Tag: Mohamed Toure

Rutgers football: Five players that shined during 2023 campaign

During the 2023 season, the Scarlet Knights showed a lot of encouraging signs as they earned their first bowl game in almost ten years.

During the 2023 season, the Scarlet Knights showed a lot of encouraging signs as they earned their first bowl game in almost ten years. The defense continued to be a strength and the offense showed progress. While their success was a team effort, five players in particular were vital to Rutgers success.

As Rutgers football finished the regular season with a 6-6 record, the talented trio of Kyle Monangai, Gavin Wimsatt and Christian Dremel led the way offensively. Monangai turned into the Big Ten’s leading rusher while Dremel became Rutgers’ most reliable receiver.

 

On the defensive side, Rutgers did not make life easy for opponents. They were led by Mohamed Toure and Deion Jennings. The talented duo added 169 total tackles to their resume and did not miss a game.

Although Rutgers improvement was due to many pieces, the talented group of Monangai, Wimsatt, Dremel, Toure and Jennings took their play to another level and created excitement for the future.

Scroll down for a breakdown of their 2023 campaigns!

Rutgers winter athletics are off to a good start in December

With the halfway point of December quickly approaching, Rutgers winter athletics has been a winning machine of late.

With the halfway point of December quickly approaching, Rutgers winter athletics has been a winning machine of late. Men’s basketball won their first matchup of the season against Seton Hall on Saturday. Wrestling has also lived up to the preseason hype with a 5-1 start.

However, they are not the only sports that have stood out. Women’s basketball is off to a solid start, and they showed some encouraging signs in their loss to Indiana over the weekend. The matchup marked Rutgers most challenging task yet, as the Hoosiers are ranked as the 16th-best team in the country.

 

For many Rutgers fans, December has been marked on the calendar for a few weeks. On the 28th, Rutgers football is set to take on Miami in the Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl. It is the first time in over eight years that the Scarlet Knights are participating in a bowl game.

Scroll down and check out how Rutgers sports have been doing this winter!

Mohamed Toure announces that he is returning to Rutgers for 2024 campaign

Mo Toure is returning to Rutgers football for one more year.

With the Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl quickly approaching, Mohamed Toure gave Rutgers fans a reason to celebrate on Saturday night. The talented linebacker announced on the X app that he would return to Piscataway for the 2024 season. It will be his fifth season as a Scarlet Knight.

Now that Toure is officially back in the mix for next year, Rutgers doesn’t have to replace one of their best players on defense. During his collegiate career the New Jersey native has recorded 160 total tackles and 12.5 sacks. As the Rutgers defense has continued to improve Toure has been at the center of their success.

 

Additionally, Toure’s news comes during the best season of his career. He has recorded a career-high 85 total tackles during the 2023 season and not missed a game. His elite production and ability to stay healthy make him irreplaceable.

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While Toure is focused on helping Rutgers secure a bowl win, he did not hide his excitement to return for another season. The Pleasantville High School product said in his post, ” The revenge tour continues… I’m back.”

In his last year of eligibility, Toure’s goal will be to help Rutgers reach new heights. They showed promising signs this season but struggled down the stretch. As Toure alluded to in his post, the Scarlet Knights still have unfinished business.

Rutgers Mohamed Toure Named Semifinalist for Comeback Player of the Year Award

Mohamed Toure is up for a big national award.

Rutgers football showed improvement during the 2023 campaign and a familiar face was at the center of their success in Mohamed Toure. After suffering a season-ending injury during spring practice in 2022, Toure provided a reminder of his value and is receiving national recognition for his play.

On Thursday, the New Jersey native was named a semifinalist for the 2023 Comeback Player of the Year Award. He is one of the 15 players nationally to earn the honor.

 

During the 2023 season, Toure appeared in 12 games and ranked second on the team with 85 tackles, including a team-high 7.5 for loss. Against Maryland on November 26, Toure had an afternoon he will never forget. In the regular season finale, he made a career-high 11 stops. Due to his play, Toure was graded as the fifth best linebacker in the Big Ten, according to Pro Football Focus.

With Toure back in the mix, Rutgers built on its success from last year. The Scarlet Knights held Big Ten opponents to an average of 25.1 points and 337.9 yards per game. That is their best marks in conference play since joining the Big Ten.

On a national level, Rutgers ranked 18th in overall total defense (313.7) and 11th in passing yards allowed (175.9). While their success was a team effort, Toure helped set the tone.

Toure’s fate will be decided in the next few weeks. Three winners will be announced as Comeback Player of the Year Award winners at the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl.

Rutgers football: ‘The Dark Side’ believes they can get even better over the next four Big Ten games

The Rutgers defense believes they can get better and improve.

