At this point, it doesn’t matter how significant growth happened. Only that it did.

“To be honest, I don’t really see it,” Luther Burden III said last weekend, despite the best game of his young career.

So let’s make this easy for all to see.

Burden had 45 catches and averaged 8.5 yards per catch for Missouri in his freshman season in 2022.

Four games into this season, he has 32 catches and is averaging 15.8 yards per catch — and already has 129 more yards than all of last season.

The former top-10 overall recruit, the elite at his position who turned down Alabama to stay home and play for Missouri, is finally becoming all that was expected. From the struggles of 2022, to the breakout in 2023.

Even Burden can see that.

“We were never disappointed in Luther, never dissatisfied,” Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz said this spring. “If anything, it was our fault as coaches. We had to find where he was comfortable, and what worked best for him.”

Maybe it was the move to inside slot, where Burden’s speed and athleticism are a better fit, and where he’s a matchup nightmare against safeties and nickel backs. Or maybe it doesn’t matter where he plays.

Maybe the game slowed down for him, and new offensive coordinator Kirby Moore figured different ways to get him the ball. Or quarterback Brady Cook is finally healthy for the first time in months, and the game has slowed down for him, too.

The protections are cleaner, the routes are crisper, the throws are more accurate. And the next thing you know, Missouri has a bona fide superstar in Burden — who is the definition of the impact of NIL.

Before the NCAA allowed players to earn off their name, image and likeness in 2021, Missouri may not have been able to keep the best player in the state home. Burden played high school football in East St. Louis, just across the state line, and was Alabama’s No. 1 target.

The next great Tide receiver, they told him. Just like Julio and Amari, and Ridley and Waddle and the guy who won the Heisman Trophy, DeVonta Smith.

Sign with Alabama and play with the reigning Heisman winner (QB Bryce Young), and win a national title with the greatest coach in college football history.

Or sign with Missouri and blaze your own course.

It’s no coincidence that after Missouri signed a top-15 class in 2022 — with Burden at the tip of the spear — Drinkwitz used National Signing Day to explain the new college football world to all things Missouri. He stood at the podium and said if you want this type of February in the future — the Februarys that lead to better fall Saturdays — ante up.

“We say it’s important for these guys to play (in Columbia), and the opportunity they’re going to have,” Drinkwitz said. “As a fan base, as business leaders, as supporters, we have to come through with those things.”

Some of the old guard at Missouri saw it as distasteful, that Drinkwitz would use a celebratory moment to engage the fan base (and boosters) in the future of the sport. But it was deliberate for a reason: The game has always been won and lost by player procurement.

The teams with the best players win — and now the NCAA just made it an official level playing field. Why not take advantage of it?

A year later, the Tigers are doing just that. Drinkwitz backed away from the offense in the offseason and hired Moore to run it and call plays.

The top priority: Get the ball to wide receivers on the outside who can put defenses in conflict. Theo Wease Jr., Mookie Cooper, Marquis Johnson. And Burden.

While the fan base panicked about losing leading receiver Dominic Lovett to Georgia, the staff focused on Burden. Move him inside, create mismatches, and get him the ball any way you can.

Burden’s high game in receiving yards last year was 66 against Vanderbilt. He already has 3 100-yard games in 2023, including 177 yards on 10 catches last week against Memphis. Both were career highs — by an Ozark mountain mile.

“I had lot of people come from all over different places, Tennessee and Atlanta,” Burden said. “I just wanted to make sure they got a good show out of me.”

But it’s not all Burden. Missouri finally has stability at the most important position on the field, too.

After 2 seasons of uncertainty, Cook is playing better than any Missouri quarterback under Drinkwitz, and the 4-0 Tigers are unbeaten with one of the best wins of the young season (vs. Kansas State).

The emergence of Cook, the fit of Burden and suddenly surging Missouri off to its best start since 2013 — when it won the SEC East Division and played in the SEC Championship Game with a spot in the BCS National Championship Game on the line.

We’re not jumping out there just yet, but unleashing Burden is a terrific first step. If the plan works, the rest will eventually follow.

Missouri has a commitment from a top 3 player in the 2024 recruiting class (DE Williams Nwaneri) — who chose his home state school over Georgia. The Tigers are a finalist for a 2nd top-10 overall player from the state (WR Ryan Wingo), who doesn’t have to look too far to see what Missouri did with the last elite WR it signed.

“I’m just doing everything I can to help my team win,” Burden said.

He was then told he had career highs in yards and catches against Memphis.

“Career highs? Dang,” he said, a smiling flashing across his face. “We had some good play calls. All the work we’ve done has paid off.”

On the field, and with NIL. It’s a new world, everyone.

And Luther Burden III is now ground zero for 5-star recruits turning down blue-bloods — and staying home and succeeding.

That’s easy for all to see.