Luther Burden III’s journey — from the Herbert Hoover Boys and Girls Club to Cardinal Ritter to East ºüÀêÊÓƵ High; from five-star Oklahoma commit to Mizzou Tiger; from I-70 billboards to Luther Burden Honey BBQ Red Hot Riplets; from a roller-coaster freshman year to a steamroller sophomore year — has taken us here, to 2024, to the moment in the making.
Named to the SEC’s preseason first team, Burden is primed for one of the best years a Mizzou receiver has ever had.
OK, but will it be better than Danario Alexander’s 2009?
It was Alexander — and not Jeremy Maclin or Justin Gage or Chase Coffman — who compiled the benchmark for ball-catchers in black-and-gold. In 13 games of 2009, the senior Alexander caught 113 passes (a Mizzou single-season record) for 1,781 yards (a Mizzou single-season record) and 14 touchdowns (yep, a Mizzou single-season record).
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Last season, also in 13 games, the sophomore Burden finished with 86 catches for 1,212 yards and nine touchdowns.
So, will Burden’s catches catch Alexander?
I’ll let you know later in this column, but first let’s look at Luther, the ºüÀêÊÓƵ native, as he heads into 2024. Because it’s as if everything has fallen into place specifically for No. 3 to score six.
Brady Cook, fresh off a stint as a Manning Passing Academy counselor, is back at quarterback (incidentally, how cool is this — Mizzou is likely a top-15 team and arguably poised for the 12-team playoff … and its two-best players are both from ºüÀêÊÓƵ). Numerous offensive linemen return from the 11-win Tigers, as do multiple receiving threats. This last note could be a problem for Burden’s quest, because they’ll all get their share of balls, though one wonders if their receiving talents might keep defenses from doubling up on Burden at times.
And, sure, as we see every season, some team we weren’t anticipating turns out to be formidable. But as of now, it seems like the Tigers dodged the majority of SEC studs on their schedule. There is no Georgia, Texas, Mississippi, LSU or Tennessee. And the year they draw Alabama, it’s the first year after Nick Saban retired. And Oklahoma, returning to Columbia like the good ol’ days on Nov. 9, is ranked below Mizzou in the SEC media preseason poll.
And surely the most-telling omen for Burden is … he received a 94 rating (out of 100) on the much-anticipated relaunch of the EA Sports College Football ’25 video game.
As for Alexander, his 2009 season was fascinating for a number of reasons. Notably, he entered the season with 997 receiving yards — not from the previous season, but from all three of his previous seasons combined. With more opportunities and new quarterback Blaine Gabbert in 2009, he hauled in the historic 1,781 yards.
Even so, a little past the midway point, he was having a great year, but not an otherworldly year. After seven games, entering Halloween, Alexander had 50 catches for 701 yards.
But in the final six games, he had 63 catches for 1,080 yards.
Unreal, right?
In each of those final six games, he had 100 or more receiving yards and scored at least one touchdown. He scored three against Kansas State. And against Kansas, a game Mizzou trailed at the half, Alexander finished with 15 catches and 233 receiving yards. He had the nation’s most receiving yards and the third-most receptions and receiving touchdowns, yet wasn’t a finalist for the Biletnikoff Award.
To finish his football tale, Alexander underwent left knee surgery in February of 2010. It likely impacted his draft status … because he went undrafted. But the ºüÀêÊÓƵ Rams signed him. In two years here, he had 46 catches for 737 yards and three scores.
In 2012 for San Diego, he caught 37 passes for 658 yards and, incredibly, seven touchdowns.
Alas, he had an ACL injury in 2013 and never played again in the National Football League.
But Alexander is forever a Tiger legend — his totals were so absurd in 2009, he has the most Mizzou receiving yards for a career (2,778).
After two years, Burden is 20th with 1,557.
So will Luther catch Danario?
I say Burden will break the touchdown mark by catching 15 or more.
But I don’t think he’ll eclipse the reception or yards records.
Again, Mizzou has so many other guys who are high-level pass catchers, so they’ll get their chances. And from 2017 through last year, only two players have tallied more receiving yards in a year than Danario did. One was a guy from Western Kentucky named Jerreth Sterns. The other was Alabama’s Heisman winner DeVonta Smith.
Still, 15-plus touchdowns for Burden is an insane amount, yet a realistic amount for the man nicknamed, well, “Touchdown Luther.â€
Oh, and there’s a caveat. Right now, Mizzou is scheduled for 12 games. A bowl would be 13 ... but an invitation to the College Football Playoff could mean as many 16 (or, depending on if they make the SEC Championship game, 17). That’s a lot of potential catches.