PISCATAWAY, N.J. — The Rutgers football defense, self-proclaimed as ‘The Dark Side,’ has certainly lived up to its billing this season as an elite unit. But the players on the defense believe that the defense can take yet another step forward with four games remaining in the season.

While the revamped offense has taken a fair share of the credit for the improvement of Rutgers (6-2, 3-2 Big Ten) this season, the defense has very quietly taken a step forward. They are fifth-best in the Big Ten in scoring defense and have played well against all six opponents from the Power Five this year.

Rutgers has beaten four of their Power Five opposition this year in large part due to this defense.

Veteran linebacker Mohamed Toure, however, said that ‘The Dark Side’ can and should be able to grow with one-third of the season still remaining. He believes that the best is yet to come.

“We’ve been performing very well, but I feel like there’s still another couple of levels that we could take it to, honestly cuz you know, there have been some players that we missed out there. And like I said, we just got dogs all around the board. I feel like there’s a level another level that we could take it to and I feel like we’re gonna get it there,” Toure told Rutgers Wire.

“Honestly just cleaning up things, communicating better and everybody just…we’re always on the same page but just you know, being on the same page times ten. Studying more together just overall just being better. You know being sound, being complete a complete defense.”

Rutgers will need the defense to step up considerably. Ohio State (8-0, 5-0 Big Ten), the top team in the College Football Playoffs rankings this week, comes to town on Saturday. In two weeks, Rutgers plays at No. 11 Penn State.

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Toure is having a strong season with 50 total tackles. He is just one tackle shy of tying his career-best in total tackles.

The task for this defense was made taller last week with the news that Tyreem Powell, a standout linebacker, is out for the season following surgery. Powell was a strong leader on this defense and was playing at an All-Big Ten caliber level.

Toure, who suffered a serious knee injury last spring that cost him the 2022 season, can feel the pain of his teammate and fellow linebacker.

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“When I heard he got hurt it felt like I got hurt too because I went through an injury and I know how he feels and it just sucks to see someone like your brother – you know somebody that you call your brother – I actually treat him like family,” Toure said.

“I look at him like family…and go down in a situation like that hurts but he knows we’re here for him and he’s still here for us. He comes out to practice, supports us, talks to us. Talk to us through practice and everybody on defense knows like, we had to take it to that next level because he played a big portion in our defense so we’re all just communicating better and playing better – just trying to play together.”

On Monday, Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano said that with Powell out for the year, his team is going to rely more heavily on Toure and Deion Jennings to step up at linebacker.

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“We had a three-way rotation going there with Mo and Deion and Tyreem,” Schiano told reporters.

“Now Tyreem is no longer in the rotation. So it will be probably more of a two-man rotation.”

With No. 1 Ohio State in town, Mo Toure is glad he believed in Rutgers football’s rebuild

Mohamed Toure is a testament to the belief in the Rutgers rebuild under Greg Schiano.

PISCATAWAY, N.J. –There were times in his previous four years at Rutgers that people were in the ear of Mohamed Toure. They were telling the linebacker that the Scarlet Knights weren’t going to turn things around, that he needed to leave the program and transfer.

Now on Saturday, Rutgers 6-2 (3-2 Big Ten) hosts No. 1 Ohio State (8-0, 5-0 Big Ten) in a game that has the potential to show just how far Toure and his teammates have come.

The Rutgers linebacker has held an unwavering belief in head coach [autotag]Greg Schiano[/autotag], who returned to the program in 2020. It was Schiano who built Rutgers up two decades ago, and Toure saw a similar mentality when the head coach was brought back to the program.

Toure joined Rutgers as part of the 2019 recruiting class, the last group brought in by former head coach Chris Ash. This is his first season where Rutgers has a winning record at Halloween, underscoring just how difficult this rebuild has been.

Two weeks ago, Rutgers became bowl-eligible with a 31-14 win at Indiana.

And now, with Saturday fast coming into view, Toure believes that those rough years have paid dividends. That it was worthwhile to stick it through at Rutgers and not leave.

“Once Schiano got here, honestly, all of those thoughts kind of left my head,” Toure told Rutgers Wire after practice on Wednesday.

“I looked him up. I saw what kind of guy he was when he got here. I see. I saw he was serious about his business and he wanted to win and that’s we have this common goal.”

In high school, Toure was a three-star recruit out of Pleasantville High School (Pleasantville, New Jersey. He held offers from Boston College, UConn, Georgia Tech, Maryland, Pittsburgh, Virginia and Wisconsin among others.

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Opportunities like Saturday against the top team in the nation are why Toure stuck around with Rutgers football through some very lean years. On Tuesday night, the College Football Playoff rankings announced Ohio State as the top team in their rankings. 

Toure said he found out about the Buckeyes ranking via social media.

“It’s an opportunity,” Toure said.

