Bryan Harsin explains how Auburn plans to matchup with Luther Burden
Auburn is going to have their hands full defensively on Saturday, with true freshman wide receiver Luther Burden coming to town. A former Five-Star Plus+ prospect, Burden is still looking to fully break out for Missouri and put up monster numbers. Head coach Bryan Harsin knows the Tigers will have to be ready.
Harsin talked about the strategy Auburn will deploy to cover Burden, saying at some point, a defensive back is going to have to go one on one with him. Zone coverage can be called only so many times according to the head coach but at the same time, Burden is not the only weapon for Missouri.
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“You try to do it all for that guy, right? Mix it up, play man coverage,” Harsin said. “I mean, at some point, somebody has to match up on him. That’s a challenge for us. You got to match up on a guy sometimes, you’ve got to cover one on one. You can only go to zone so often but it’s a mixture of defenses too. He’s one of the players on their side of the ball that we have to slow down. So, it’s one guy.
“They’ve got others they can utilize as well, a lot of other personnel. And that’s football. That’s really what it comes down to. You got to be able to go up against everybody that you’re facing and be able to execute your assignments. We’re really at that stage. We got to execute and do our job but he’s a good player.”
Coming out of high school, Burden was ranked a five-star prospect by the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting services. He was a huge recruiting win for head coach Eli Drinkwitz, with Burden picking Missouri over the likes of Alabama and Georgia.
Burden ranked as the No. 3 overall player in the 2022 class coming out of East Saint Louis High School, electing to stay home.
Missouri will try to get Luther Burden the ball
Even if Harsin is looking to cover the entire Missouri team, he realizes an emphasis will be made by Missouri to get Burden the ball. The plan for Auburn? Surround Burden with as many defenders and quickly get him to the ground when he has the ball.
“We got to know where he’s at. They’re trying to get him the football, we’ve seen that. They do a good job of that. They will find creative ways to get the ball in his hands and when they do, we got to surround him and make plays on the ball.”
Burden does not have the best offensive numbers, only hauling in 10 receptions for 78 yards and a touchdown. He’s done a little damage on the ground, though, rushing for 40 yards and a touchdown on seven carries.
Punt return has been where Burden has made his presence known, having 111 return yards against Abilene Christian this past Saturday. No matter which phase of the game he’s playing in, Harsin will have to monitor the true freshman.