LANDOVER — It takes only seconds to learn all you need to know about Rayuan Lane III. Just watch how he plays one of the most underappreciated roles in football.

As one of Navy’s punt gunners, Lane must fight his way 40 yards to be the first tackler to wrap up — or at least intimidate — the opposing returner. At 5-foot-11 and a shade under 200 pounds, Lane has a way of getting downfield right where he needs to be, no matter how many blockers are in his way.

His coaches consider him one of the best gunners in the country — so does his brother.

“Whether he’s being double-teamed or not, it doesn’t matter. He’s still able to make the tackle,” said Dejuan Lane, a freshman safety at Penn State. “He has the heart, the dog, to want to dominate — you don’t always see that from a star player.”

You wouldn’t know from watching Rayuan Lane do special teams dirty work that he is a star at all, an all-conference safety who is one of the most experienced players on the team. You wouldn’t know that two years ago, when he briefly dipped his toe in the transfer portal, he got offers from UCLA and Notre Dame. You wouldn’t know about his high school career cut short by COVID-19 and the opportunities the pandemic cost him.

Gunning is about picking a direction and sprinting headlong with absolute conviction. In a career defined, in part, by the paths he never took, Lane always kept sight ahead, helping lead a bounce-back campaign for the Midshipmen and defining himself as one of the best players at his position.

“There are a lot of distractions — there are a lot of things that can kind of get you out of your element,” Lane said. “It’s about being willing to do everything you can to keep your main goal your main goal.”

Navy — and Lane — has one more game in the Armed Forces Bowl in Fort Worth, Texas, against Oklahoma. But the annual crescendo of the season is always against Army, which played its 125th game against the Midshipmen on Saturday.

For Lane, it was his 42nd straight start — no safety in the country has a longer streak. It has been an especially productive stretch, too, with 240 career tackles and seven interceptions. Pro Football Focus has ranked him its ninth-best safety this season.

“I’m definitely just appreciating the moment, enjoying the show he’s putting on,” Dejuan Lane said of his brother, whom he watched Saturday from the 200 section of Northwest Stadium. “From zero stars coming out of high school to being on national television. Everybody’s got their own route.”

It’s a great deal more than anyone had any reasonable right to expect when Rayuan Lane came out of Gilman with two scholarship offers, Army and Navy, and almost no fanfare. Then again, there wasn’t much chance to see what he had to offer.

The idea, mom Felecia Lane said, was to go on a grand tour of summer camps in 2020 before his senior season. The pandemic ended any hopes of that. That fall, Lane led the Greyhounds in rushing and scored seven touchdowns … but Gilman played just two games under cautious MIAA guidelines. (Felecia was, by the way, thrilled with the education her sons got and defended Gilman, which has been in the national spotlight after graduate Luigi Mangione was charged with the killing of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson: “Gilman, they’re having kind of a dim light shined on them right now. But having been there, knowing the faculty, we know what both boys experienced when they were there.”)

“From zero stars coming out of high school to being on national television. Everybody’s got their own route.”

Dejuan Lane on his brother Rayuan

The Lane family is a competitive bunch. They face each other in any conceivable competition, from backyard football to rap battles. Another family credo: They don’t dwell on woulda, coulda, shoulda.

“We’re kind of optimistic,” Felecia Lane said. “We believe what is meant for you is meant for you.”

Rayuan Lane quickly took to the idea of joining a service academy (his sister was in the Navy Reserve) and picked Navy because, as he put it, “Annapolis felt like home.” But settling in wasn’t so easy — his plebe summer required him to adapt quickly to the military lifestyle. The tight-knit family didn’t see much of their oldest son that freshman year, which Felecia said was a challenge for him.

But it was his sophomore season when Rayuan, who was starting at safety, started putting everything together. He excelled on special teams with pure hustle, but playing in the Navy secondary required playing with more patience.

“As a freshman, I was out there just running around, really,” Lane said. “In high school football, you can pretty much look at the ball the whole time and go make plays, but it doesn’t necessarily work like that in college. We gotta have disciplined eyes, and you gotta be able to watch film and diagnose plays as they happen.”

Lane’s ability to anticipate and move elevated him from a promising hustler to a savvy defender. Other schools started to notice. In the spring of 2023, before signing his “2 for 7” contract, which would lock him into two more years at the academy and five years of military service, Lane entered the transfer portal — a rarity for a service academy player. Navy was also replacing longtime coach Ken Niumatalolo with defensive coordinator Brian Newberry.

Power conference schools were interested, but he decided he was committed to the path he was on. All the Lanes supported his decision to stay in Annapolis, no matter where else he could have gone.

Rayuan Lane might have been able to play on bigger stages, but the fulfilling part of staying with Navy is being a key piece of its first winning season since 2019. The Midshipmen came into Saturday’s game ranked the No. 3 red zone defense in the country — and they showed their mettle by holding Army to one touchdown. Lane broke up a pass in the end zone against Army’s star quarterback, Bryson Daily.

One of Rayuan Lane’s highlights this season was a pick six against previously undefeated Memphis in September — his touchdown with 23 seconds remaining sealed victory for the Midshipmen and heralded the promise of the team. He stashed the ball as a keepsake, a literal token of what he and his teammates built to this season.

“It is definitely what our senior class aspired to do,” Lane said. “Just to finally get a little bit of a breakthrough with our record and everything — it feels great.”

Rayuan Lane’s football career is ending. This time next year, he’ll be in the Marine ground forces. But, in a way, he gets to see what another path might have looked like. Dejuan Lane has gotten early action for No. 6 Penn State, which will play a first-round playoff game next weekend against SMU.

The family has spent the season dividing time between Navy and Penn State games, with the Lane parents splitting up to support each of their sons. It was a rare luxury that the whole family, including Dejuan, came to Saturday’s Army-Navy game, but in the frigid weather they didn’t spend much time in the Northwest Stadium parking lot. “We’ll get our tailgating in next weekend,” Felecia Lane said.

At 6-foot-2 with a four-star prospect rating, Dejuan has seized some of the opportunities Rayuan never got. He looked enough like Rayuan when Penn State played Maryland, grabbing his first career interception in the Nittany Lions’ blowout victory.

Rayuan Lane said he thinks his brother is the better safety — thanks in no small part to his own guidance. But Dejuan still looks up to him. He probably always will.

“I would definitely say those other schools missed out on Rayuan,” Dejuan Lane said. “Would I say they deserved him? No.”