‘It’s crazy to think about.’ Clover’s own Jaylin Lane reflects on path to NFL Draft
In November 2019, on a frigid night in a small town just south of the Carolinas border, Jaylin Lane came to grips that it was all over.
His state championship dreams. His record-breaking career at Clover High School. His time calling his father “coach” instead of “Dad” or “Pops.”
That night, the Blue Eagles had come so close to dethroning Dorman High School in the South Carolina 5A state playoffs — many thanks to Lane’s 14 catches for 281 yards and four touchdowns — but ended a game-winning field goal short, and after time expired, Lane spent the next 30 or so minutes soaking up the finality with his teammates, afraid to take off his high school uniform for the last time.
That November night marked “ends” to several things for Lane, no doubt.
Four and a half years later, though, the former Middle Tennessee State and Virginia Tech standout is embarking on a new “beginning” — one that could officially start in late April, if a team selects him in the 2025 NFL Draft.
When asked to describe his path to last weekend’s moment, Lane laughed.
“It’s crazy to think about, you know, being from a small town in South Carolina and making your way up to the biggest stage in football,” Lane said on Friday, a day before he’d perform at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. “It’s just a blessing. Gotta give all your glory to God for that.”
Lane is coming off a career year at Virginia Tech, one that before the combine had him as a Day 3 (Rounds 5-7) draft projection. The receiver and returner pretty much cemented those projections with an impressive combine. He measured out at 5-foot-10, 191 pounds — with a wingspan of 31 3/4 and a hand size of 9 7/8, which are about the mean for NFL WRs, according to MockDraftable.com. He also recorded a 4.34 in the 40-yard dash, a 40-inch vertical jump, 14 reps on the bench press and an 11’0” broad jump. All that is quite good and in part a product of working with Pete Bommarito in Florida.
If you’re a fan of ACC football, you’ve probably heard of Lane. In his senior season, he started in 11 of the 12 games he played in and led the team in receptions with 38 for 466 yards and two touchdowns. What makes him most compelling as a prospect is his versatility — special teams aces are often found in the later days of the draft — and the value he brought on special teams was undeniable. He had 24 punt returns for 245 yards, including a 58-yard return for a touchdown against Marshall, one in which he caught the ball in traffic and shrugged off the punter’s grip on his face mask en route to stomping into the end zone.
How’s this for versatility: He’s one of four ACC players in the past 20 years to score a TD via reception, passing, rushing and return in the same season, per the Hokies’ game notes.
“I’ve proven I can be explosive on the field, but I want to show that out here, and showcase that wherever I can,” he said in Indianapolis this past week. “In the bench press, in the 40, obviously there’s a lot of explosiveness in there. And then in the route-running, things like that. I just want to show I’m a solid receiver, explosive, and I can get the job done.”
‘A great teammate, even a better brother’
One person who has known about Jaylin’s versatility is his father, Brian, who was the head coach at Clover when Jaylin was there. Brian was in Indianapolis for the week with his wife, Kenya, and other family to see Jaylin compete.
“His drive was just unbelievable,” Brian said of his son, who moonlit as one of the best receivers he’s coached. Brian Lane now coaches at Westside, where he won a state championship in 2023. “I’ve coached kids like that. It’s crazy. I’ve coached five guys who’ve went on to the NFL as a head coach. And hopefully Jaylin will be sixth. And they all had a very similar thing: that work ethic.”
Those five guys: LB Noah Dawkins, WR BJ Johnson, DB Prince Miller, OT Javarius Leamon and K Nic Sciba.
“And of course they had talent, but the work on top of talent,” coach Brian Lane continued. “Jaylin was that guy, man. Devoted. Borderline obsessed. That’s what I tell him, you gotta be obsessed with football to get to this point. And he definitely was. I’m just so proud of him.”
His draft profile, per NFL.com, calls Lane a “semi-versatile slot option with legitimate long speed” who can “stretch defenses from the slot.” The profile notes he has some room for polishing as a route runner but ultimately that his “best qualities give him a chance to stick on a roster,” but that he “might need to earn his keep as a return man early on.”
Lane, at the combine, seemed conscientious of this perception, saying that he wanted to prove to scouts and NFL decision-makers that he can run every route in the route tree, and that his versatility on special teams is real.
One knock on him that wasn’t mentioned was his size, something that was a concern for college coaches coming out of high school. His college tape shed any fear of that. Just ask his former VT teammate and close friend Quan Felton.
“He’s a great teammate, even a better brother,” said Felton, another wide receiver. “We’re always competing in everything we do. ... Size don’t matter when it comes to J Lane. He’s a dawg, and that’s true no matter what size he is. So he doesn’t really think about that. He just goes out there to make plays and show everybody what he got.”
Jaylin has been around football since he was 5 years old, a ball boy for Brian’s teams at Woodruff High and Byrnes before the coach arrived at Clover in 2016. Jaylin earned varsity letters in basketball and track as well as football — the sport that launched him out of the 7,000-person town of Clover and onto the combine’s stage.
“But those are the best moments of your life, and you don’t even realize it while you’re living it,” Lane said, reflecting on Clover again. “My Pops is here today, cheering me on. He took his coach hat off and his dad hat on.”
The truth is, in Jaylin’s case, his father took off his coaching hat on a November night in 2019. That era ended long ago to make way for this new beginning.
But Brian offered a final coaching point to those who are hearing Jaylin’s story for the first time:
“Jaylin is a guy who was undersized, kind of doubted, he was under-recruited in high school, but he never let it stop him,” Brian said. “He never needed very much motivating. And I think if anybody wants to take a lesson from my son, it’s just, ‘Don’t let anybody put a lid on you. Don’t let anyone tell you what you can’t do.’”
This story was originally published March 4, 2025 at 5:30 AM.
