Last weekend, Miami Hurricanes veteran linebacker Mohamed Toure spoke with 560 WQAM about the Hurricanes returning production along with the Hurricanes young talent.
On the coming season: Appreciate you guys having me on the show. Yeah. In terms of the season coming up, yeah, it's the same mentality, attack every single day, and just continue to prepare for the season. We definitely have a different team. We lost a lot of key pieces last season. We brought a lot of new pieces in. So, I'd say, just learning ourselves, learning our play style, our new play style, and just coming together, and fitting as a team
On the defense after losing elite production: I feel like we'll be elite. I feel like we'll be elite, you know. There's different pieces. Yeah. I feel like Coach Hetherman does a great job understanding his players and understanding our play styles and playing to our strengths. So, I feel like this season will be an amazing season again. I feel like you'll see a lot of different faces in there that you haven't probably seen last season or you probably haven't heard of because we have a lot of younger guys that are dogs. Yeah. They're dogs and they're gonna play, and they're gonna make some shake this season.
On the Texas A&M hit on the goal line: I feel like if you were to play anybody on our defense in that position last season, I feel like they would have did the same thing. Like, we were all hungry on that run. Everybody had the same mindset, killer goal, killer mindset, to go out there and attack and play hard every single down. And I feel like you can see that in the way we were playing, the way we were swarming, and the way we were just attacking the ball.
On the open field tackling: Well, I don't really know how it was previously here at Miami because I wasn't here. But once I got here, Coach Hetherman did an amazing job, just emphasizing that in practice, emphasizing tackling in practice, emphasizing just swarming to the ball, and just being like a pack of piranhas, a pack that starts from the water. When we smell blood, we going to get them every time.
On the young talent: Oh, yeah, for sure, for sure. You got Damari Wilson, you got Lightfoot, you got Ashari Charles, you got Herbert Scroggins. We got so many guys that are elite talent and that can play at an elite level. And, you know, it's just putting it together for them, helping them become consistent, helping them be refined, and understanding the playbook better.
On the defensive tackles: Man, them boys this season, they are the best D-line in the country. They have the best two D-linemen in the country. We have the best D-line unit in the country. I feel like we have the best everything in the country. I love my guys up front. I love who's playing in front of me, Moten and Scott. We got Jarquez, we got Davis, we got, we brought in transfer pieces that are elite as well, man. I feel like we're, our D-line, our front four is going to be elite this season.
On being the favorite heading into the season: That's rat poison. That's rat poison to us. And we ain't really, I don't really look at it as, you know, somebody's coming after us, because we hunt, we don't get hunted. We do the hunting. So I just feel like keeping that mindset, and attacking every single day and just not looking too far ahead because that's how you trip and fall on your face. Just take it one step at a time, one day at a time.
Eye poppers to look out for: Honestly, I feel like it's, it's a lot of guys. You got too many to name, honestly. Like, we got so much talent on this team. And honestly, it's just about putting it together and putting the pieces in the right positions. And I feel like Coach Hetherman does a great job at that. He finds people's strengths and he puts them in the right places to make plays and to excel.
On the coming season: Appreciate you guys having me on the show. Yeah. In terms of the season coming up, yeah, it's the same mentality, attack every single day, and just continue to prepare for the season. We definitely have a different team. We lost a lot of key pieces last season. We brought a lot of new pieces in. So, I'd say, just learning ourselves, learning our play style, our new play style, and just coming together, and fitting as a team
On the defense after losing elite production: I feel like we'll be elite. I feel like we'll be elite, you know. There's different pieces. Yeah. I feel like Coach Hetherman does a great job understanding his players and understanding our play styles and playing to our strengths. So, I feel like this season will be an amazing season again. I feel like you'll see a lot of different faces in there that you haven't probably seen last season or you probably haven't heard of because we have a lot of younger guys that are dogs. Yeah. They're dogs and they're gonna play, and they're gonna make some shake this season.
On the Texas A&M hit on the goal line: I feel like if you were to play anybody on our defense in that position last season, I feel like they would have did the same thing. Like, we were all hungry on that run. Everybody had the same mindset, killer goal, killer mindset, to go out there and attack and play hard every single down. And I feel like you can see that in the way we were playing, the way we were swarming, and the way we were just attacking the ball.
On the open field tackling: Well, I don't really know how it was previously here at Miami because I wasn't here. But once I got here, Coach Hetherman did an amazing job, just emphasizing that in practice, emphasizing tackling in practice, emphasizing just swarming to the ball, and just being like a pack of piranhas, a pack that starts from the water. When we smell blood, we going to get them every time.
On the young talent: Oh, yeah, for sure, for sure. You got Damari Wilson, you got Lightfoot, you got Ashari Charles, you got Herbert Scroggins. We got so many guys that are elite talent and that can play at an elite level. And, you know, it's just putting it together for them, helping them become consistent, helping them be refined, and understanding the playbook better.
On the defensive tackles: Man, them boys this season, they are the best D-line in the country. They have the best two D-linemen in the country. We have the best D-line unit in the country. I feel like we have the best everything in the country. I love my guys up front. I love who's playing in front of me, Moten and Scott. We got Jarquez, we got Davis, we got, we brought in transfer pieces that are elite as well, man. I feel like we're, our D-line, our front four is going to be elite this season.
On being the favorite heading into the season: That's rat poison. That's rat poison to us. And we ain't really, I don't really look at it as, you know, somebody's coming after us, because we hunt, we don't get hunted. We do the hunting. So I just feel like keeping that mindset, and attacking every single day and just not looking too far ahead because that's how you trip and fall on your face. Just take it one step at a time, one day at a time.
Eye poppers to look out for: Honestly, I feel like it's, it's a lot of guys. You got too many to name, honestly. Like, we got so much talent on this team. And honestly, it's just about putting it together and putting the pieces in the right positions. And I feel like Coach Hetherman does a great job at that. He finds people's strengths and he puts them in the right places to make plays and to excel.