“These are the kind of opportunities that you dreamed up as a kid honestly. Like you get to play against the number one team in the country, you know? Get to go out and show the world what you can do.”

It is a measuring stick game for Rutgers for sure. Earlier in the season at No. 3 Michigan, Rutgers hung tight with the Wolverines through the third quarter.

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He said there was some buzz in the locker room about Ohio State’s ranking but there isn’t necessarily any added juice for Saturday’s game. Saturday is a battle of two teams in the top half of the Big Ten.

“Definitely – we were amped up regardless,” Toure said.

“We’re just ready to play.”

Toure suffered a season-ending knee injury last spring. This year, he has bounced back and is playing what is the best football of his life.

With eight games played this season, his 50 total tackles are just one shy of his career-best number, set in 2021.

He also has 1.5 sacks and two passes defended as well as a fumble recovery.

Scroll down and check out some of the best photos of Mohamed Toure during his time with Rutgers football!

Mohamed Toure finds the silver lining in last season’s injury: Getting to play with his brother

Rutgers football linebacker Mohamed Toure sees through last season’s injury.

PISCATAWAY, N.J. — For Mohamed Toure, a season-ending injury last spring has given him a new perspective on the Rutgers football defense. It also presents him with an opportunity to play college football with his brother.

Something that, but for the injury, wasn’t supposed to happen.

Last spring’s injury, which required surgery, cost Toure what was supposed to be his final season of college football. But now after a medical redshirt, the Rutgers defensive standout is back for one final season of college football.

And in a twist, the injury allowed him to play with his brother, Famah Toure, who joined Rutgers as part of the 2023 recruiting class.

“This is amazing, honestly, it’s a dream come true,” Mohamed said on Thursday.

“If I didn’t get hurt – that’s why I feel like everything happens for a reason, if I didn’t get hurt I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to play with him.”

Famah, a wide receiver, was a consensus three-star recruit and the No. 14 player in the state according to Rivals. He held offers from programs like Boston College, Duke, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, Pittsburgh and Syracuse among others.

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As for the older brother in the Toure clan, Mohamed is looking to build on a 2021 season where he had 51 tackles and 4.5 sacks. In the Gator Bowl loss to Wake Forest that season, he had six tackles and 1.5 sacks.

The injury wasn’t ideal for Mohamed, but he acknowledges that it gave him the chance to look back last fall and learn.

“I got to really sit back and evaluate not only us but other teams to see how we like set-up towards certain teams and just understand their offensive concepts and things like that,” Mohamed said.

“So it definitely helped a lot. Definitely on the mental aspect.”

This is an important season for Rutgers as a program. Now in their fourth year under head coach Greg Schiano, Rutgers has a deep roster that is definitely improved.

For Toure, who has legitimate NFL ambitions, this season is all about going out as a winner.

There are expectations that last year’s 4-8 team will take a step forward.

“Individual goals – honestly I just want to win,” Mohamed said.

“Whatever I can do to help my team win, that’s what I’m going to do.”

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Rutgers football: Last year’s injury helped Mohamed Toure come back with a new perspective

Rutgers football linebacker Mohamed Toure talks about the impact of his season spent away from the playing field.

PISCATAWAY, N.J. — A knee injury suffered last spring has helped Mohamed Toure bring a new outlook and perspective into this offseason. The Rutgers football linebacker took the time to not just rehabilitate and get stronger, but also to better understand the defense he projects to be a huge part in.

The injury happened last spring when, in a one-on-one drill, Toure overextended his knee. The torn ACL meant that Toure was out for the season.

It was a season where Toure was supposed to be a star player for Rutgers and a breakout candidate in the Big Ten.

But instead of hanging his head, Toure got to work. He got stronger and worked his way back to being ready to participate in spring practice. He also made sure that mentally he took a different perspective on the defense.

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Saying “it gives you a different understanding,” Toure’s time spent watching the defense and not being a part of it has given him a new outlook on his role.

“That honestly helped a lot because it actually gave me some time to sit back and really just see it from a different point of view, you know?” Toure said on Saturday following practice.

“I’m usually on the field, playing on the field, but sitting back, watching how everything plays out… seeing schemes…seeing how we do things…helped a lot.”

In 2021, Toure had 51 total tackles and 4.5 sacks.

His return to the field, almost a year from when he was injured last spring, has the Rutgers standout excited to be back and fully practicing. Last week, head coach Greg Schiano said that Toure and fellow linebacker Moses Walker were back and a full-go in spring practice.

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It was a return to the field that had Toure excited and chomping at the proverbial bit.

“It’s amazing for me, I just love being back with my brothers, getting to play the game again. Being away from it kind of made my love for the game grow more,” Walker said. “So just happy to be back.”

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