Why NFL Draft, Mizzou Tigers football journey means more to Luther Burden III

Jalen Allen was sitting in his little cousin’s basement on Christmas Eve of 2022, sneaking in a game of NBA 2K away from the noise of his aunt’s birthday party. His 8-year-old cousin sat beside him, controller in hand, as Jalen’s phone buzzed on the couch.

He glanced over and saw a message from a friend.

“Keep your head up,” it read.

He didn’t think anything of it. He didn’t even open it.

Ten minutes later, an Instagram direct message popped up on his phone from another friend asking for his phone number. Right away, that friend called Jalen to break the hardest news of his life.

“Your dad went to emergency surgery, and he didn’t make it. He passed away,” Luther Burden III shakily told him.

He went on mute for a moment. Maybe two. In that short time, Jalen’s life seemed larger than ever.

Demetrious Johnson — everyone called him DJ — had always been more than a former NFL player or a local icon. To Jalen, he was Dad. To Burden, he was a mentor. And to much of St. Louis, he was the connective tissue between under-served kids and their dreams.

It had started the week before. DJ had gone about his day as usual: woke up, hit the gym, ran errands. But that afternoon, he called longtime friend Ken Dubinsky and said something felt off. Dubinsky took him to the hospital, where DJ suffered a heart attack.

Over the next week, while DJ was in the hospital, Jalen had been told his dad was in stable condition. Friends and family reassured him. DJ had powered through a lot in his life — growing up in the Darst-Webbe Housing Projects will thicken your skin — so, surely, he’d make it through this.

But Burden’s voice on the phone changed everything.

“I was calm at first. I didn’t believe it,” Jalen later said. “Then, I called my mom, and when she told me it was true, I broke down for four or five hours. I couldn’t stop crying.”

The news hit more than just family. DJ’s passing was a shock wave through Mizzou football and the St. Louis sports community. The man who had spent decades building bridges for others was gone, and his absence would be deeply felt by the two young men closest to him.

Burden’s moment arrives

Now, two years after DJ’s death, Burden has finally arrived at the moment they both dreamed of: the NFL Draft. The former five-star recruit who played his high school ball at Cardinal Ritter then East St. Louis, who stayed home to play at Missouri, is expected to be a first- or second-round pick.

He finished his Mizzou career with 192 receptions for 2,263 yards and 21 touchdowns. His 2023 campaign solidified his reputation as a game-changer, from the critical fourth-and-17 catch in a win over Florida to the game-sealing score in the Cotton Bowl victory over Ohio State.

He became the face of a resurgent Mizzou program, the kind of player DJ had always envisioned as a symbol of what staying home could mean.

But Burden’s path to the NFL hasn’t come without scrutiny.

In the weeks leading up to the draft, some critics have questioned his maturity. Longtime NFL insider Bob McGinn collected anonymous reports from NFL scouts ahead of the draft. Some have knocked his practice habits. Some even labeled him as “very ordinary.” Once projected as a top-10 pick, Burden’s draft stock has reportedly dipped because of those perceived character concerns.

To those who know him best, the critiques miss the mark.

“I’m just hoping that stuff doesn’t get to his head,” Jalen said, “he keeps on moving forward. People say he’s the worst practice player they’ve ever seen. I laughed at that. ... I know it’s a different speed (in the NFL) and you’ve got to be ready to go, but Luther is going to be ready to go.”

Jimmy Collins, Jalen’s best friend and chair of the Demetrious Johnson Foundation, believes DJ would tell Burden the same thing he always had.

“People who don’t know you don’t define you,” Collins said. “But you will get a chance to define who you are.”

In recent weeks, Burden has gone quiet on social media. He’s kept his circle small, sticking to his training schedule and keeping focused, a trait many who knew DJ see as a sign of his influence.

The mentor and the movement

Since he was in little league, it’s always been “Touchdown Luther.”

He’d play any time he could, but the summers meant something more — they meant hours at the Demetrious Johnson Charitable Foundation Center, a recreation space DJ built to give St. Louis youths a place to go, play and grow.

It was there that DJ first saw Burden, still just a kid, tearing down the field. And it was there that he began investing in him as a player and young man.

“DJ grew up in the inner city. Luther grew up in the inner city. I think there was a connection there that said, ‘This is a kid that’s never going to quit. This is a kid that’s going to kill it, going to keep pressing forward,’” Collins said.

DJ watched Burden rise from peewee games to prep stardom. He wasn’t shy with praise, but he wasn’t soft, either. He pushed Burden to improve his game, keep his circle tight and carry himself with maturity. As Burden’s profile grew, DJ made sure the support around him grew, too.

