4 former Oregon prep stars headed to NFL: High school coaches reflect on what made them special

By Bob Lundeberg 

Cole Turner photo by Kent Frasure 

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Four former Oregon prep football standouts realized longtime dreams in late April.

Clackamas’ Cole Turner (fifth round, Washington Commanders), Sprague’s Teagan Quitoriano (fifth round, Houston Texans), Valley Catholic’s Daniel Hardy (seventh round, Los Angeles Rams) and Westview’s Samori Toure (seventh round, Green Bay Packers) all heard their names called during the 2022 NFL Draft. 

SBLive spoke with each player’s high school coach about their journeys to college stardom and professional football. 

Daniel Hardy

Daniel Hardy’s path to the NFL differed greatly from most prospects. 

Better known for his basketball prowess at Class 4A Valley Catholic, Hardy played some football as a freshman before sitting out his sophomore and junior years. He made all-state at wide receiver and linebacker in his one varsity season as the Valiants went 6-3 with a postseason appearance. 

“You always knew Daniel was different,” said Nick Hegwood, Valley Catholic’s head coach from 2016 to 2021. “Not just his athleticism — he was always someone who had a drive that was different from everyone else. He’s just a leader. Even at an early age, Daniel was somebody who could’ve very easily been filled with lots of bravado and ‘me’ stuff, but he’s not that guy.”

Hegwood recalled a late-season game against Scappoose, an opponent that trounced Valley Catholic 72-7 the prior year. In a torrential downpour, Hardy had a strip-sack scoop-and-score, a receiving touchdown and a pick-six as the Valiants won 20-7.

“I always joke that Daniel beat Scappoose,” Hegwood said.

Despite his immediate success on the football field, things remained quiet for the 6-foot-3 Hardy on the recruiting front.

Hegwood contacted several Southern California junior colleges and didn’t receive many bites. When he sent film to College of the Siskiyous, then-head coach Charlie Roche responded within an hour.

Hardy was dominant in his one junior-college season and earned a Division I scholarship offer from Montana State. Mostly a reserve his first two seasons in Bozeman, Hardy bulked up to 240 pounds for his senior year and became one of the best players in the Big Sky Conference.

Hardy finished the 2021 season with 16.5 sacks and 24.5 tackles for loss, earning All-America honors at defensive end. He helped lead the Bobcats to the Football Championship Subdivision final.

“It’s amazing to see a kid’s hard work pay off like that,” Hegwood said. “He was a zero-star recruit, and to see him become such a factor is an incredible feeling. … Him and his family are such great people. These things could not have happened to a better person.”

A few months before Hardy signed with Montana State, his father, Wilbert, died from kidney cancer. Wilbert was an influential pastor in Portland’s African American community.

Hardy, who was close to his father, overcame immense grief to blossom into an FCS All-American. The Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams snagged him in the seventh round, and the high-motored pass rush specialist recently signed his rookie deal with the team.

“I still use Daniel as an example to the sixth- and eighth-graders I teach about what it means to be different,” Hegwood said. “He was the kid in high school where if one of his teammates was struggling, he would help them. He understood he was only going to go as far as his team would take him, so his response was to build everybody up. He’s a special kid.”

Teagan Quitoriano

Teagan Quitoriano entered his sophomore year at 6A Sprague weighing around 180 pounds on a 6-foot-4 frame. He graduated at 6-6 and 240 pounds.

“His work ethic was absolutely phenomenal,” Sprague head football coach Jay Minyard said. “He was a kid who could’ve rested on his laurels because he was pretty big when he got here, but he didn’t and that’s a tribute to all the work and time he put in. Football practice, basketball practice and in the weight room, he was always dripping with sweat. That kid doesn’t have a non-intense bone in his body.”

A three-star recruit for the class of 2018, Quitoriano was one of the top-rated players in the state when he signed with Oregon State. Quitoriano starred at defensive end and tight end for the Olympians while also earning all-state honors in basketball as a bruising power forward. 

“His get-off on both sides of the ball was phenomenal,” Minyard said. “His length really helped him a lot, and he moved a lot better laterally than I think people realized for a kid who was 6-6. A lot of that just goes back to his work ethic and the time he put in to everything.”

At Oregon State, Quitoriano developed into one of the better blocking tight ends in the country. The Beavers ranked 19th nationally a season ago at 212.4 rushing yards per game.

Quitoriano was also effective in the passing game, finishing his college career with 40 receptions for 512 yards and six touchdowns.

“We didn’t throw it a lot, but boy, Teagan could block,” Minyard said. “He could cave in an entire side of the defensive line on his own. We thought a school would maybe try to make him into a left tackle, but after his first year or two at OSU, the coaches said, ‘Nah, we are thinking this kid is going to be playing on Sundays at tight end.’ So, that was a pretty cool deal.” 

Quitoriano had a solid performance at the NFL combine but really stood out at the Senior Bowl, Minyard said.

