Slowing down Missouri's Luther Burden III looms as challenge for Ohio State in Cotton Bowl
ARLINGTON, Texas — The highlights show elusiveness.
Clips of Luther Burden III reveal him juking defenders and outrunning them toward the end zone.
Burden, a slippery slot receiver, is one of Missouri’s stars, among the main reasons it has had one of the most explosive offenses in the Football Bowl Subdivision.
When Ohio State meets the Tigers in the Cotton Bowl on Friday, slowing down the sophomore remains perhaps the most pressing challenge for its stingy defense.
That’s because it has not faced a pass catcher as prolific as Burden, who is the first 1,000-yard receiver the Buckeyes have faced this year, or with as unique of a skillset.
A majority of Burden’s yards come once passes are pulled, allowing him to maneuver through layers of a defense like a running back. He’s created 719 out of his 1,194 receiving yards after the catch, the second-most among FBS receivers, according to Pro Football Focus.
“Once he gets the ball in his hands,” Buckeyes linebacker Steele Chambers said, “he does a lot with it.”
To minimize those gains, Ohio State will need to swarm him.
Defensive coordinator Jim Knowles pointed to tackling as a priority, containing him before he sniffs out space and takes off.
“You got to be great in your breaks,” Knowles said, “and leveraging him and owning your help and doing all the right things that you're trained to do, but most importantly, you can't give him that much space, because he will make you pay.”
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The comments were echoed by defenders on Tuesday.
“You just got to have guys rallying,” Chambers said. “Sometimes he can break a tackle and you have to have guys pursuing the ball.”
While nickel safety Jordan Hancock is in line to draw him in pass coverage for a bulk of the snaps, many of them will be counted on.
Missouri quarterback Brady Cook often finds Burden on quick screens. Per PFF, more than a third of Burden’s receiving targets have been behind the line of scrimmage.
“You got to be ready for him with the quick screens, quick bubbles, be able to react to that and retrace and get down the line quick before he gets to the second level,” defensive end Jack Sawyer said. “That’s the big thing when you’re facing a receiver like that coming out of the slot.”
Redshirt freshman receiver Kyion Grayes, among a small handful of others has helped to simulate Burden’s quickness on the scout team this week.
“He’s done good,” safety Josh Proctor said. “They move around a lot. He’s fast. He can move. He can run. We just got to come ready to play.”
Cornerback Denzel Burke considers Burden the best receiver they have faced this year.
“Most definitely,” he said.
Only part of his reasoning was a result of his ability after the catch.
Burke acknowledged that Burden can make tough grabs downfield, and the numbers bear out. He has made 13 contested catches, as defined by PFF, tied for the 11th most in the FBS.
“He’s a really good football player,” Burke said. “I could just tell when you watch film, he loves football. He’s out there doing his thing.”
Joey Kaufman covers Ohio State football for The Columbus Dispatch and can be reached at jkaufman@dispatch.com.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State football looks to slow down Luther Burden in Cotton Bowl
