In a 42-3 defeat to Michigan State on Saturday, the Illinois football team suffered an even bigger loss than what was on the scoreboard.

The Illini watched wide receiver Ryan Lankford, one of only 12 scholarship seniors on the team, take a reverse on the third play of the second quarter against the Spartans. Looking to lateral back the other way to Martize Barr, Lankford was hit by Michigan State’s Shilique Calhoun and fumbled. In the frantic scramble for the ball, few noticed Lankford grabbing at his shoulder after the play.

“I got hit, it loosened up, it came dislocated and was kind of drug into the ground,” Lankford said. “I tried to get up with both my hands and could only push up with one and I knew right then, ‘Oh man, it’s worse than it was before.’ Went off the field, took my shoulder pads off, which took me a while. I looked in the mirror and said, ‘Aw man, going to need some surgery on this guy.’”

The diagnosis: a dislocated shoulder — requiring surgery that spells the end to his Illini career.

“It’s tough. When you take a man’s senior year from him, with five games left to play, it’s tough on him,” head coach Tim Beckman said.

The shock of ending a collegiate career in one play — a play in which he wasn’t even supposed to have the ball for more than a moment — overwhelmed Lankford in the locker room.

“It was really tough for me. I came in, not going to lie, I cried. It was not looking good,” he said. “I’ve never really had any injuries. Last year’s high ankle sprain was the worst injury I’ve had in my career until now.”

The news especially hit hard in the midst of a three-game losing streak for the Illini, with all three losses coming by more than 20 points. The team is currently on an 18-game conference losing streak, a program record. After a 3-1 start, the hopes for a bowl game are beginning to fade with perennial powers Penn State and Ohio State still on the schedule.

“I’m telling them, I’m all right, I’m OK,” Lankford said. “I’m not dead, I’m still here walking, surgery is going to go fine. Don’t worry about me. Yeah, I would love to be out there, but don’t focus on me. We’ve still got a season ahead of us and an opportunity to get into a bowl game, a great bowl game, so don’t worry about me.”

“I thought he’d be out a week, you didn’t know it’d be season-ending surgery,” wide receivers coach Mike Bellamy added. “This whole journey is shortlived at some point. But I want to be the guy that he calls in 20 years saying ‘Coach, I just opened my own business. Come see my kids graduate from high school.’ That’s the kind of relationship I want to have, and I think we’re on that path. Fortunately, he’s still going to be around.”

Even though Lankford won’t be on the field, he will still be a part of the Illini football team, serving alongside Bellamy as a coach to assist the younger players and help the team. Both Lankford and Bellamy referenced a similar situation in 2011, when top Illini receiver A.J. Jenkins sat out all of spring practice with an injury but was there to tutor a then-inexperienced Lankford to take the leap into the starting lineup.

Now it’s Lankford’s turn to be the teacher, working with the younger crop on the practice field and in the film room.

“That’s the first thing he said,” Bellamy said. “When A.J. was out, he helped him. He wants to give back to that, he said, ‘I’m going to be there for you, coach, to help the young guys out.’ That’s the commitment that these leaders have, they want to see everybody succeed.”

The Illini will miss both Lankford’s production and presence on the field. Lankford ranked third on the team in catches with 15, second with 308 yards as well as second with an average of 20.5 yards per catch. But just having the former Illinois track athlete on the field instantly commands the attention of the opposing team’s safety to defend against the deep threat.

“Obviously losing Ryan is a tough blow but we have guys that can step up and do not exactly what Ryan could because he’s one of the fastest guys on the team, but it’s just next guy up,” tight end Jon Davis said. “First guy off my head is Justin Hardee because he hasn’t had the opportunities with our deep receiving corps.”

One positive for the Illini is that wide receiver is one of the deepest positions on the roster. Even without Lankford, three seniors remain on the depth chart — including a healthy Steve Hull who is recovered from a head injury sustained against Wisconsin. Behind seniors Hull, Miles Osei and Spencer Harris, the Illini have Barr to go with seldom-used Justin Hardee and Dionte Taylor. Even Devin Church made the switch this week from running back to wide receiver. Those four players figure to be the ones to see additional action in Lankford’s absence.

“Somebody else is going to have to do it,” offensive coordinator Bill Cubit said. “Is it Hardee because he can run a little bit? Is it Church? We got to find those out. I always say that when a guy is a second-teamer, and he plays with the first team, we find out how good he really is. We’ll find out with those guys this week, are they ready for a primetime game?”

Cubit’s offense spreads the ball around to many different targets, so losing a No. 1 receiver like Lankford could be a little easier to bear. The Illini have nine players who have caught at least seven passes, and it’s not just the wide receivers who get involved in the passing attack. The team’s leader in yards is a running back in Josh Ferguson, and 10 of the Illini’s 14 passing touchdowns have gone to tight ends and running backs.

Coming off the offense’s worst appearance of the season, just three points and 128 yards against Michigan State, Illinois will need to bounce back to get off the losing skid. Fortunately, Cubit is known for his multiplicity in game-planning, something that the offense relishes each week.

“Every Monday or Tuesday, it’s a new Christmas gift that the offense gets to open up and play with,” Bellamy said. “So we’ll see what we break out on Saturday.”

Stephen can be reached at [email protected] and @steve_bourbon.