EAST ST. LOUIS — Seated in tidy rows, a couple hundred kids screamed from the bleachers. They all wore matching white T-shirts with Luther Burden III on them, which is why they were cheering.
The preseason All-American wideout was still a ways away from his high school field, where he held a free youth football camp in late July, just before Missouri’s preseason began. The clamor was a dress rehearsal for when a golf cart ferried Burden from where he waited inside East St. Louis High School and onto the field.
An emcee cued the crowd noise for real once Burden arrived, wearing Off-White suede shoes that cost roughly the same as a credit hour at MU.