So what is Washington getting in their fourth-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, now former Virginia Tech wide receiver Jaylin Lane?
Fontel Mines coached Lane for just two seasons after Lane transferred following three seasons at Middle Tennessee, but Mines had been watching Lane since high school, trying to recruit him to East Carolina when he was the Inside receivers coach and recruiting coordinator there in 2020.
When Lane entered the portal, though, this time, VA Tech and Mines had an edge: defensive recruiting coordinator and cornerbacks coach Derek Jones, who is friends with Lane’s father, Brian, from their days playing against each other in high school in upstate South Carolina.
“His dad reached out to us, he took two visits, and was in the portal the next day and ready to roll,” Mines said. ““We were in need of dynamic playmakers to kind of change our offense; we had some young talent, but we needed some veterans to come in that were proven and could play right away, and he was a no-brainer, man. My offensive coordinator at the time, Tyler Bone, I think he watched two clips versus Miami and then he turned off the tape like, ‘what are we doing here?’ Let’s go het him, this is a no-brainer.”
Where he fits into the Commanders’ WR room remains to be seen, but one thing that can be surmised is he will be near the top of the list for kick and punt return duty from Day 1, as that’s where he made a lot of hay in college.
Lane was First Team All-Conference USA punt returner in 2021 (and Honorable Mention at kick return), and Second-Team All-CUSA in 2022, and he was Third Team All-ACC return specialist last season, so even if he steps right in for the combo of Jamison Crowder and Luke McCaffrey the Commanders mainly deployed last year, he could be an impact player from the jump.
“He’s fearless. He can't be shaken, he can't be broken. There's no doubt in my mind he would have led the country in punt return yardage had he just fair caught five of them, but there was no kick he was not going to field,” Mines said. “But that's how he is, because he wanted to impact the game in some way, and just knowing opportunity may be limited, especially in college, he wanted to make sure he can find a way to impact the game.”
Listen to Mines’ entire visit with Lynnell & Denton above!