Editor’s Note: This is the fourth installment in Skyline Sports’ ELEVATED EXPECTATIONS series profiling Griz football player who are likely to see elevated roles this season for Montana.
PART I: Local walk-on tackle Keintz continues rapid improvement
PART II: Eastwood follows Hauck north to Montana
PART III: With Buss injured, Lewis rises among Griz linebackers
One word comes to Keenan Curran’s mind when he thinks about Samori Toure, his teammate and fellow Montana Grizzly receiver.
“I would say he’s kind of a savage,” Curran said, emphasizing it slightly as though he’s not sure the reporter will understand what he means. “He has that dog mentality where he’s going to go get everything, and I saw that when he was a freshman. I saw that right when he got here. He had to earn everything. He wasn’t the guy that came in on full scholarship. He had to earn his way.”
Toure certainly did that, breaking onto the scene last year as a redshirt freshman. He finished with 553 receiving yards, third on the team, and five touchdowns, which ranked second. He showed off his savagery with plays like this one, against Northern Colorado.
“It was just kind of a broken play,” Toure said. “[Quarterback] Gresch [Jensen] had a lot of pressure and he saw me in the end zone. He just kind of blindly threw it up there and I just went up over the defender and caught it on his head — flexed on him.”
Here's the higher quality video of that @samori_toure grab from multiple angles. #DameTime pic.twitter.com/NEAXogK7Z9
— Shaun Rainey (@ShaunRainey) November 12, 2017
For all of his highlights last year, Toure has been a little bit of a forgotten player for the Grizzlies, partly because the receivers are so deep.
Curran played as a true freshman, caught 10 touchdowns as a sophomore, and then finished sixth in the Big Sky Conference last year with 80.3 yards. Jerry Louie-McGee had one of the best freshman years in UM history in 2016 and has been a star ever since.
Toure, for his part, wasn’t heavily recruited out of high school in Portland. His hometown Big Sky school, Portland State, wasn’t interested, despite him being named All-Metro as both a receiver and a defensive back as a senior in 2015.
Luckily, his offensive coordinator knew Bob Stitt, the Montana head coach at the time, and that connection got Toure a place on the Grizzlies’ roster.
When he arrived at Montana, Toure had to fight his way up through the overcrowded depth chart at wide receiver thanks to Stitt’s penchant for recruiting players at that position.
Even when he broke out last year, Toure was still third on the depth chart and in name recognition behind Curran and Louie-McGee — but Curran doesn’t think that his teammate will fly under the radar much longer.
“Everybody has a ceiling, but it’s hard to tell [with him], because I come out here at practice and I see him make some of the plays that he makes, and some of it’s just off raw talent,” Curran said. “I’m excited for him this year, because he’s really jumping on the scene and getting opportunities to get a lot of time, a lot of targets, a lot of catches.”
Toure’s been impressive through fall camp, getting open and making tough plays in one-on-one situations.
“I definitely feel like I’m ready to take a bigger role,” Toure said. “Just because, since I’ve been here, my redshirt year, I’ve been learning and improving on what I need to improve on, and I just feel like I’m ready to get out there.”
He’s a dangerous receiver, able to hurt defenses in a number of ways. As in the Northern Colorado play above, the 6-foot-3 Toure can out-jump defenders. He can also run by them. He had an 80-yard catch against Savannah State that set a program record for longest reception without scoring, and then one-upped it with this grab, an 81-yard score against Weber State.
TOUCHDOWN MONTANA! Jensen finds Samori Toure for an 81-yard strike!
UM 20, WSU 34 12:12/4th. #GoGriz pic.twitter.com/q61FCcJ3uz
— Montana Griz Football (@MontanaGrizFB) October 28, 2017
He can also make defenders miss, like on this score against North Dakota.
Here's the TD by @samori_toure. Makes one guy miss and uses speed to do the rest pic.twitter.com/IYJTGhV2k7
— Shaun Rainey (@ShaunRainey) October 14, 2017
“He’s kind of a unique, lengthy speed guy, but he can kind of do a little bit of everything,” Curran said. “He’s bred to play wide receiver. You see him, he’s like 6’3”, he’s blazing fast. He’s not the biggest guy, but he’s big enough where he can take a hit and keep going.”
This could be the season when Toure starts to surpass his mentors. His emergence could give the Grizzlies the best three-deep wide receiver depth chart in the conference.
Curran, for one, is excited to see that happen.
“It’s interesting, because when I was a freshman, I was in a similar situation as him, where there were guys that were older than me,” Curran said. “[He’s] had opportunities to play a lot more than I did, so to see them transition from being young to being kind of vets, quickly, it’s really cool. It’s everything you hope for, because then, I’ve told Samori, when he’s a senior, he’s going to bypass anything I’ve ever done here. He’s going to be in positions where he can break so many records.”
Andrew Houghton is a freelance journalist providing Griz football coverage for Skyline Sports this fall. Photos by Jason Bacaj and Brooks Nuanez. All Rights Reserved.
