Lane catches on fast

Georgetown star’s value is his versatility

GEORGETOWN — Standing at 6-foot-5 and still hovering right around his playing weight with the Patriots at 315 pounds, Georgetown offensive line coach Max Lane has always been hard to miss on the Royals sidelines.

Lately, however, there’s another Lane who is equally difficult to overlook on every Georgetown game tape. At 6-4, Hunter Lane emerged as one of the area’s top receivers last season as he hauled in 61 balls while helping lead the Royals to their first home playoff game. This season the expectations are equally high for the versatile athlete.

“He might play 11 different positions this year,” said Royals head coach Eric McCarthy, who has played Lane at strong safety and defensive end and will put him at outside linebacker to start this season.

Offensively, McCarthy can roll out formations that have him line up everywhere from a run-blocking tight end to quarterback.

It’s a challenge Lane clearly cherishes, but it’s also clear that wherever he lines up, his mindset will be relatively simple, namely to keep his shoulder pads on past Thanksgiving and soak up every ounce of his final season playing for his dad.

“It’s going to be (emotional), so right now I’m just trying to take it one game at a time and savor it,” Lane said.

After being primarily split out wide last season, the plan is for Lane to play with his hand in the dirt a lot more this season as a traditional tight end. That will also put Lane under the supervision of the Royals’ towering offensive line coach for the first time in his career.

“Up to now, it has been great because I haven’t had to be his coach,” said Max Lane, who was a fixture on the Pats offensive line from 1994-2000, with a wry smile. “It’s been a lot of fun just watching the progression he has made. Even though I’m ready for the season, I’m sure at the end I’m going to be missing it.”

Lane added 20 pounds of muscle to his frame from last season and now tips the scale at 210. It’s an impressive accomplishment, but you will have to excuse his dad if he’s still not satisfied.

“He’s always joking that he needs to cut off some of his weight to give it to me,” Hunter offered with a smile.

“He just eats differently than I do,” his dad fired back. “Whatever I eat, I don’t put my fork down.”

A soccer player growing up, Hunter did not hit the gridiron until his eighthgrade season, and it was shortly thereafter that his father offered his services as a line coach to the newly hired McCarthy. After missing his freshman campaign because of a back injury, Lane snared 10 balls and recorded three touchdowns as a sophomore before last year’s breakout performance.

Lane had a busy summer of football camps from Chestnut Hill to Philadelphia. Right now he lists Villanova, Dartmouth and Holy Cross as his three favorite college choices, and while all three are obviously intrigued by the athletic receiver’s penchant for snaring balls high above opposing cornerback helmets, his 3.53 GPA will not hurt his chances either.

Division 1 powers like Penn State and Boston College also have punched Winter Street in Georgetown into their GPS to see firsthand the receiver who put up nearly 1,200 yards receiving and 15 touchdowns in his third full season in shoulder pads.

“He’s only played for three years, so people are kind of taking a dipstick of where he is now, but every year he has increased immensely both physically and skill-wise,” McCarthy pointed out. “There’s so much potential there.”