Eli Drinkwitz’s Missouri Tigers got off to the 1-0 start following Thursday night’s rout over Louisiana Tech 52-24.

The Tigers were led by an explosive offense and freshman wide receiver Luther Burden; however, Drinkwitz revealed after the game that fellow starting wide receiver Chance Luper will miss 6-8 weeks after he encountered an illness. He also revealed that Luper is currently in the hospital.

“Got a little bit of a personal update for us,” Drinkwitz said during his postgame press conference. “This morning, Chance Luper encountered an illness and he’s going to be out for 6-8 weeks if not longer. It was a really tough day for us. I was really proud of our team the way they responded, and specifically, Curtis — Coach Luper, to have your son in the hospital and still show up and coach says a lot of him as a person and how much he cares about our team.

“I know Chance was really disappointed. He had played so good and had such a beautiful fall camp and had earned the right to start tonight. For me personally, I’ve known Chance since he was really little, and I know he has great care with MU Health. He’s going to be fine. We’re all pulling for him.”

Curtis Luper coaches the Missouri running backs. The younger Luper is a sophomore receiver from Dallas, Texas. As a sophomore in 2021, Luper appeared in 8 games, including starting 4 of them. He caught 21 passes for 203 yards and one touchdown.

Hopefully, Luper can return quickly (and healthy) to Missouri’s team.