South Carolina looking to limit production of Missouri's star wide receivers

South Carolina, like it has in past weeks, will prepare its defense for the possibility of two different quarterbacks taking the field when it faces Missouri on Saturday.

Brady Cook, who has been the Tigers’ starter for much of the 2024 campaign, is listed as doubtful for this weekend’s game, per the team’s latest injury report. Drew Pyne will play in Cook’s stead should he be unable to suit up.

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But head coach Shane Beamer said the Gamecocks must also be prepared for Missouri’s wide receivers, regardless of who is under center.

“They have arguably the best receiving corps in this conference when you talk about Luther Burden, who will be a top-10 pick in the NFL Draft, and Theo Wease, who took over that game last week against Oklahoma in the fourth quarter,” Beamer said.

Burden has been a dangerous threat to opposing defenses long before this season began. He was among the SEC’s top wideouts in 2023, finishing third in receiving yards behind only Malik Nabers and Xavier Legette. Over the course of 13 games, Burden caught a team-high 86 passes for 1,212 yards and nine touchdowns. That strong play led to him earning All-SEC First Team honors, in addition to being named a Second Team All-American by the Associated Press and CBS Sports.

The start of the 2024 campaign has been less productive for Burden, though. He has been limited to just 505 receiving yards and four touchdowns on 45 receptions in his first nine contests. Burden has yet to record 100-plus yards in a game this season, something he did six times last year.

Despite Burden’s downtick in yardage, he remains a key part of Missouri’s offense. And Beamer said the Tigers have found creative ways to keep him involved on that side of the football.

“They get the ball to Burden in a lot of different ways, whether it be handing the ball off to him on a fourth-and-one the other night against Oklahoma on a jet sweep. Or, they get in an unbalanced formation, and he’s off the ball to the field, and they motion him in, motion him out, and he runs an out-and-up for a 50-yard touchdown,” Beamer said. “They just find different ways to get the ball in his hands.”

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While Burden is a familiar face for Beamer, Wease was on the same sideline as Beamer at one point. Wease spent the first four years of his college football career at Oklahoma. For two of those seasons, Beamer served as the Sooners’ assistant head coach and tight ends coach.

Wease caught 49 passes for 682 yards and six scores during his first season with the Tigers in 2023. And he is well on his way to surpassing those totals this year. He has recorded 552 yards and three touchdowns across 41 total catches.

Wease’s physical attributes make him a difficult player to defend, Beamer said.

“Wease is a really big receiver, also. He’ll catch a ball, and then he does a really good job of getting vertical,” Beamer said. “He’s a hard guy to bring down. He’s a twitchy, shifty, tall, big, athletic guy.”

Beamer understands that holding either Burden or Wease to zero catches will be a tall task. But keeping them from turning routine plays into big gains will be a key to success for South Carolina’s defense.

“They’re going to get their catches. It’d be great if I looked at the stat sheet after the game Saturday night, and they didn’t have any catches. Is that realistic? Probably not. What we’ve got to do is do a really good job tackling. “It’s really impressive watching those two guys, what they do once they catch the ball,” Beamer said.

“Let’s limit their catches. But when they do catch the ball, make sure we’re limiting what they do (with) yards after the catch and after contact.”

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