One week ago, Miami linebacker Mohamed Toure was focused solely on his team’s College Football Playoff championship game. Now, instead of preparing for the NFL draft, Toure has decided he will return to Miami for his eighth collegiate season, according to multiple reports Sunday.

Toure, whose return was first reported by Top Tier Miami, led the Hurricanes with 84 tackles and has produced all-conference seasons between those marred by injuries. Toure’s return would be big for Miami, considering the Hurricanes are losing 41-game starter Wesley Bissainthe and veteran backups Chase Smith and Jaylin Alderman.

Senior-to-be Popo Aguirre was expected to start alongside Toure but is now expected to enter the transfer portal, according to reports.

“I feel like as the season went on, I’ve just gotten more and more back to myself,” the 24-year-old Toure told The Athletic before the title game, which the Hurricanes lost 27-21 to Indiana. “I feel like right now, I’m kind of playing my best ball, and I just want to finish strong.”

A 2019 recruit at Rutgers, Toure played three seasons for the Scarlet Knights before tearing his ACL during a 2022 spring football practice. He missed that season, then became an honorable mention All-Big Ten linebacker in 2023.

He entered the 2024 season as Rutgers’ unquestioned team leader, but tore the same ACL in training camp. Toure chose to transfer to Miami before the 2025 season and play for Hurricanes defensive coordinator Corey Hetherman, who also coached him at Rutgers.

Toure is eligible for an eighth season because, in addition to the three seasons he played (2021, 2023, 2025), he took a redshirt season in 2019, had the COVID-19 season in 2020 and lost two seasons to injury (2022, 2024). He has 251 career tackles, including 25 1/2 for loss, and 15 1/2 sacks. He was an honorable mention All-ACC selection this year.

“I’m blessed to be playing with the players that I’m playing with,” Toure said. “These guys make me better every single day, and not just as a football player, but as a man. When I came into Miami, I didn’t know what to expect when I first committed. When I got here, these guys took me in. Man, it’s a real brotherhood.”

Toure committed to Rutgers in 2018 and entered the Big Ten the same year as former Ohio State receivers Garrett Wilson and Jameson Williams, both of whom became first-round NFL Draft picks and already have earned second contracts. By 2021, Toure was considered a rising star among Big Ten linebackers, with 51 tackles that season.

After his first torn ACL wiped out the 2022 season, Toure became a breakout performer in 2023 with 93 tackles to rank 10th in the Big Ten. He considered declaring for the 2024 NFL draft but chose to stay at Rutgers. Then came his second ACL tear.

“I was heartbroken, if I’m being honest,” Toure said. “I was coming off of a great year and in that moment, I felt like I messed up. Man, did I make the wrong decision, questioning God, which you’re never really supposed to do, but in times like that, you do that at times. But I can honestly say, going through all of that, going through a torn ACL two times, prepared me for life. Like, I understand that things aren’t going to always go your way.”

Instead of returning to Rutgers, Toure wanted a fresh start. He visited Indiana and Penn State before choosing Miami. As a New Jersey native who grew up 30 minutes from campus and whose child lives in the state, Toure admitted that leaving Rutgers was difficult. But he needed a change.

“I went through a lot of trauma there, a lot of dark moments,” Toure said. “There were a lot of good moments as well, but a lot of dark moments where I just was messed up mentally, and it just felt like it was time to get out of there and time to put myself in a new space, a new area around new people.

“I’ll forever love Rutgers. I forever love that coaching staff, every one of them. I’ll forever love all of my teammates and still talk to a lot of them that I played with to this day.”

Toure’s relationship with Hetherman, who coached Rutgers’ linebackers in 2022 and 2023, led him to Miami. While at Rutgers, the two spent countless nights watching video of upcoming opponents. Hetherman, who finished his first season as the Hurricanes’ defensive coordinator in 2025, believed Toure could establish the culture he wanted for his defense. He described Toure’s level of preparation as “very detailed.”

“He’s got the right fit. His eyes are in the right spot and playing top-down and doing what he needs to do in the blitz,” Hetherman said. “That’s something that started back in 2022. He had the ACL in ’22. He had the ACL, and I left in ’24. Now I just think his ability to overcome that, he’s gone through all the different adversity on the field, off the field. I think that has just made him a stronger person and a better person off the field.”

Next season, Toure will guide a revamped Hurricanes defense while focused on his own improvement. The NFL can wait one more year.

“One thing that I picked up from Greg Schiano that I will use for the rest of my life, just chop one moment at a time,” Toure said.

— Manny Navarro contributed to this report.