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BYU Football Countdown: Player 62

By Adam Gibby

27 Dec 1997: Running back Eric Lane of the New York Giants tries to break a tackle by linebacker Ed McDaniel of the Minnesota Vikings during a playoff game at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The Vikings won the game 23-22. Mandatory Credi
27 Dec 1997: Running back Eric Lane of the New York Giants tries to break a tackle by linebacker Ed McDaniel of the Minnesota Vikings during a playoff game at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The Vikings won the game 23-22. Mandatory Credi /
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BYU Cougars
(Photo by Gene Sweeney Jr/Getty Images) /

No. 62 Eric Lane – Tailback – 1979-1980

Finding out anything other than statistics for Eric Lane was really difficult. He only played two seasons at BYU before he was drafted in the 1981 NFL draft. He was a transfer player from Chabot Junior College but it is unclear if he was still eligible for one more season after he left and joined BYU.

The most likely scenario is that he left after his junior season since they show him only on the roster for those two years (they are wrong quite often). It probably would have been best if he had stayed one more season with the team considering he wasn’t drafted until the 8th round, but he had a good career with the Seahawks so he can’t be blamed too much for that. Again, he may have left after his senior season, but with his talent and skill, he may have left after his junior season.

While he was with BYU he was in the endzone all the time averaging a touchdown per game. To give perspective, the last player to average a touchdown per game over a two year span was Harvey Unga from 2007-2008.

Rankings

Impact B+

Lane was the leading rusher and third on the team in receiving in 1979 when BYU went 11-1 overall. He also led the team and was fourth on the team in 1980 when BYU was 12-1 overall. IN other words Lane was a very big impact player. The odd thing about Lane was that there were times when he only had one or two rushing attempts in a game, including the famous 1980 Holiday Bowl against SMU.

Statistics B+

There are two areas that hurt Eric Lane in this ranking, only playing for two seasons and the amount of carries that he had overall. Part of that can be blamed on the passing offense that the Cougars were utilizing (nearly 9,000 passing yards while Lane was there). But when he did get the ball he was very effective scoring 27 touchdowns on on 272 touches. That is a 10% scoring rate, extremely high for any player. Lane also had nearly 1,000 yards each season combined with rushing and receiving with an efficient 5.6 yards per carry and 11.0 yards per catch.

Memorable Moments C-

This area really hurts because as mentioned before, in the biggest game of the season in 1980, Eric Lane was almost a non-factor having -4 yards rushing and 9 yards receiving. Lane was also non existent going for only two yards in the 1979 game against No. 16 Texas A&M. He did have himself a really nice game in the infamous 56-6 thumping against the Utes where he went for three scores including 77 rushing yards and 56 receiving yards. He had other nice games, however most of those came in blowout wins.

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