As Shaka Toney embarks upon his first season of college football, the redshirt freshman defensive end from Philadelphia finds himself prepared.

“Feeling great, feeling blessed,” he said during preseason camp. “I’ve got a great defensive line around me, great coaching staff, great teammates – feeling amazing.”

Following his first year within the program, after which he was named one of two scout team defensive players of the year, Toney is on the verge of contributing in 2017.

Penn State is without its two starting defensive ends from a season ago, and while Toney isn’t exactly atop the depth chart, he has shown the tools needed to be a situational – and impactful – player for the Nittany Lions.

Playing against the starting offense last season on a daily basis in practice, Toney earned respect from his elder teammates for his first-step quickness and relentless pursuit of the ball carrier. Similar to classmate Shane Simmons, Toney’s pass-rushing ability proved to be a true test for the more experienced offensive linemen across from him last year – and agin this preseason camp. Now they’re aiming for that to be the case against opponents who wear different colors than their own.

As Toney acknowledges, however, speed off the edge and pass-rushing technique only gets someone so far in the Big Ten, a league perennially known for some of the nation’s best running backs. Therefore this off-season Toney focused on becoming a more well-rounded player.

One focus was to grow more stout against the run, while adding bulk to his frame. Although he’s still listed on the official roster at just shy of 220 pounds, Toney feels as though he accomplished what he set out to do.

“Playing the run is a mentality, as Coach (Sean) Spencer always says,” said the 6-foot-3 Toney. “You have to approach it as you don’t want to be blocked. I hear a lot of people talk about my size, but they don’t understand that I have the best defensive line coach in the country and he shows me how to play the run. He assures me that I have what it takes. So I just make sure I do everything that he says sand what the older guys say (like), Torrence (Brown), Shareef (Miller) and Buch (Ryan Buchholz). Always making sure they understand how to play the run, how to play the pass, how to play football. I’ve got a great group of guys who are always going to coach me up.”

Toney takes a detailed approach to not only his craft, but also his lifestyle. That is admired by not just his upperclassman position-mates, but his defensive captain has taken notice as well.

While one of Toney’s off-season goals was to add some weight – he enrolled at PSU weighing under 200 pounds – his religious beliefs held precedence. In accordance to Muslim observances during the month of Ramadan, which in 2017 spanned from late May to late June, Toney abstained from eating during daylight hours.

Naturally that slowed some of his weight gain, but his devotion to what he believed in earned him even more respect from his teammates.

“When he first came in as a freshman I was assigned to him as a big bother. I got to know him and got to know him on a personal level,” said senior linebacker Jason Cabinda at Big Ten Media Day in July. “He goes through a lot in terms of his religion with Ramadan. He wasn’t able to to eat during the day but still having to work out. That’s hard to be that committed.”

For Toney, it's all part of life. With the off-season behind him and his college football debut just over a couple weeks away, he finds himself in a comfortable spot to begin his playing career.

“I felt like I progressed in everything possible on and off the field,” he said. “Always making progress, always working hard.”

Now he's ready to see it pay off.