“When the Rams were looking at him, they sent a (private investigator) to come talk to us about the draft,” Minyard said. “The PI said they had talked to everybody who coached at the Senior Bowl, and Teagan scored off the charts on the leadership tests they do. And that didn’t surprise me at all.”

The Houston Texans wound up drafting Quitoriano in the fifth round, giving Minyard his first NFL player. He projects to be a key piece in new head coach Lovie Smith’s running game.

“I always thought he would have a chance (to make the NFL), I just didn’t know if it would be at tackle or tight end,” Minyard said. “Looking back, tight end was the right spot for him and the coaches at OSU did a great job of developing his route-running and his hands. I think he’s going to have a real good career.”

Samori Toure

Westview head coach Ryan Atkinson is still flummoxed by the lack of recruiting attention Samori Toure received in high school. 

Blessed with 4.4 speed, Toure had no issues getting behind defenses in the 6A Metro League. Few Division I coaches showed interest, but Atkinson and staff eventually convinced Big Sky power Montana to look at the speedster. The Grizzlies offered a scholarship, and the rest is history.

“We came in when he was a junior,” Atkinson said. “Sometime in the fall we got on the horn and were calling coaches up, saying, ‘Hey, this guy is ready to roll.’ For whatever reason, his path has been one where it hasn’t all jumped out at him. He wasn’t a (current Michigan receiver) Darrius Clemons; he had to plug away.”

Toure, who had a single-season school record 1,446 receiving yards as a senior at Westview, blew up during his junior campaign at Montana. He led FCS in receiving with 1,495 yards on 87 catches — both marks are Montana records — while recording 13 touchdowns. In a second-round playoff win over Southeastern Louisiana, Toure had an FCS record 303 receiving yards and three touchdowns.

After earning All-America honors as a junior, Toure transferred to Nebraska for his final season. He was the team’s leading receiver with 46 catches for 898 yards and five touchdowns last fall.

Atkinson credits Toure’s success to dedication and work ethic.

“The great ones always have a few of the same traits,” said Atkinson, who also noted that Toure is a great teammate with a quiet confidence about his abilities. “He was always a guy that was underrated. He didn’t have an easy path through anything, but our high school staff always believed in him and knew he was going to be great.”

The 6-foot-3 Toure had a good showing at the Shrine Game, scoring two touchdowns on five catches. The Green Bay Packers felt he could be another target for Aaron Rodgers while also participating on special teams.

Atkinson believes Toure, the first Westview graduate drafted into the NFL, is a perfect role model for under-recruited football players with big dreams.

“I think it’s such a great story for the state of Oregon,” Atkinson said. “It’s a story of perseverance and believing in yourself. Samori may not have been a five-star or four-star recruit, and this guy ends up getting drafted. He always believed in himself, and you’re seeing that now. He just kept pushing and believing, got the breakout years and kept going.”

Cole Turner

When asked to describe the player Cole Turner was at 6A Clackamas, former head coach Joe Bushman turned to a famous quote from John Wooden. 

“‘Perform at your best when your best is required,’ and that was Cole,” said Bushman, now the head coach at Lewis & Clark College. “He always rose to the occasion. He made a catch in the (state quarterfinals) against Central Catholic where he just wanted it more, and we wouldn’t have won without that catch. He did it in basketball, too. He was just a guy who didn’t shy away from the big moments.”

The big moments included the 2017 state championship game, a showdown between Clackamas and South Medford. Turner caught a third-quarter touchdown and finished with 87 all-purpose yards as the Cavaliers won 31-30 on a late field goal by Jeffrey Nelson. 

A three-star prospect with several Division I offers, Turner chose to play college football for Nevada. The 6-foot-6, 240-pound receiver-turned-tight end was a two-time all-Mountain West selection and closed his college career with 117 catches for 1,370 yards and 20 touchdowns.

“Because of his height, he would win a lot of those jump balls for us,” Bushman said. “But he was also a really good blocker and a physical blocker, so his evolution into the tight end position was natural. Some wide receivers don’t want to stick their nose in there; he was the opposite. He always blocked as hard as he ran routes.”

Bushman said Turner was an unselfish player who never took plays off. He set the tone in the weight room and would regularly run routes against air before and after practices.

“The other thing about Cole was loyalty, and you don’t get a lot of that anymore,” Bushman said. “He stuck at Clackamas, and that’s one of the reasons we had that run. We were losing kids to private schools and we’d have to recruit our own kids starting in middle school. We knew that group was going to be special, and Cole was the leader of that. He liked what we were doing, our coaching staff, and the other kids.

“To me, that’s throwback. It’s the way it’s supposed to be with friends growing up and playing ball together at the local high school. What could be better than that?”

Turner, who is expected to be a red zone target for the Washington Commanders, was reunited with Bushman at the Lewis & Clark football camp in Portland in late June. Turner and former All-American running back Marcus Lattimore were the headline guests at the youth camp.

“We connect just about every Christmas, and every time I’ve seen him over the last five years, he’s gotten bigger and bigger,” Bushman said. “He’s always been kind and humble — that part never changed.”