Could Rutgers football add a transfer linebacker? Here’s what Greg Schiano said

PISCATAWAY – Greg Schiano wouldn’t rule out the possibility, but it’s also far from a certainty.

Rutgers football lost a veteran, productive linebacker to the transfer portal in Mohamed Toure, who last week decided he wanted to move on from the Scarlet Knights for his seventh college football season.

Toure’s been an impact member of the defense, though the last few years have been marred by injury as he missed the 2022 and 2024 seasons because of torn anterior cruciate ligaments (ACLs).

So the big question now is how Rutgers will replace him.

Bringing in a transfer could provide a solution, but it’s not a necessity, either.

“As you know, we are always evaluating what’s in the portal, and if we feel that we can make our football team better then we will actively get engaged with players,” Schiano said following the Scarlet Knights’ Scarlet-White Game on Saturday at SHI Stadium.

The window for players to enter the portal closed Friday night at midnight, but programs are permitted to continue to recruit and add players.

Still, the Scarlet Knights do have depth at linebacker, though some of it is relatively inexperienced and unproven.

Dariel Djabome had a breakout season in 2024, leading the team with 105 tackles (7.5 for loss) with 3.5 sacks.

Moses Walker is a former top recruit who’s entering his fourth season with the program and likely would be a starter alongside Djabome.

But the Scarlet Knights are also optimistic about the development of younger linebackers like Sam Robinson, DJ McClary, MJ Johnson and Abram Wright, who missed the spring recovering from injury but has shown some flashes of what he could do in the previous two seasons.

“We’ll be fine,” Schiano said. “And if there’s someone in the portal that makes us a better football team, then we’ll do everything we can to try to get them.”

Schiano has been selective about how he uses the portal, typically bringing him players to fill holes on the roster or to bolster depth at positions of need. He’s brought in three players in recent days – Mercer transfer safety Chris Joines, LIU transfer OT Moshood Giwa and Kent State transfer DL Oliver Billotte.

But Schiano has always stressed the players Rutgers brings in need to fit not just on the field, but within the program’s culture, something he places a premium on.

Whether he adds any more transfers – especially at linebacker – remains to be seen.

But it’ll only happen if the right situation arises.

“We have it continually look. The transfer portal is real, college football, that’s the world we’re in. So we have to constantly mine that but it’s got to be guys that fit our culture,” Schiano said. “The minute you start reaching to get a player because you need it, you’ve got to be careful because then it can really disrupt the apple cart here that we’ve put together.”

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