Rutgers senior linebacker Mohamed Toure has a torn ACL and will miss the 2024 season.
RU head coach Greg Schiano revealed the brutal news after Tuesday’s practice.
“It’s sad, he put so much work into getting ready for the year, but that’s the game of football, unfortunately,” Schiano said. “There’s things like that that happen. As a family, we’ve surrounded him, we’re supporting him, we’ll get him through the rehab, and we’ll get him back and get him reaching his goals and aspirations.”
Toure also missed the 2022 campaign with a torn ACL. However, he bounced back with an outstanding season in 2023. In fact, he was named a semifinalist for the Comeback Player of the Year Award and garnered fourth-team All-Big Ten honors.
Toure, who was a team captain for the Scarlet Knights last year, helped them to a 7-6 straight-up record and a 7-4-2 against-the-spread mark. They enjoyed their first winning season since 2014, beating Miami 31-24 as 1.5-point ‘chalk’ at the Pinstripe Bowl.
Toure played in all 13 games, producing 93 tackles, 9.5 tackles for loss, 4.5 sacks, two passes broken up and one forced fumble. In 2021, he recorded 51 tackles, eight TFL’s, 4.5 sacks and one fumble recovery.
Toure arrived at Rutgers as a three-star recruit in 2019. He was redshirted that year after participating in only two games. In 2020, Toure played in all nine contests, contributing 20 tackles, five TFL’s, 4.5 sacks, two forced fumbles, one interception and one PBU.
Phil Steele’s magazine had Toure as a preseason second-team All-Big Ten selection. The magazine had the Scarlet Knights #29 at the LB position in Steele’s National Unit Rankings.
Toure was one of eight returning starters from a defense that gave up an average of only 21.2 points per game in 2023.
Schiano mentioned yesterday that he liked his team’s depth at LB with sophomores Dariel Djabome and Moses Walker expected to see increased playing time in Toure’s absence.
Circa has Rutgers with a season win total of 6.5 flat (-110 either way). There’s still no line for the Scarlet Knights’ season opener at home vs. Howard next Thursday.