WACO, Texas -- When Baylor’s lifting session ended Tuesday afternoon, strength coach Kaz Kazadi and his staff stepped out of the weight room. Art Briles wasn’t there, nor were his assistants.

Just Baylor’s players. On most days, they’d gather around Kazadi as he stood over them atop a plyo box and delivered a parting message. Instead, their quarterback was front and center.

Seth Russell got up on the box and made a tearful speech to his fellow Bears a day after learning his neck injury will require surgery and end a promising, prolific junior season.

Only his teammates know the full contents of Russell’s message during their players-only meeting. But players said that moment together in the weight room -- a heartfelt talk on a heartbreaking day -- brought them closer together.

Seth Russell is still thinking about his teammates even after a neck injury cut his season short. Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

“In true Seth fashion, it was all about us and not really about him,” Baylor offensive tackle Spencer Drango said of the speech. “Keep going. Don’t do it for me. Do it for the team. Keep playing.

“He got emotional, so it made all of us get emotional. But that helped us.”

For Russell’s go-to receiver, Corey Coleman, seeing the quarterback in a neck brace was overwhelming. He wanted to leave the room.

“It hurt me to see him like this,” Coleman said. “When he talked to us, it really touched my heart. It’s just a bad feeling, because I know how hard he worked. We had big goals and big plans.”

Russell told them he’s not going anywhere. He’ll be on the sideline the rest of the way. He addressed his successor, freshman quarterback Jarrett Stidham, telling him he needs to step up. It’s your team now.

And Russell’s biggest message: Don’t take this opportunity for granted.

“You never know when this game can end for you,” Baylor linebacker Grant Campbell said. “It can be any snap. You never know when your brother is gonna go down.”

Russell’s season ended on a 4-yard run, on a third down late in a 45-27 win over Iowa State. All it took was one helmet-to-helmet hit with ISU cornerback Jomal Wiltz. Russell got up, stood on the field for 30 seconds, shaking his head.

When Russell was on the bench minutes later, a towel draped over his head, teammate Lynx Hawthorne wasn’t sure what to think.

“We kind of thought it was maybe a concussion or something,” the Baylor inside receiver said.

But at least Russell could walk off the field. That seemed like a good sign. Hawthorne knows Russell better than most. They’re hotel roommates for road games and Russell lives just down the street from him. So Hawthorne wandered over to the bench to check on his buddy.

“You could see in his eyes something was definitely wrong,” Hawthorne said.

Russell got the verdict Monday -- he suffered damage to the cervical vertebrae -- upon visiting a specialist in Dallas who recommended surgery. He tried to put on a brave face Tuesday while addressing an undefeated team about to embark on the most challenging stretch of its chase for another Big 12 title and a College Football Playoff bid.

“I’m pretty sure he’s not trying to look panicked or act panicked or anything like that,” Hawthorne said, “because we’re in the part of the season where you don’t want to panic.”

To this point, Russell had been more of a quiet leader for the No. 2-ranked Bears. Even the head coach was surprised to learn Russell had stood up and made a statement. But Briles knows what’s in his quarterback’s heart. He knows what that moment meant.

“These guys, they’re like brothers. It’s all family,” Briles said. “This is all they think and do for 365 days out of the year. We’re all fighting hard for each other and we’re going to rally our tail off to carry on what Seth led us up this point as a football team.”

Teammates have tried to keep things light this week. Drango said they told Russell the neck brace sets him up for a good Frankenstein costume on Halloween. They’re trying to cheer him up, but Russell just wants to make sure his guys are OK.

Coleman still can’t believe that for all he’d just lost, Russell still found a way to crack jokes while sitting in on a meeting of Baylor’s passers and receivers this week.

“That dude got a broken neck,” Coleman said. “I’d be somewhere really upset and sad. And he’s lifting everybody up.”