Shaka Heyward

Early life

Heyward was born on April 19, 2000. He comes from an athletic family: his cousins, Cameron and Connor Heyward, both play in the NFL, Cameron for the Pittsburgh Steelers and Connor for the Las Vegas Raiders, while another cousin, Corey, played college basketball, another, Craig Jr., played college football for Middle Tennessee, and Craig Jr.'s father Craig Heyward also played in the NFL. He attended Mill Creek High School in Georgia where he played football as a linebacker. In his last two seasons, he totaled 168 tackles. A three-star prospect, he committed to play college football for the Duke Blue Devils and one of the top-60 ranked outside linebackers nationally.

College career

Heyward redshirted as a freshman at Duke in 2018, appearing in four games. The following year, he appeared in all 12 games, six as a starter, totaling 68 tackles and 6.5 tackles-for-loss (TFLs); he was third for Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) freshmen in the former while he placed sixth in the latter category. In 2020, he started all 11 games and posted a team-leading 80 tackles with 8.5 TFLs and 3.0 sacks. That year, he received the Vincent Rey Award for best Duke linebacker and the Sonny Falcone Award, "given annually to offensive, defensive, and developmental members for their year-round commitment to strength and conditioning."

In 2021, Heyward was named third-team All-ACC after having started all 12 games and recording a team-leading 98 tackles and 11.5 TFLs. He received the Vincent Rey Award for a second time and also won an award for playing the most snaps for Duke that year. As a senior in 2022, he served as team captain and started all 12 games, recording 93 tackles, six pass breakups and 6.0 TFLs, being named honorable mention All-ACC and the Duke defensive MVP. He concluded his collegiate career having started 41 games, tallying 340 tackles, 32.5 TFLs and 11.5 sacks.