Tucked away on Camp Courtney, the U.S. Marine Corps base in Okinawa, Japan, is a hill that once tested a group of 7- and 8-year-old boys who dreamed about football.
The voice of a Marine master sergeant still echoes in the back of 25-year-old Khalil Shakir's head, urging him to run faster to the top. The Okinawa sun beats down on the boys as their shoes beat into the pavement, their lungs burning by the time they reached the peak.
"I want to go back one day and look at the hill and see if it was as big as I remember," Shakir says.
Memories of long days at youth tackle football practice, followed by sprints up that hill, bring the Bills wide receiver back to where he first learned about discipline and never giving in.
As if endless repetitions up and down weren't enough, every run came under the watchful eye of Attiyah "Shak" Shakir, a former master sergeant who served 24 years in the Marines — and the father of Khalil and his two brothers, Attiyyah Jr. and Tyreese.
Shak was Khalil's first football coach during the roughly six years the Shakir family spent in Okinawa. Khalil started playing tackle football at age 7 on the Marine base, where mental toughness and unrelenting attention to detail were drilled into him by his father and the other Marines who doubled as coaches.
"A typical day for Marines is them teaching you discipline — doing the right thing, being where you're supposed to be when you need to be there," Shakir said. "And if not, you run."
On the days the boys were lucky enough to escape the hill, the reward was wall sits.
"We got put through Marine-like workouts as 7-year-olds," Shakir recalled. "If you could picture that, there were a lot of tears, a lot of crying to mom. They didn't care. It was get on the field and go to work."
But for all the intensity on the field, the Shakir household was full of love — and more football. After long practices on base, Khalil and his brothers would pile into the family's small home, where their dad was just as eager to keep the game going.
"Me and my brothers wanted to play football all day, every day. We would go home and throw on the pads again and go in the backyard and he was our coach again," he shared.
The three brothers shared a room, which turned into a mini locker room.
"I remember we used to have all the beds right next to each other," Shakir said. "So if you can imagine three boys in one room — messy."
Those lessons that started on that hill — accountability, precision and persistence — have followed Shakir at every step since. The same values that pushed him up the slope in Japan now guide him throughout every practice and every game with the Buffalo Bills.
Now in his fourth season with the team, Shakir is coming off career highs in yards and touchdowns a year ago. He was one of four players from Buffalo's 2022 draft class to sign a four-year contract extension during the offseason, setting him up to be a core part of the offense for years to come.
Shakir has at least 45 receiving yards in five of the Bills' seven games this year and leads the team with 356 receiving yards heading into Week 9. Since the start of the 2024 season, Shakir's 891 yards after the catch rank second among NFL receivers — behind only All-Pro Ja'Marr Chase (1,143).
"What I love about Khalil is he just does everything the right way," quarterback Josh Allen said. "He works extremely hard. He practices extremely hard. It's easy to play with a guy like that — you root for a guy like that."
For all the success he's found in Buffalo, Shakir still credits the same source for his approach.
"I thank my dad every single day for just teaching me the game and being hard on me at a young age," the receiver said. "I think that definitely helps get me where I'm at now. So just super appreciative of just the characteristics and the mentality that he instilled in me."
When he's not in meeting rooms or breaking tackles on the football field, Shakir spends his time with his wife Sayler, who he met during his time at Boise State while he was on the football team and she was on the soccer team. The two got married in March of 2023 and are expecting their first child later this year in December.
The steady, disciplined approach that the world gets to see on game days extends into Shakir's home life. Khalil and Sayler live a quiet but abundant life filled with family and giving back to the community, both in Buffalo and Boise.
"He always leads by example — that's something he learned from his dad. He just knows what to do and always treats everyone right," Sayler said.
As they prepare for the upcoming arrival of their baby, home life for the Shakirs currently centers around their two golden retrievers, Penny and Missy. When the couple first moved to Buffalo, the transition was a big one. To help ease that adjustment, Khalil surprised Sayler with a puppy — a golden retriever named Penny.
"A month after he was drafted, we picked up everything from Boise and moved here, and that first month, I was a little lonely, leaving everyone, all my family and friends on the other side of the country, so Khalil got me Penny," she said.
Penny quickly became part of their daily life, following Khalil from room to room and often curling up beside him on the couch. She became his shadow and his calm in the chaos of an NFL season.
A year later, they attended a dog adoption event at KeyBank Center in Buffalo. Among the kennels and wagging tails was an 11-week-old retriever named Missy, who instantly connected with Sayler. They brought her home that same day.
That moment, Sayler explained, opened their eyes to how many animals — and people — were in need of connection. That realization would grow into something larger and turned into a cause the couple could share together.
"We both had never adopted dogs or really knew much about the shelter scene and the crisis across the country of how many dogs need homes. That opened our eyes when we got Missy and realized how sweet of a dog she is," Sayler said.
This past summer, those efforts took on a new life. In June, Khalil and Sayler returned to Boise to host the first-ever Shakir Fest, a two-day community event built around football, fun, and giving back.
The weekend kicked off June 6 with a youth football camp that brought together nearly 100 kids from the Boise area. Shakir spent the day teaching drills, running routes, and sharing the lessons that shaped his own journey.
The next day, more than 100 golfers teed off in the Shakir Fest Golf Tournament, raising funds and awareness for K9s For Warriors, a nonprofit that provides trained service dogs to veterans struggling with post-traumatic stress. For Khalil, the weekend was more than a community project — it's a reflection of where he comes from. His father's service in the Marines instilled in him a deep respect for those who serve and sacrifice.
"I'm a military kid through and through, so when you throw dogs in there, and then being able to help out veterans, it's a blessing to be a part of," Shakir said. "That's part of my identity."
That lifelong respect for service and his passion for helping others earned him special recognition this year. Shakir was named the Buffalo Bills' nominee for the NFL’s Salute to Service Award, which honors players, coaches and staff who demonstrate exceptional effort in supporting military service members, veterans and their families.
"It's an awesome honor for him," Sayler said. "It's his whole life growing up. He's a military kid moving around, so it means a lot to him, which obviously makes me really proud."
Now a Marine veteran, "Shak" is at nearly every one of Khalil's games with the Bills. Shakir often recalls games where he'd go back to his locker afterwards and see a string of texts about how he played.
"His support is unreal. He's the guy who literally taught me the game. Whenever he's here, there is a little extra motivation to play better, because I know if I don't, I'm going to hear from him after the game," Shakir laughed.
These days, they still talk a lot about football — but there's a dose of fatherly advice mixed in with Khalil on the verge of becoming a parent in the middle of a football season.
"The one thing my dad told me was that it's the biggest blessing ever so just enjoy every single step of the way," he said.
Added Sayler, "We're both reading books and talking about all the things. We're both really excited. I know he's going to be a great dad."
Whether it's a long run up a hill, a tough practice, or the long nights of fatherhood ahead, Shakir approaches it all the same way — with discipline, gratitude, and love. It's what his father taught him, what Sayler reminds him of daily, and what he hopes his own child will one day carry forward.
