Blue White Illustrated

Iowa Pregame

Penn State Sports Magazine

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and Yetur [Gross-Matos], Shane [Sim- mons] and Daniel [Joseph] – they make it really easy for a guy like me to go out there and make plays. Our inside guys – Rob [Windsor], Kevin [Givens], Antonio Shel- ton, C.J. Thorpe, P.J. Mustipher – every- body just makes sure we're going to contribute. So when the end of the game comes, we're all fresh. We rotate. We be- lieve in gang mentality, everybody going in and everybody contributing." Toney was on the field for 43 percent of Penn State's defensive snaps last Saturday. Starting defensive ends Miller and Gross- Matos saw the most time at defensive end against the Hoosiers. They were on the field for 65 and 55 percent of the plays, re- spectively, and their contributions af- forded Toney a chance to play with fresh legs late in the game. He took full advantage of that opportu- nity, tying a school record for most sacks in a game. With his dominant fourth-quarter performance, he's now in the record books alongside Tamba Hali, Jimmy Kennedy and Terry Killens. His four sacks were also the most in one game by a Big Ten player since 2016. On his first sack, Windsor and Simmons put heavy backside pressure on Peyton Ramsey, who rolled right into Toney's contain lane. Thanks to an energized bull rush against the right tackle, Toney easily ripped underneath the block to force Ramsey into an intentional grounding and a 16-yard loss on first down. Toney record his second sack on only a three-man rush. With Givens holding his ground in the middle and Miller taking a long outside rush opposite Toney, the redshirt sopho- more was able to use his notorious straight arm to get leverage and come back inside to get Ramsey for the sack on third-and- 1. His third sack forced a fumble later on the same drive, although Indiana recovered the ball and ended up scoring on an ensuing fourth down. ABer taking a long outside rush and then dipping underneath the leB tackle, Toney used his reach to his advan- tage again. He extended his right arm to disrupt Ramsey's throwing motion and caused the ball to hit the ground. Toney said he thought it was his best play of the aBernoon because it was a technique he had been working on. "I had to get that Von Miller on, try to put the game away and try to get the ball out of the quarter- back's hands," he said. "I know we didn't come up with it, but it just felt good because I watched him do that in the [Denver Broncos'] past game against the Cardinals and I was like, I can do that." While that strip-sack might have been the most memorable for him, Toney's fourth and final sack had the greater impact on the game. ABer Indiana recovered an onside kick with less than a minute re- maining, Toney dropped Ramsey for a 7- yard loss, directly following a holding penalty. The Hoosiers trailed by only by five points at the time, and the loss put them in a hole from which they were un- able to recover. And again on that play, his teammates' rush helped flush Ramsey out of the pocket before Toney tracked him down from be- hind. With Iowa, a Big Ten West Division title contender, headed to University Park this week, Toney is looking to build on the suc- cess he enjoyed late in the game against In- diana. He has the skill set – an explosive first step, long arms and a repertoire of swim moves, dips and rips – to finish. But, as he acknowledges, it takes more than just great individual effort to complete a play, and that's what drives him. "I work hard every day," he said. "My teammates push me every day, so I just knew it was just a matter of time. You've got to keep going. You can't think, Oh, I didn't get a sack this week. You've just got to think, I've got to keep going. I've got to keep rushing because if I don't, what's going to happen? My team needs me out there, so I just make sure I kept pushing myself. Shareef made sure he pushed me. Yetur made sure to push me and Coach Spencer really pushes me all the time." O C T O B E R   2 4 ,   2 0 1 8 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M 16 Toney had two sacks in the Nittany Lions' first six games, but after finishing with four against Indiana, he is the team leader. As a team, Penn State leads the Big Ten with an average of 3.6 sacks per game. Photo by Steve Manuel

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