Ryan Lankford
Wide Receiver
6′-0″, 175 lbs.
Junior (on scholarship, 3 years to play 2)
Paxon HS / Jacksonville, Florida

ALE Ranking last year: #29

What I Know About Him:

His dad played in the NFL for a long time with the Dolphins. That’s always my go-to with Ryan Lankford. Dad, NFL.

He’s also inseparable from Nathan Scheelhaase. Ok, inseparable might be a bit much. But if you follow our players on Twitter, you know that our three quarterbacks and Lankford are always together. Which makes me hope that Lankford and Scheelhaase will have a sixth sense of each other’s whereabouts on the football field.

What I Expect From Him:

I only have one more receiver to get to on this list. Which, by default, means that I’m expecting Lankford to be our #2 receiver this year. He’s played a lot of football for a junior, so it’s really time for him to take a big step forward. We need receivers to step up in AJ’s absence. Hopefully Lankford makes the biggest strides.

On special teams, I don’t see him returning punts this fall – I think that job goes to either Tommy Davis or Terry Hawthorne. But he might make another appearance as a rugby punter. I actually like the rugby punt when we’re facing a Champaign wind. And Lankford is better at it than any other punter on the roster. That’s what I want from Lankford: #2 receiver and rugby punts.