MIAMI — Mohamed Toure used the word “blessed” several times to describe his journey.
From Rutgers and two torn ACL injuries to the same left knee to Monday night’s national championship game.
When the standout middle linebacker from Pleasantville, N.J., entered the transfer portal last spring, he had no idea what was waiting for him.
College Football Playoff semifinal game at the Fiesta Bowl on Jan, 8 2026. Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images
“I was coming off two knee surgeries, so I honestly didn’t know how it would shake out for me in the portal,” Toure told The Post inside the Miami Beach Convention Center on Saturday. “I didn’t know if I was going to go to Bethune-Cookman or if I was going to go to Alabama. I didn’t know what my opportunities or offers were going to be like once I hit the portal.”
His options turned out to be pretty good. Toure took visits to North Carolina, Penn State and Indiana, and picked the Hurricanes, in part due to defensive coordinator Corey Hetherman. Hetherman coached Toure at Rutgers from 2022-23, providing a sense of familiarity.
Still, Toure had no idea this year would be so memorable as the leading tackler for a national championship finalist. Miami had a pretty crowded linebacker room, but Hetherman was convinced that Toure would be a difference-maker from their time together.
“To me he was a no-brainer,” Hetherman said. “He’s a guy, I want him around my family. I want him around the players. I want him in the locker room, because he pulls everyone up. He gets everyone better around him.”
The 6-foot-2, 236-pound Toure’s most memorable moment this season was also a scary one. It came at the end of the opening round of the playoff. With Miami ahead by seven points, Texas A&M had a second-and-goal with under a minute remaining. Toure delivered a huge hit on the Aggies’ Rueben Owens II to break up a pass at the goal line, and stayed down. On the next play, teammate Bryce Fitzgerald intercepted a pass in the end zone to seal the win.
Early in the game, Toure lost his mouthpiece, and forgot to replace it.
“When I hit him, there was a lot of pressure [on my jaw and chin],” Toure said. “It was a hard hit. When you hit somebody you tense up, and you bite down. There was nothing for me to bite down on, because I didn’t have a mouthpiece in. It’s like getting punched in the chin basically.”
Toure lost consciousness for a few seconds. When he came to, his health wasn’t his concern.
“I’m like, ‘Did I make the play?’ That was my first thought, I hope they didn’t score,” he recalled. “And then after that, Bryce caught the pick. It was an amazing feeling, amazing moment, amazing memory I will forever have with these guys.”
It has been a wild ride. Toure never imagined this, certainly not after tearing his ACL for the second time a few weeks before the 2024 season. He was coming off a huge year, in which he produced 93 tackles, 9.5 tackles for loss, 4.5 sacks and earned All-Big Ten honorable mention. During a practice, Toure felt his knee lock up, but he didn’t think anything of it. He was able to finish that day. But the knee swelled up and an MRI showed the tear. His season was over. He thought his career was, as well.
“I was heartbroken honestly,” he said. “Coming off a great year, and I was working. Soon as the [previous] season was over, I was in the lab. I took care of my body. I was so prepared for that 2024 season, so when I got hurt, it felt like the carpet got pulled from under me. I was just down bad. I was in a dark place, I had so much riding on that year. It was just over, like that, in the blink of an eye.”
Seventeen months later, he is healthy and getting ready to play in the biggest game of his life. He shook his head. He couldn’t have ever written this script.
“It’s a blessing, man. I don’t take any of this for granted,” Toure said. “I know what it feels like to be at the bottom, I know what it feels like to have to fight and go through adversity and have to overcome obstacles and just through hurdles to get to where I am today.
“Every opportunity, every game, every practice, I just take a deep breath and make the most of it and I try to have fun every single time I can.”
