Luther Burden III started his collegiate career at Mizzou in 2022, and Theo Wease Jr. joined MU a year later from Oklahoma. Despite Burden’s longer tenure in Columbia, both have developed an unbridled appreciation for MU.

Despite Faurot Field being enveloped in glistening snow, slippery ice and bitter cold temperatures last Saturday, the feelings around Mizzou became awfully warm by night’s end.

The Tigers knocked off Arkansas 28-21, claiming the Battle Line Trophy for the eighth time in the last nine years and ending the regular season 9-3. Now, Mizzou has a chance to win 10 games in consecutive seasons for just the third time in program history.

On the heels of more late-game heroics by Brady Cook, head coach Eli Drinkwitz took some time to reflect on the evolution of the program over the past few seasons, one that’s seen MU go from the middle to the top of a still-mighty SEC.

“It probably wasn’t a 180, but it’s probably a 160,” Drinkwitz said. “I think you’ll see it too when very few, if any of our seniors opt out. There’s something about playing for each other and playing for Missouri that’s special to these guys.”

Part of the reason that Drinkwitz expected few, if any opt-outs for the bowl game was because it’s a guaranteed opportunity to play football, which isn’t extremely common at a high level, especially at the professional ranks.

“The NFL is not given,” Drinkwitz said. “It’s not guaranteed for anybody,”

However, he made one exception.

“Well, for Luther (Burden III), it’s gonna be.”

Many expected Burden to make the leap after the 2024 season, and sure enough, those beliefs came to fruition. It was announced on Monday that Burden would forgo his senior season as well as Mizzou’s bowl game and declare for the 2025 NFL Draft, per ESPN’s Pete Thamel.

Burden is widely projected to be a first-round pick, which would mark the first time since 2009 and 2010 (Jeremy Maclin and Sean Weatherspoon) that a Tiger would be taken in the first round after Darius Robinson was drafted No. 27 overall by the Arizona Cardinals last year.

In his three seasons with MU, Burden’s list of accomplishments could probably span the distance between Mizzou Arena and Rose Music Hall. In career totals amongst Tiger receivers, he’ll finish No. 6 in receiving yards (2,263), tied for No. 5 in receiving touchdowns (21), No. 4 in receptions (192) and tied for No. 3 in games with at least 90 receiving yards (10). His highlight reel not only contains bewildering feats of skill and athleticism, but numerous clutch plays as well.

In 2023, he was on the receiving end of a New Year’s Six Bowl-saving fourth-and-17 conversion against Florida, then caught the game-sealing touchdown in the Cotton Bowl just over a month later.

Missouri wide reciever Luther Burden III jumps up to catch a 27-yard pass on 4th & 17 in the fourth quarter of a game against Florida on Saturday, Nov 11, 2023, at Faurot Field in Columbia, Mo. The completed pass helped Missouri advance into field goal range, where kicker Harrison Mevis would later make a 30-yard field goal to give Missouri the lead with seven seconds left in the game. (Cal Tobias/Rock M Nation)

This season, he made a critical fourth down catch on an eventual game-winning touchdown drive against Auburn and did similar against South Carolina, the latter of which saw Burden make a one-handed catch, elude a defender, score the go-ahead touchdown and silence over 75,000 home fans late in the fourth quarter.

But his impact has reverberated far off the field. His commitment to Mizzou in 2021 came when the program was in much more dire straits than the present day; the Tigers had averaged under six wins per season from 2015-21 and hadn’t won double-digit games since 2013. Burden pledged to MU in the midst of an eventual six-win campaign, but another desire in regards to his home city of St. Louis seemingly made the mediocrity that’d plagued the Black & Gold for over half a decade less of a hindrance.

“Usually (the best players in St. Louis) go to places like Georgia and Alabama,” Burden told The Columbia Tribune after his commitment to Mizzou. “I just want to start a trend here in St. Louis for the younger people with talent in front of me to start carrying St. Louis and stay home and take our talents to Missouri.”

He’d stuck out a six-win season in 2022 (one that saw fellow star receiver Dominic Lovett transfer to Georgia after its conclusion) and, like his team, exploded onto the national scene in 2023, becoming Mizzou’s first 1,000-yard receiver since J’Mon Moore in 2017.

This season, however, Burden took a major statistical step back. Although he appeared in Against Arkansas, Burden was targeted just twice and caught one of those passes, albeit one on third-and-11 that extended yet another eventual game-winning drive. However, the story of his career, Drinkwitz said, wasn’t going to be defined by his lack of production on Saturday or any other game in 2024.

“It’s gonna be the monumental decision he made to come to the University of Missouri when nobody else thought he should,” Drinkwitz said. “He’s one of the best, if not the best player, to come to the University of Missouri, and for him to make that decision changed the trajectory of my career and our program. That’s what’s going to be remembered about Luther Burden.”

Cal Tobias/Rock M Nation

Mizzou athletics director Laird Veatch also took some time out of his halftime media availability on Saturday to speak on Burden’s impact. Although Veatch has only been at the school since April, he’s been able to experience the Burden Effect.

“When you have somebody like that who makes a decision and commits (to Mizzou) like that, it has such an impact among the other players,” Veatch said. “And so many of the things we talk about are kind of symbolic to the fan base, but the reality of it is what that means to other players on the team, when they see somebody of that magnitude not only commit but also have real success at a place — and continue to elevate their position so they can take that next step professionally.

“So it’s been a huge, huge impact for us overall, but it’s also kind of part of what’s happening with Coach Drink’s program. And we’re going to see more and more of those types of players because of the types of things he’s doing.”

