Moving on from Burden, Wease, where do Missouri football's wide receivers stand in 2025?

Yahoo

19-07-2025

Luther Burden III is a Chicago Bear. Theo Wease Jr. is a Miami Dolphin. Mookie Cooper has moved on to coaching.
Missouri football is without its starting trio of wide receivers for the past two seasons.
Through all that turnover, though, there will still be some familiar names catching passes for the Tigers this season.
Mizzou's season-opener for the 2025 campaign against Central Arkansas on Aug. 28 on Faurot Field is little more than six weeks away. Fall camp is right around the corner, as the Tigers typically have players report to campus in Columbia over the final weekend of July.
Here is how Missouri's wide receivers shape up heading into fall camp, including a projected (but not finalized) depth chart, the upside and possible questions for the room and some snippets of what the coaches said during the spring:
Missouri football projected depth chart at wide receiver
Starters: Kevin Coleman Jr., sr.; Marquis Johnson, jr.; Joshua Manning, jr.
Primary rotation: Daniel Blood, jr.; Donovan Olugbode, fr.; James Madison II, r-fr.
Reserves: Xavier Loyd, gr.; Shaun Terry II, fr.; DaMarion Fowlkes, fr.
You can essentially count on the top three to make up Mizzou's primary wide receivers this season.
Coleman is the Burden-replacement in the slot. Johnson gives the Tigers an ever-present option to take the top off a defense with his speed, and showed real versatility and variety in a 122-yard Music City Bowl outing. Manning has steadily risen up the ranks in Columbia and looks ready to operate in the Wease role on the outside.
Beyond those three, there's competition for time.
Olugbode and Terry have been on campus since January and are promising true freshmen. Madison is a 6-foot-3, 210-pound outside receiver who could be due for a second-year surge. Blood will back up the slot, and Loyd joins the squad as a spring transfer from Illinois State, where he had a 928-yard, six-score season last year.
The upside
Coleman was Mizzou's first offseason transfer addition, and there was good reason for both parties not to hang around.
The St. Louis native was an All-SEC-caliber wide receiver on a Mississippi State offense that we can't think of many more nice things to say about. Barring a major surprise, he will be quarterbacks Beau Pribula or Sam Horn's go-to option, and he is a player that fans should expect to see the majority of targets this season.
He'll operate out of the slot, meaning he's filling the vacancy left by Burden. Big shoes, yes, but there's a lot to like about Coleman's game.
Coleman is the obvious candidate to star at wide receiver, but the variety in the three presumed starters is just as intriguing and worth watching.
Johnson is one of the fastest players in the league. He also appears to be fully healthy for the first time since his rookie year.
Manning has the height to be a more-than-adequate replacement for Wease. Now, he'll operate on the outside and give the Tigers a high-point option with his 6-2 frame.
Questions, concerns to answer
Let's talk about that turnover.
If we presented to you an unnamed team and told you: It loses each of its three starting wide receivers, including a second-round draft pick and undrafted free agent, and returns 26% of its receiving yards and two total receiving touchdowns among all wide receivers last season … what would your assessment be?
Not great on paper, is it?
There's enough reason not to let the negatives outweigh the positive. The Tigers have recruited this position excellently out of the transfer portal and high school for several years in a row now. That hasn't changed in this cycle.
But it is a lot of turnover, and the new pieces, like any year, will need to prove they can work together.
Breakout candidate
There isn't a wrong answer here. You could make a case for just about anyone on the mostly new-look depth chart.
But Manning is the safest choice for a breakout year.
The coaches love him. The Lee's Summit, Missouri, product waited his turn and paid his dues on special teams units. He made an impact when he saw offensive snaps last season. Now, he's in line to start, and if Mizzou can find a way to use him like Wease, that will translate to solid numbers in his junior year.
'The one guy who I think always goes under the radar a little bit, and it's probably his personality, is Josh Manning,' Missouri offensive coordinator Kirby Moore said. 'You just take for granted the consistency; the blocking on the perimeter. There's no alignment issues. (He's) making contested catches, (shows) leadership. He's kind of embraced his role right now within that receiver corps.'
We're also watching true freshman Donovan Olugbode and Shaun Terry II, who we think both have a good opportunity to see significant playing time as rookies.
Olugbode has the college-ready build to be a threat on the outside, and his head coach sang his praises in the spring for his big-play ability. Terry, especially as a punt- or kick-returner, is a missed tackle waiting to happen, which might get him on the field.
What the coaches said in spring
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Kirby Moore, March 18: '(Coleman, Johnson and Manning), definitely a mix of receiver traits right there. You've got Kevin, who's a little bit on the shorter side, but very good short-area quickness, yards after catch. Marquis (can take) the top off, and then Josh Manning from the physicality, high-point standpoint. So, we're going to figure out where those guys fit within schemes, move them around, and I think that's going to be beneficial to their game.'
Eli Drinkwitz, April 8: 'Kevin Coleman is everything you want him to be as a slot. Dynamic player, really tough cover in man-to-man. Really felt like he had a good spring getting to know those quarterbacks. Been impressed with our freshmen. Donovan (Olugbode), I think, really stood out in a positive way, big-time catch radius. … He will push Marquis and Josh and (Madison) to be a force on the outside.'
This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Missouri football moves on at wide receiver without program staples