Luther Burden remembers the exact moment he made the decision.
It was homecoming. Mizzou hosted North Texas on Oct. 9. Second quarter. The pigskin flew just as pigs could fly — because the top receiver in the United States decided to play college football for the Missouri Tigers.
“I just pictured myself in that moment — scoring, the crowd going crazy,” Burden said Tuesday of J.J. Hester’s 41-yard touchdown haul. “That’s when I knew I had to be here.”
Here is there — Missouri, his state’s school.
But here is also here — Missouri, his home state.
“Just watching the game, being around the guys, I just knew I had to stay home and make a difference in my state,” Burden said.
There are deals, and then there are big deals, and there’s this. It’s really big. Luther Burden is a five-star receiver only because they don’t give out six. The St. Louis native — and current receiver for East St. Louis High — isn’t just a game-changer; he’s a trajectory-changer. And he picked Mizzou over Alabama and Georgia.
Mizzou football is not good in 2021, but has some good recruits to make up the class of 2022. It was the only thing salvaging the lost season. Now comes salvation in the form of this 6-foot-tall pass-catching playmaker and human haymaker. No, he’s not a quarterback. And no, as folks joked on Twitter, he can’t also play defense and improve the Southeastern Conference’s most-embarrassing “D.” But he’s a receiver who knows darn well who won the Heisman Trophy last year — a 6-foot-tall pass-catching playmaker and human haymaker.
“If he can do it, I feel like I can do it,” Burden said Devonta Smith, the Alabama legend and now Philadelphia Eagles rookie. “I strive to be better than everyone around me.”
Which makes Tuesday’s announcement that much more surreal. Why didn’t Burden just go to Alabama, too? It’s Alabama. And his friend is on the team — receiver Jameson Williams, who grew up with Burden on the field at the Herbert Hoover Boys and Girls Club.
“It’s real important to me,” Burden said of Mizzou. “Building this thing and turning this thing around.”
Not sure how long it’ll be until Mizzou coach Eli Drinkwitz beats Alabama or Georgia, but he sure got a win over them Tuesday. It’s astounding, really. A weekend after Burden’s trip to the Mizzou game, he went to the Georgia game. No. 1 Georgia. And they won, and he sure seemed to have fun. But all along, he knew. He remembered that moment when Mizzou’s Hester caught the touchdown … and the feeling he had when Hester caught the touchdown.
That he’d come home on homecoming.
“He wants to make a change at Missouri — he’s kind of a proud kid,” said his father, Luther Burden Jr.
Incidentally, Burden III said he wants to wear No. 3 for the Tigers next season. Actually, it’ll be next spring. The plan is to graduate early from high school and enroll next semester, in time for practice.
“What I’m most proud about is that he’s graduating early,” his father said. “St. Louis? I live on the North Side. It’s really rough over there. I kept my son in sports, basketball and football, to keep him off the streets. And with the sports thing, all the time he had left was to study. And then he was so tired, all he could do was go to sleep. We kept him busy. I’m just so proud of him. January, he’ll be on a college campus. He’ll be in college.”
It was here, at the corner of Grand and Dodier, where a man became “The Man. Then, at the Hoover Boys and Girls Club, a boy named Luther became “Touchdown Luther.” At the site of Stan Musial’s old home stadium, Luther Burden was a standout. First arrived when he was 9. Earned a reputation and then a nickname. On Tuesday night, it was in the basketball gym at the Boys and Girls Club where he made his grand announcement.
I arrived thinking I’d just watch the Mizzou hat. It would be symbolic, surely. Burden would have three hats — Alabama, Georgia and Mizzou — and after he chose one of the shades of red, the Mizzou hat would remain on the table, unclaimed and insignificant.
Next thing I knew, that hat was on Luther Burden’s head.
He chose Missouri. He chose the hard road. He didn’t need Devonta Smith to pave the way for him. Burden would do so himself, and with his family and friends in the stands.
He chose Missouri.
“I was so excited!” said Isaac Thompson, the St. Louis University High football standout who also committed to Mizzou for the class of ‘22. “Shoot, I’ve been playing against him since second grade, he’s always just been a dog. Definitely one of the best players I’ve ever played against. He’s special. And for Mizzou to get someone like him means everything. …
“That’s what Coach Drink preaches to us. We need to get the kids in there. And he’s been doing everything possible to get the kids that he needs to build that program up, like me, Marquis Gracial, Luther, Sam Horn, one of the best quarterbacks in the country. We have so many kids that could just impact the program right away.”
Gracial is not a young man of many words. But at the Boys and Girls Club on Tuesday, the four-star defensive tackle from St. Charles High summed it all up with seven of them.
“It’s really big for Missouri, you know?”
Yeah.
Everybody knows.
It’s really big.
It’s Luther Burden.
