Ollie Lane is living the dream.
The redshirt-junior Tennessee offensive lineman hails from just 20 minutes down the road from UT's campus, signing with the Vols in 2018 out of Gibbs High School in Corryton, Tennessee.
Lane played sparingly through his first three seasons as a Vol. He redshirted in 2018 before playing in just three games in 2019. Lane didn't see any action last season during Jeremy Pruitt's final year as head coach.
This year, however, in Josh Heupel's debut season on Rocky Top, Lane has appeared in all five games. He made his first career start against Pittsburgh and made his second career start against Missouri.
“I think he’s (Lane) gotten better every single week that he’s been in the rotation," Heupel said this week about Lane. "Gaining more confidence. Started to play faster and anticipate and react to the things that he sees out there.
"He’s a great teammate inside the building, man. You don’t have to worry about him ever not doing the right thing. He cares about the Power T. It means something for him to run out of the ‘T’, him having grown up here. Love having him a part of our program. He’s done a really nice job here the last couple weeks.”
Lane describes representing the 'T' in the way Heupel described as living the dream.
The 6-foot-4, 325 lbs. interior lineman always knew he wanted to be a Vol. Despite all of the recruiting trips while in high school or the thought of playing with his older brother at Austin Peay, the appeal of playing 20 minutes from where he grew up was too big of an opportunity to turn down.
"It was my dream to come and play football here at Tennessee," Lane said. "When I finally got the opportunity, I knew exactly the decision I wanted to make. Through these years of being able to not only have support from my parents but also a huge support from the community.
"After every game this season; I’ve had texts from my high school coaches and stuff. Just how much they’re proud of me and how they continue to use me as an example for their current players of, this is what it takes to do what you want to do and this is kind of like your example.”
Lane isn't just a feel-good story. He's played a key role on a Tennessee offensive line that has helped lead a rushing attack that ranks second in the SEC and seventh nationally at 255.0 yards per game.
And with Cooper Mays continuing to deal with a nagging injury, Lane's role will only continue to increase.
"He’s got good size," offensive line coach Glen Elarbee said. "He’s a really smart football player. He’s awesome personality-wise. I love Ollie."
Elarbee has played an instrumental role in Lane's development since he arrived in Knoxville from UCF with Heupel.
Lane played in a 'Wing T' offense in high school where they wouldn't even throw the football in games. Coming to college, Lane had to quickly adjust to different pass protection techniques. Elarbee has sped up that process, particularly by allowing Lane to grow in his versatility.
"He’s one of those guys that’s going to sit back, and he’s going to talk with you and coach you through things," Lane said. "He’s really going to work with you really well. One thing ever since he’s been here is that we’ve hit being able to play multiple positions, being able to know all the calls, being able to run, if I needed to, being able to run the offense from the center positions as well as also tackle and both guards. So, I mean one thing he’s really worked with me on is just being versatile and being able to do everything that he thinks I can do, and him having that trust and belief in me has helped build my confidence a lot.”
Lane will be back on the field this Saturday, helping pave the way for Tennessee's rushing attack, when the Vols take on South Carolina at 12 p.m. ET on the SEC Network.
