Penn State safety transfer Dejuan Lane committed to Tennessee football Saturday afternoon following his weekend visit to Knoxville according to CBS Sports Matt Zenitz. Lane spent the first two years of his college career at Penn State before following defensive coordinator Jim Knowles and safeties coach Anthony Poindexter to Tennessee.
Lane was a backup safety for Penn State most of last year, starting in three games but playing in 12. The Maryland native totaled 290 snaps, earning a 71.0 PFF grade for his play. For comparison, Tennessee safety Edrees Farooq earned a 69.1 grade while Kaleb Beasley earned a 61.0 grade and Andre Turrentine earned a 59.3 grade.
The 6-foot-2, 212-pound safety 29 tackles and one sack during his sophomore season. In coverage, opponents targeted him 13 times where he allowed 11 catches for 139 yards and a touchdown.
Lane is a former four-star recruit in the 2024 recruiting class. However, he is unranked in the transfer portal according to 247sports. On3 ranks him as a three-star transfer and the No. 138 player in the portal.
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The rising junior fills a major need on Tennessee’s roster. Turrentine is the only safety that the Vols lost who played meaningful snaps last season. However, Tennessee’s safety play was very poor a season ago which created a need for the Vols to be active inn the portal.
It’s unclear if Tennessee will continue to be aggressive recruiting transfer safeties. The Vols have also been linked to Georgia transfer Joenel Aguero
Lane is the fourth Penn State player to commit to Tennessee out of the transfer portal this cycle. The Vols have also landed defensive tackle Xavier Gilliam, linebacker Amare Campbell and edge rusher Chaz Coleman.
Tennessee has now landed nine players in the transfer portal including Lane, Gilliam, Campbell, Coleman, Kansas State nickel back Qua Moss, LUS offensive tackle Ory Williams, Auburn cornerback Kayin Lee, Louisville kicker Cooper Ranvier and Eastern Kentucky linebacker/long snapper Blake Howard.
