Navy Midshipmen Star Rayuan Lane Accepts Invite to Senior Bowl

Navy Midshipmen defensive back Rayuan Lane III will have a chance to show off for NFL scouts at the Senior Bowl.

Navy safety Rayuan Lane III (18) tries to block pass to Memphis' Koby Drake. / Chris Day / USA TODAY NETWORK

At least one Navy Midshipmen’s football career won’t be over after the Armed Forces Bowl.

Defensive back Rayuan Lane III has accepted an invitation to participate in the Senior Bowl, the premier college football all-star game for draft-eligible football players.

The Senior Bowl is set for Feb. 1 in Mobile, Ala.

Lane’s accepts is historic for the program, as he is just the fifth Navy player to earn an invite to the Senior Bowl, joining Napoleon McCallum (1986), Eric Kettani (2008), Joe Cardona (2014) and Chris Swain (2015).

McCallum earned MVP honors in the game and played nine years in the NFL.

It's official Rayuan Lane is going to the Reese's @seniorbowl!#GoNavy | #RollGoats pic.twitter.com/NCYhsUmwBp

— Navy Football (@NavyFB) December 20, 2024

Service academy members can apply for a waiver to play professional sports after graduation, though those waivers are usually reserved for those that make a team, as McCallum did.

Lane is one of the most experienced defensive backs in the country. He has started 42 straight games at safety, which is the longest FBS streak for a safety and the second-longest for any defensive back, behind Ohio State’s Denzel Burke (47). Pro Football Focus ranks Lane as college football’s seventh-best safety.

He enters the Midshipmen’s final game with 66 tackles and two interceptions, one in which he returned for a touchdown. He also forced three fumbles and broke up four passes. His three forced fumbles are tied for the 10th most in the country.

Based on his season, Lane has collected a number of awards, including National Special Teams Player of the Year, First-Team All-American on special teams and Honorable Mention All-American on defense by College Football Network, and First-Team All-American Athletic Conference on defense by the head coaches in the American Athletic Conference.

The invitation is a sign that NFL teams believe Lane is a prospective draft pick or undrafted free agent, which would give him a chance to play pro football. The Senior Bowl’s director, Bill Nagy, is a former NFL scout with four Super Bowl rings who was just interviewed for the vacant general manager’s job with the New York Jets.

All 32 NFL teams send scouts and general managers to the game and to the week leading up to the game, which includes practices, film sessions and opportunities to interact with NFL personnel. Earlier this year, 110 participants in the Senior Bowl were selected in the NFL draft.

Navy (9-3) faces Oklahoma (6-6) in the Armed Forces Bowl on Dec. 27.

The Midshipmen are hoping to become the sixth team in program history to win at least 10 games, joining Navy teams from 1905 (10-1-1), 2004 (10-2), 2009 (10-4), 2015 (11-2) and 2019 (11-2).