappling with anxiety.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust staring at the TV for so long, wondering if it was going to happen,\u201d he said. \u201cGetting that phone call from Jacksonville, knowing there\u2019s a program out there that believes in you \u2014 my whole family was ecstatic for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Rayuan Lane III started 43 consecutive games during his career at Navy. (Ulysses Mu\u00f1oz\/The Baltimore Banner)<\/p>\n

But Lane admitted the excitement was \u201ckind of short-lived,\u201d as he quickly shifted focus to making the roster, which he accomplished by the end of training camp by making a tackle in all three preseason games. A Florida summer would be oppressive to most guys suiting up in pads every day but not Lane: \u201cI love the heat. I love the sun beaming down on me.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Sunday, Lane made an NFL debut that once seemed extremely unlikely when he was a zero-star recruit out of Gilman<\/a>. He played gunner on the Jaguars\u2019 punt unit, making an assist on a tackle.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a kid, you always see yourself in that role, always dream of being in the stadium and being part of a real NFL season,\u201d Lane said. \u201cIt\u2019s just kind of different being able to be out there on that field, running around and being out there with your teammates.\u201d<\/p>\n

One day, Lane will be bound back to the parade ground. After graduating from the Naval Academy, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Marine Corps Reserve. But a recently enacted Department of Defense policy that allows graduates to defer service to pursue a pro sports career gave him a window to chase his dreams.<\/p>\n

\u201cReally figuring out that whole process went pretty smoothly,\u201d Lane said. \u201cI had a great support system at the Naval Academy to help me figure all those things. I had to look into it early, but eventually [the deferral] was kind of brought to me as a finished product.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a challenge for the Lane family, which tries to be there for both their sons on game days. Dejuan Lane is a sophomore defensive back at Penn State. Rayuan went to the Nittany Lions\u2019 home opener against Nevada (Dejuan had a sack), and his parents made it to Jacksonville to see the 26-10 victory over the Panthers. <\/p>\n

Lane is part of a Jacksonville secondary that is trying to bounce back from allowing the most passing yards (4,605) in the NFL last season. He was one of a haul of rookies selected to improve the defensive backfield, highlighted by Colorado two-way standout and Heisman winner Travis Hunter. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of cool to see that caliber of athlete on our team, and he\u2019s a great guy on the field and off the field,\u201d Lane said.<\/p>\n

Focusing on his own career, Lane said he felt Navy prepared him well for how he\u2019s handling pro football now. From helping rouse a program comeback to a 10-3 season as a senior<\/a>, Lane is familiar with how to juggle responsibilities (his degree is in qualitative economics) and keep from getting too high on just one victory.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a great thing that he\u2019s started 1-0 in the NFL, Lane said, but there\u2019s a lot more he wants to do this season \u2014 and in a career that is only just beginning. <\/p>\n

\u201cNo doubt it\u2019s a great feeling to win, but obviously we don\u2019t want to make that the big thing we take out of that game,\u201d he said. \u201cWe did good things, but we flush it and we\u2019re on to the next week. The main thing is the mindset and the mentality. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what I learned at Navy,\u201d Lane added. \u201cIt always stays the same.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Rayuan Lane III arrived for work in Jacksonville, Florida, this summer, he discovered quickly that he had…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":218023,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5136],"tags":[5229,8019,3188,723,7310,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-218022","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-american-football","10":"tag-fl","11":"tag-florida","12":"tag-jacksonville","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-united-states-of-america","15":"tag-unitedstates","16":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","17":"tag-us","18":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115185404252245991","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218022","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218022"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218022\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/218023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}