Latest news with #Hetherman
Miami Herald
30-07-2025
- Sport
- Miami Herald
Meet Mo Toure, a ‘fast, violent, physical' linebacker ready to elevate UM's defense
Corey Hetherman was caught by surprise at first when he saw linebacker Mohamed 'Mo' Toure had entered the transfer portal. Hetherman, entering his first season as defensive coordinator for the Miami Hurricanes, had coached Toure for two seasons when the two were both at Rutgers. The coach knew his former player would be a perfect fit in Coral Gables. 'He's a guy that obviously I have a previous relationship with,' Hetherman said, 'and a guy that knows the defense, knows the style of coaching that we have and fits what we're doing defensively.' Toure in early May committed to UM over Penn State, Indiana and North Carolina. As the Hurricanes begin fall practice Thursday and start their monthlong countdown to their marquee Aug. 31 season opener against Notre Dame at Hard Rock Stadium, Toure looks to be a pivotal piece in part of Miami's revamped defense. And Toure comes in with something to prove. He's entering his seventh and final season of college football. That journey started in 2019 and has been extended once by virtue of players getting an extra season due to the COVID-19 impacted 2020 season and then twice more due to ACL injuries that wiped out his 2022 and 2024 campaigns. Last year, he was named to the watch list for the Butkus Award, given annually to college football's top linebacker, before the second of those ACL injuries negated his chance to build on a breakout 2023 season — his final with Hetherman. He's full go now, and ready to leave his mark on the Hurricanes. 'I feel great,' Toure said Wednesday at the Hurricanes' media day ahead of fall practices, adding that Hurricanes director of football rehabilitation Peter Galasso and head football trainer Adam Bennett have helped get him settled in at the end of his rehab after transferring in. 'I've been doing everything. I've been running and cutting, changing directions, lifting with the boys.' And now the Hurricanes hope he will be a tackling machine once things start up for real. Toure had a breakout 2023 season, playing in all 13 games for Rutgers with eight starts. He was second on the team with 93 tackles and led the Scarlet Knights with nine-and-a-half tackles for loss. He had at least eight tackles five times, including in Rutgers' Pinstripe Bowl win against Miami. 'He's got tons of experience,' UM senior linebacker Wesley Bissainthe said of the 6-2, 236-pound Toure. 'He's big. He knows how to get to the ball. I feel like we're going to make an impact on the young guys in the room. That's the goal.' Toure's style of play? 'Fast, violent, physical,' he said. 'You'll hear me every time. Trust me.' But there came a time after that second ACL injury where Toure thought his football career might be over. The mental grind of having to go through the rehab process a second time was agonizing. 'When it first happened, I almost hung my cleats up,' Toure said. 'I felt like I was having bad luck, like 'Damn. Why me? Is God trying to tell me that this isn't for me?'' After that, Toure said he had 'a reality check.' 'I had to remember who I was,' Toure said. 'Remember you have a purpose in this life. You can't give up on your dreams. What kind of tone am I setting for my son, for my brothers, for younger kids that look up to me just to give up when things get tough? Nah. You've got to keep going. Keep pushing through hard times. You can't let anything break you.' And now Toure finds himself front and center with a prime opportunity at Miami. The Hurricanes beefed up at the position following spring practices, adding Toure and N.C. State transfer Kamal Bonner through the portal to stabilize a position led by Bissainthe and followed from there by the likes of Raul 'Popo' Aguirre, Jaylin Aldermin, Chase Smith and Bobby Pruitt. 'It's always about competition,' Hetherman said. 'Competition is going to push everyone to always get better. I think we had a very good room. I think that [the additions of Toure and Bonner] just continues to expand that room. No one's going to take anything for granted. No one's going to stay where they are now. Everyone needs to constantly step up and improve their game.' Toure certainly isn't taking this final chance for granted. He sees a chance to make an impact on a team with national championship aspirations. He knows how effective Hetherman's defense can be because he has seen it work. 'He's a guru,' Toure said of Hetherman. 'That man is smart. Even when I was at Rutgers, me and him used to meet for hours and hours and hours during the season, so it's definitely a blessing to be back with him and just be in a scheme that I'm familiar with.' Now, it's just a matter of all the pieces falling into place. Toure, Hetherman and the rest of the Hurricanes defense has a month to get that done before the season begins. 'It's all about everybody being on the same page,' Toure said. 'Literally all the best defenses in the country, you look back from years and years and years, everybody was on the same page, whether it was the ones, the twos, the threes. Everybody knew how to communicate. They knew what they were doing, and they knew their job. Everybody did their job, and everybody played fast and physical. ... We've been taking the right steps in the right direction, and we just gotta continue to use camp to build on what we've started.'
