To make the squad, Bucs FB Jorvorskie Lane has to continue to catch the ball and play special teams. Photo courtesy of Buccaneers.com.

Every once in a while Joe will get asked about fullback Jorvorskie Lane: “Will he or won’t he make the team? Why won’t the Bucs keep a fullback?”

Having dealt with the oppressive heat and humidity of a Tampa summer day more than a few times at Bucs training camp, Lane, if he is kept on the 53-man roster, would be the lone fullback.

Unless former Florida State fullback Lonnie Pryor totally blows up the next couple of weeks and/or becomes a special teams warrior, Pryor is on the outside looking in. Nothing against the guy at all. Joe hasn’t seen him take a snap with the first team and making the final-53 is simply a numbers game (Joe has seen “Internet reports” on Twitter stating Pryor will start for the Bucs at fullback come September. Barring injuries, this cannot be further from the truth).

Joe is not the only scribe getting questions about Lane. So too is multimedia maven Scott Smith of Buccaneers.com, who explains how and if a fullback would be used in Jeff Tedford’s offense.

Back at the owners’ meetings in March, Coach Smith said that there was room for a fullback in the offense he and Jeff Tedford would be installing. He has also said, on more than one occasion, that the fullback position has become somewhat marginalized in the NFL and that quality ones are hard to find these days. And that has always been my point.

If the Buccaneers could not find a fullback they would actually feel comfortable playing on a significant number of snaps, I think it’s possible they would not keep one and use an H-back or perhaps a bigger back like Mike James when needed. I do think they would prefer to keep a fullback, however, and so it’s particularly good news if one of them stands out in training camp. And Lane has certainly stood out.

Smith also noted something in Lovie Smith’s recent comments that for a fullback to make the team, he must be good at special teams, in addition to being able to catch the ball out of the backfield.

Lane has demonstrated he can catch; he has decent to good hands. The question is, can he play special teams? Only time will tell.