“He always said Luther was a good kid,” said Robin Allen, Jalen’s mother. “He just needed to make sure he was surrounded by the right people. DJ wanted to elevate him.”

So, when DJ’s friend — newly hired Mizzou football coach Eli Drinkwitz — asked for help landing a recruit who could change the program, DJ didn’t hesitate. Drinkwitz asked him to reach out to Burden’s high school coach at East St. Louis. DJ said he’d do one better. He called Burden’s dad, his own best friend from high school.

A few days later, the three of them — Burden, his father and DJ — met at a since-replaced café in Union Station. DJ brought Jalen along, too.

“We hugged each other, I dapped up Luther for the first time, and at that moment when I shook his hand, I knew me and him were going to be really close friends at one point,” Jalen said. “From that moment on, Luther became one of my best friends.”

The four sat around a table as DJ made his pitch. It wasn’t flashy, but it was clear.

“Georgia is fun,” DJ told him. “But now, it’s business.”

At the time, Burden was committed to Oklahoma, but his heart was drifting toward Athens, Georgia, the SEC spotlight. DJ had other ideas.

“He said, ‘He’ll have a better chance here. I can mold him at Mizzou,’” Robin Allen said.

In an interview that spring, DJ made the relationship clear.

“I look at Luther like he’s my son,” he told CBS Sports in April 2022. “I’m going to protect him as much as I can. I don’t care who it pisses off.”

Shortly after that conversation at Union Station, Burden decommitted from Oklahoma. A few months later, in a televised commitment ceremony, he tossed aside Georgia and Alabama hats and pulled on a Mizzou cap. It was a declaration, one DJ helped script.

From there, their bond only deepened. DJ worked closely with Burden through his first year in Columbia, helping coordinate NIL signings and appearances, including the Red Hot Riplets deal with Old Vienna that started a string of highly touted NIL deals. He was more than a mentor; he was his anchor.

DJ knew what it meant to chase a football dream. He starred as a defensive back at Missouri in the early 1980s, earning All-Big Eight Conference honors, before being drafted by the Detroit Lions. He played five seasons in the NFL, finishing his career with the Miami Dolphins in 1987. The lessons he learned on the field became the foundation of the mentorship he offered young athletes back home.

“DJ was one of the first to accept me as the head coach here and then open an avenue for us to recruit in St. Louis and really was an advocate for me in the community,” Drinkwitz said. “He was somebody that was instrumental in the success that we’ve had so far.”

But just as quickly as he had entered Burden’s professional life, DJ was gone.

“It was tough for everybody but really tough for Luther,” Jalen said. “My dad was like a mentor to him, and he just didn’t think he was going to lose him like that.”

Burden was one of the first people to call Jalen after DJ’s death. At the funeral, he stood with Jalen and Robin Allen, crying quietly in her arms.

“He was broken down more than some other people that were there,” Jalen said.

The grief spread far beyond them. At DJ’s memorial service, Drinkwitz stood before a packed crowd and said what

“Luther had been here for a full year, and I think that’s one of the cool things, is that DJ got a chance to watch him play for his beloved Mizzou Tigers, but it was a tough time for all of us,” Drinkwitz recalled. “I remember specifically being at a Christmas Eve service and calling Luther after we got word of his passing and trying to all process it together.”

Burden stood quietly on the stage at that memorial service alongside former teammates and DJ’s loved ones. As the ceremony went on, he wept.

“He just hugged me ... . He needed to be consoled because he was crying,” Robin Allen said. “We didn’t speak or anything. I just rubbed him on the back. It was hard. It was emotional.”

Grappling with the grief of losing a second father figure, Burden returned to something DJ had once told him.

“If something happens to me,” DJ had said, “just make sure my son is taken care of.”

That stayed with him.

“I thought he treated Luther like he was a son to him,” Jalen said of his dad. “And after he died, Luther stepped up.”

Carrying on the legacy

After DJ’s death, Burden stepped into a new role: adoptive big brother.

In the hardest year of Jalen’s life, Burden showed up. He sent check-in messages, offered advice and passed along the same values DJ had tried to instill in both of them — show up, stay grounded, keep your grades up. In a way, these echoes remind Jalen of his dad, he said.

“He always gives motivational words. … ‘Keep your head up. Keep going forward. You’re doing a great job. Your dad’s proud of you. I’m proud of you,’” Jalen said. “All those kind words keep me going. Without those, I don’t know where I’d be today.”

“He’s been the full mentor,” Collins added, “the full big-brother figure for Jalen.”