Miami Herald
03-04-2025
- Sport
- Miami Herald
A young Canes player drawing raves. And why players excited about new coordinator
A six-pack of Miami Hurricanes notes on a Thursday: ▪ UM players like the approach of new coordinator Corey Hetherman, because of the freedom his defense gives them. 'I love this defense,' defensive lineman Akheem Mesidor said Thursday. 'It's simple. I get to play inside and out [at tackle and end]. I'm so happy. I love it. It's like waking up in the morning to your mom making French Toast. 'You get freedom. I have a bunch of freedom inside and out. It allows me to play, allows me to rush the quarterback, to do what I'm good at.' Mesidor said 'the defense is pretty simple. Everything changes based on formations and shifts. It's really just communication. We're communicating a lot better. We basically run through plays every single day. Guys are starting to play together [on a string] a little bit more.' Defensive end Rueben Bain explained the upshot of Hetherman's defense this way: 'Everybody is gaining confidence in the scheme so we can make checks without even having to look at the DC. We can just run it. 'He gives us the call and we run it. With that, we are going to play a little faster because we have the confidence that we need and are playing free.' Hetherman, who replaced the ousted Lance Guidry, had one of the nation's highest-ranked defenses at Minnesota last season. In a conversation with Canes radio analyst Don Bailey Jr., offensive line coach Alex Mirabal had an interesting description of Hetherman: 'Meat and potatoes, tough, teacher, holds them accountable. is on our best players more than he is [others]. He holds our best players to the highest of standards. He's a no frills kind of guy. line up and I've got to beat you in my base.I've got to beat you in vanilla and chocolate before I put sprinkles on it. 'They're making it hard on us on our offense. They're playing tight coverage in the back end. He fits in really well with coach [Mario] Cristobal's personality and the personality of our offense.' ▪ Players are raving about freshman edge player Hayden Lowe, the former Los Angeles area prep star who was rated the second best edge player and 16th best prospect by 247 Sports. Lowe picked UM over Alabama, Notre Dame, Oregon, Michigan, Texas and others. 'He's violent and has a high motor and he's physical,' Mesidor said. 'He's a huge specimen, strong, ripped, tall. But effort and motor is what makes him stand out.' Bain says Lowe has 'got an amazing motor. He plays with a lot of enthusiasm, a lot of tenacity. He's always around the ball, he's always making plays. He's going to be a great player.' Freshmen defensive tackle Donta Simpson, the three-star prospect from Hollywood Chaminade-Madonna, is 'a real nasty run stopper,' Bain said. 'To be a young guy that size who moves how he moves, that's a real blessing. He's been real aggressive past 10, 11 practices.' ▪ WQAM's Bailey, who has watched practices, said Miami 'really hit a home run' with TCU transfer center James Brockermeyer… He said tight end Elija Lofton has taken another step 'and they've got to manufacture ways to get him the ball. Lofton is so powerful, well conditioned and strong. Who's going to cover him?'... He said former UM assistant Marc Trestman was at practice Tuesday and told Bailey that the wide receiver group looks 'special.'.. Bailey said running back Jordan Lyle has had a 'very good spring. Made some good runs. Has speed and power. He's a different guy than a year ago. I expect him to have a 100 yards season.' ▪ Quick stuff part 1: Freshman receiver Joshua Moore had a leaping catch during the portion of practice open to reporters... Cornerback Xavier Lucas, the Wisconsin transfer, had an interception and continues a very strong spring.. Receiver Jojo Trader had another good day; he's positioned to be a starter... Defensive end/edge player Armondo Blount continues to turn heads. 'He's savage; he's going to do a lot for us,' Mesidor said. Bain said Blount is 'always popping up on film for the right violence, the right steps.' ▪ Quick stuff part 2: Mirabal calls guard Anez Cooper 'the heart and spirit of our offense. He's having a phenomenal spring camp; I'd put it up there with anyone on the team.'... Bain, on former Canes player Damione Lewis, who is coaching the defensive linemen with Jason Taylor: 'He's working with the tackles. He's a little more energetic than JT, a little more outspoken. He'll say what he wants to say, doesn't care how you feel, but it's [done] in a positive direction.'
