Annapolis, Md.—Navy senior safety Rayuan Lane III has accepted an invitation to play in the Reese’s Senior Bowl All-Star Game on Feb. 1 in Mobile, Ala. The game is slated to kickoff at 2:30 PM (ET), 1:30 PM (CT) and will be televised live on the NFL Network.
The Reese’s Senior Bowl is widely regarded as the preeminent college football all-star game. More than 900 NFL personnel, including key decision-makers from all 32 teams, and over 1100 media members from around the country were credentialed last year. This past April, the game produced 110 draft picks, representing 43 percent of the entire NFL draft.
Lane 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.
Lane III has had a standout senior campaign for Navy as he was named the 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 AAC.
Lane III has recorded 66 tackles on the year with two interceptions, one in which he returned for a touchdown that clinched the win over Memphis, forced three fumbles and broke up four passes. His three forced fumbles are tied for the 10th most in the country.
He has started 42-consecutive games for the Mids at safety, the longest start-streak in the FBS for a safety and second longest for a defensive back (Denzel Burke of Ohio State has started 47 consecutive games) and Pro Football Focus ranks him as the seventh best safety in the FBS.
Navy (9-3) will travel to Fort Worth, Texas on Monday to continue preparations for the Oklahoma Sooners (6-6) in the Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl on Friday, Dec. 27. Kickoff is set for 12 noon (ET), 11:00 AM (CT) at Amon G. Carter Stadium (46,000) on the campus of TCU. The game will be televised by ESPN and broadcast by the Navy Radio Network and by Bowl Radio.
This will be the second meeting between the Mids and the Sooners and the first since 1965 when Navy won 10-0 in Norman. A win would make the 2024 Navy team just the sixth in school history to win 10 games in a season joining the teams from 1905 (10-1-1), 2004 (10-2), 2009 (10-4), 2015 (11-2) and 2019 (11-2).
Next Friday’s game against Oklahoma will mark the first time that Navy has played a team from the SEC in a bowl game since 1954 (1955 Sugar Bowl) when the Team Named Desire shutout Ole Miss 21-0.
Navy last beat a team from the SEC in 2004 when the Mids knocked off Jay Cutler and the Vanderbilt Commodores 29-26. Navy also defeated Missouri 35-13 in the 2009 Texas Bowl, but the Tigers were in the Big 12 at the time.