That mentorship extended beyond their bond. DJ had envisioned Burden as more than just a football player. He saw him as a movement, a symbol of what could happen if elite athletes from St. Louis stayed home.

“DJ helped make him feel like he could leave a legacy here,” said Brad Larrondo, CEO of Every True Tiger Foundation. “He gave Luther that vision.”

Dubinsky, who helped manage Burden’s early NIL ventures alongside DJ, said it was about more than just college football: It was about inspiring a pipeline.

“He saw Luther as a symbol,” Dubinsky said, “a guy who could inspire other kids from STL to stay home.”

Burden delivered.

From the moment he committed to Mizzou, he became the centerpiece of a resurgent program. On the field, he was electric, earning All-SEC honors and racking up yards that would one day push him to potentially being a first-round pick in the NFL Draft.

But off the field, his impact was just as loud.

When Burden’s face showed up on Red Hot Riplets bags — thanks to that deal DJ helped orchestrate — it became a blueprint for Mizzou’s NIL structure. His chip deal became the model for future athlete branding at MU, setting the tone for how NIL could be both personal and powerful.

“That chip deal, that was our moment,” Larrondo said. “You saw his face on those bags and thought, ‘OK, this isn’t just national brands. This is homegrown.’”

DJ’s influence also stretched into service. He made sure Burden understood the importance of giving back, especially to the St. Louis community that raised him.

“DJ was really big on community engagement,” Larrondo said. “He was big on making Luther say, ‘I’m going to give back to kids in East St. Louis.’ And he has.”

Burden has participated in various charitable acts under the Demetrious Johnson Foundation’s name, ranging from donating turkeys to families on Thanksgiving to paying random grocery shoppers’ bills in Ferguson.

“Luther has been up here doing stuff with my dad’s foundation ever since my dad passed away,” Jalen said, “so he’s kind of keeping my dad’s legacy alive.”

Now, as he prepares to leave Columbia for the NFL, he does so having already made good on the promise DJ saw in him.

“Athletically, for Luther, those things are going to take care of themselves on a football field, but those things away from the football field were the things that DJ instilled in him that will last forever,” Collins said. “Those are the things that I think that DJ, even now, looking down on Luther, would be most proud of him about.”

Coming full circle

On Thursday night, when NFL commissioner Roger Goodell steps to the lectern and begins calling names, Burden won’t be sitting in a hotel ballroom or in front of bright studio lights. He’ll be in Columbia, in a room named after the man who helped get him there.

Burden’s draft watch party will be held in the newly dedicated Demetrious Johnson Tiger Lounge at Memorial Stadium. The space stands as a shrine to DJ’s legacy. A plaque honoring his life greets visitors at the entrance, while a wall lined with NFL helmets nods to the dreams he helped build.

An interactive map of NFL-bound former Mizzou players sits between the two walls of helmets. Mizzou-branded couches and helmet-shaped chairs surround the room’s games — basketball, pool and more — designed to help potential recruits feel at home as they step inside the stadium.

“Taking the lessons that DJ taught him and passing them along, being there for people, making sure that people are taken care of, it is going to be a cool thing,” Drinkwitz said. “Luther is going to have his draft party here in the Demetrious Johnson recruiting lounge. It’s going to be right here, and I think that’s an awesome tie-in for DJ to be watching when Lu gets drafted.”

For Jalen, the location couldn’t be more meaningful.

“He could’ve been anywhere, but he chose to do it in my dad’s room,” Jalen said, beaming as he reacted to the news. “It says how he felt about my dad, truly, and especially his family, too.”

The lounge was formally dedicated April 9 during an emotional ceremony that brought together DJ’s family and loved ones, former teammates and the coaching staff he once worked alongside. But it was DJ’s family who gave the room its weight.

“This is wonderful. It’s almost like it’s full circle, ... like DJ is orchestrating this whole thing,” Robin Allen said. “I could still hear him cheering when he would come up to the game sometimes, sitting in a suite (like this).”

When Burden walks into the lounge Thursday, he’ll be surrounded by familiar faces: coaches, friends, teammates, family. But there will be an absence, too, one that echoes just as loudly.

He won’t walk into the lounge with DJ by his side. But in many ways, DJ will be there. His name on the wall. His photo by the door. His vision echoing in the room. The NFL Draft was always part of the plan — DJ’s plan — and now, it’s here.

“He’s doing exactly what my dad said he would,” Jalen said. “He stayed focused. And now look at him.”

As the draft clock winds down and Burden’s name inches closer to the screen, it won’t just be one dream fulfilled — it’ll be two.

Copyright 2025 Columbia Missourian

This story was originally published April 24, 2025 at 10:22 AM.