A typical day in the atypical life of one 2025 NFL draft prospect begins the unusual with the usual. Alarms sound at 6:30 a.m. sharp on the former grounds of Fort Severn. “The Yard,” as the U.S. Naval Academy is known to its cadets, wakes up quickly: Formation starts at 7 a.m.; classes at 7:50; breakfast, inhaled in between. At 11:45, this prospect uses his “break” to lift weights, study game film, recover and refuel. Then, more classes. Then, more workouts, speed and agility focused … or technique driven … or more film or weights or recovery until … 8 p.m. Then, a mandatory two-hour study period. Followed by his only “free” time, which is … “Pretty much,” the prospect says, “just sleep.”
These cadets become Ensigns in the Navy or Second Lieutenants in the Marine Corps. Many go to war. Most know what’s brewing in the geopolitical hemisphere, all the threats and conflicts. Many will commit to at least five years, anyway. This is their duty. Their .
And then there is Rayuan Lane III. He will complete his Academy requirements this spring. He will fulfill his five-year commitment soon-ish. For now, Lane will pursue another career where futures remain uncertain and daily schedules feature motivational slogans such as : .
He’s ready. No one questions that. Ready, in fact, … and not in the misguided, metaphorical sense. He’s ready for war, so this other career, in professional football, which is war, will somehow present lower stakes than what he has already prepared for and perhaps his only chance to fulfill the dream he has toiled toward his entire life.
Imagine that investment: week after week … that schedule … football in the fall … practices and film review and games … while world leaders fight … and war breaks out in Ukraine … and in Gaza … and so many countries, all over the world, shout and threaten in anger, division, conflict. Imagine the concentration required. The scheduling. The .
He’s not the excuse-summoning type. Even though Lane chose the Naval Academy for football and may also end up in conflicts where the stakes are life or death. In and of itself, a legitimate NFL prospect from any of the service academies is rare. At present, there are six graduates from one of three service academies playing in the NFL.
Lane wants to be the seventh.