That impact has created tangible results in the recruiting sphere. Mizzou ‘s 2025 recruiting class is ranked No. 19 in the country according to 247 Sports; two commits, athlete Charles Bass and linebacker Jason King, are from St. Louis. The Tigers also landed offensive lineman Jack Lange, the top-ranked player in the state of Missouri.

However, Burden’s efforts have helped MU transcend the Show-Me State on the recruiting trail; 10 of Mizzou’s 17 signees were from outside of Missouri, including borderline five-star quarterback Matt Zollers, who’s from Pennsylvania. Mizzou’s rise to national prominence, Drinkwitz said, has helped the program stretch its influence across the country.

“I think our national exposure over the past two years has helped us,” Drinkwitz said. “There’s only six teams that won 20 games in last two seasons, and that’s an awesome thing for the University of Missouri. We’re now able to walk into just about anywhere in the country and have national recognition for what we’re doing.”

Although Mizzou still has one game to play, Burden won’t be a part of it. But he’d committed so much to Mizzou that he understandably defied what the brotherhood was about, and most of all, he’d left the type of legacy he sought to achieve when he put on a Mizzou hat back in October 2021.

“The ultimate goal was to come here and make a difference,” Burden told ESPN after declaring for the draft. “I feel like I met my goal with everything that I set out before I got here. It was a pleasure being here.

“I will love Mizzou forever.”

Missouri wide receiver Luther Burden III (3) celebrates with students after a victory against Murray State on Thursday, August 29, 2024, at Faurot Field. (Cal Tobias/Rock M Nation)

Burden’s fuzzy feelings about his school seem to be shared throughout the team, especially amongst other players who’d been at the school pre-2023. Cook’s fulfillment of a dream to play quarterback at Mizzou, for example, has been well-documented, and fellow St. Louis-area product Drake Heismeyer made waves online for his glowing comments about MU couple of weeks ago. But the feelings seemed to have spread to players who hadn’t been at Mizzou for their entire collegiate career. A shining example of such has been the man that’s lined up alongside Burden for the past two seasons, Theo Wease Jr.

The five-star receiver out of Allen, Texas struggled to find his footing in four years at Oklahoma. He’d entered the transfer portal after the 2021 season, anticipating on joining then-Ole Miss offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby in Oxford. But when Brent Venables was hired as the new OU head coach, he brought Lebby onto his staff as the OC, which also brought Wease back to Norman. However, Wease would venture into the portal again after the 2022 season and ultimately land at Mizzou, hoping to find stability at a school that didn’t seem to have much of it at the time.

As Wease’s career in Columbia comes to a close, it wasn’t defined by a continuation of how he found the program; like Burden, it’s what he helped turn it into today. After the Arkansas game, Wease exuded a similar feeling that Drinkwitz had outlined just minutes before: There’s something about playing for each other and playing for Mizzou that’s special to these guys.

“I didn’t start my college career here, but I definitely wanted to put everything on the line for those guys,” Wease Jr. said. “They’ve been through a lot. They’ve been through the ups and downs … connecting with them and really being brothers with them, I just really wanted to finish it out right for them.”

Missouri wide receiver Theo Wease Jr. (1) shoves down Arkansas defensive back Jaheim Singletary (15) in the fourth quarter of a game against Arkansas on Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024, at Faurot Field. (CAL TOBIAS/ROCK M NATION)

Personally, Wease was a part all of the Senior Day traditions on Saturday. He walked during the pre-game festivities honoring the seniors, and after the win, collected a rock from the Block M behind the north end zone and was carried off the field by his teammates. Mizzou fever had seemed to run rampant throughout his system for a long time, but the symptoms appeared to be extra-strong on Saturday.

“I had chills,” Wease said. “It’s the last one. I was just talking to Nate Noel in the locker room. I started getting a little emotional just thinking about it.

“I wouldn’t want to finish my college career nowhere else.”

His appreciation for the university had already been reciprocated by his head coach. Before the 2024 season, Wease had already established himself as one of Mizzou’s most lethal weapons, becoming Cook’s favorite red zone target en route to 49 catches for 682 yards and six touchdowns in 2023. But it was his leadership, Drinkwitz said, that made him especially valuable to the team.

“I cannot say enough how fortunate we are for Theo Wease,” Drinkwitz said on Aug. 10. “I think his maturity and wisdom in that room was really the glue that’s brought us together.”

Now, after just two seasons in Columbia, which Wease has called his “home” multiple times, he’ll exit as a program-changer who genuinely enjoyed being a part of it.

“I love Mizzou,” Wease said. “I love everything about Mizzou.”

Missouri wide receiver Theo Wease Jr. (1) walks into the end zone for a touchdown during the third quarter of a game against Oklahoma on Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024, at Faurot Field in Columbia. (CAL TOBIAS/ROCK M NATION)

However, arguably no moment captured Wease’s feelings better than after the game, when fired up Instagram Live for all followers to witness part of the locker room celebration. The action wasn’t uncommon — Mizzou players had gone on Instagram Live plenty of times before after wins.

But this time was different. This last game at Faurot Field saw, in a way, the end of an era for Mizzou football. Many of the players who catalyzed the program’s turnaround like Wease, Burden and Cook all played their final home games. The game felt like the conclusion of high school or college, or even a movie: people that so many had come to know and love, people that experienced highs and lows, were existing in the space they’d existed over the course of several years one last time. It created a whirlwind of emotions for those involved, especially Wease, who metaphorically poured his heart to those watching.

“Mizzou, listen to me!” Wease Jr. shouted through blasting music.

“I love y’all, and I appreciate y’all for letting me come in here and play football and find a love for the game all over again. CoMo forever gonna be by home. I’m a true son! I’m part of the brotherhood! I love y’all! M-I-Z!”