Miami Herald
07-03-2025
- Sport
- Miami Herald
After an ‘eventful' sophomore season, Hurricanes' Bain ready to ‘learn and grow'
Corey Hetherman still remembers seeing him for the first time. Hetherman was the linebackers coach at Rutgers and his team was going through warmups on Dec. 28, 2023, for the Pinstripe Bowl at Yankees Stadium against the Miami Hurricanes. While Hetherman's focus was figuring out how to limit Miami's offense, one player in particular who wasn't on his scouting report immediately caught his eye. 'When he came on the field,' Hetherman said, 'I was like 'Who's that?'' That player was defensive lineman Rueben Bain Jr., one of the top players on the Hurricanes' defense that Hetherman is now leading as defensive coordinator. Bain, now a junior, will be integral to Hetherman's defense, which relies on a four-man front to create pressure and wreak havoc at the line of scrimmage to create turnover situations for the back end of the defense. But to do that, Bain will need to round back into the form he showcased during his freshman year before taking a slight step back last season. Bain, a four-star prospect coming out of Miami Central High, excelled his first year of college football. He was the ACC Defensive Rookie of the Year and a Freshman All-American after recording 44 tackles, 12.5 tackles for loss and 7.5 sacks. The hope, the expectation, was that Bain would build on that in Year 2. It didn't happen, not completely. Bain sustained an injury on the first drive of Miami's season opener against the Florida Gators and missed the next four games before returning for the Hurricanes' come-from-behind victory against Cal and starting all of the final eight games. He still put up decent numbers — 23 tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks — but the explosiveness and disruptiveness at the line of scrimmage that he showcased as a rookie wasn't always there. Bain simply called last season, which Miami finished 10-3 after starting 9-0, 'eventful.' 'And that's not always a good thing,' Bain said, 'but do you learn and grow? Got hurt, came back, was able to see some things, take a look at things and learn from it. It wasn't our best year as a team. But, you know, we get to live and learn now. We get to come back again, go to the drawing board, be a better team and better player.' Now fully healthy and playing in a new scheme that should suit his style of play, Bain is ready to show that he can be that dominant version of himself that he showcased as a freshman. He dropped 10 pounds during the offseason to be 'a little more mobile, more flexible, have a faster twitch.' He has put in extra work off to the side with defensive line coach Jason Taylor in order to 'pick the brain of a Hall of Famer' and 'soak up all the game I can.' 'It's just me and him 1 on 1,' Bain said. 'I get to really key in on the small stuff.' Hetherman said the Bain he has seen through the Hurricanes' first three practices is reminiscent of the player he saw on the opposite sideline two years ago. 'He's very talented, and you can see it,' Hetherman said. 'He hit a move on Monday in practice that you can tell it's just natural. He went, moved, didn't win, countered back, and he's right on the quarterback immediately. He just plays fast, and then just the reps that he's had, the speed that he plays at and then how physical he is at the point of attack, that's a guy that's going to set the tempo for the team. Every day, we need to make sure he takes it right from flex through stretch into team [drills] and the walk-throughs. There are other guys that are gonna watch that, and that's going to continue to build the team.' While the Hurricanes figure to have an experienced bunch starting on the defensive line — Bain and sixth-year senior Akheem Mesidor on the edge, with Louisiana Tech transfer David Blay and redshirt junior Ahmad Moten Sr. likely getting the bulk of the run at defensive tackle — Miami will be relying on a group of younger players to serve as valuable depth. Chief among them are sophomores such as Justin Scott, Armando Blount and Cole McConathy II. Bain said the underclassmen have been 'real savvy guys who are eager to learn.' 'They're in the film room as much as me. They're doing extra work as much as me,' Bain said. 'They see that they've got an actual shot to have some playing time this year, and they've got the right head on to come in and make a make an impact. They don't want to be in a rotation. They want to take my spot and that's what I like.' Even at that, those younger players are looking up to Bain to set the standard. 'Rueben's one of those reliable guys,' Scott said. 'You know he's always gonna come in and make that play. ... You he ain't gonna mess up.'
