Ajayi's decision isn't questionable

Every meeting seems to have that one person who can't stop asking questions. With a laugh, Harvard's Peter Ajayi admits he is that guy during football team meetings.

He wants to break down plays or confirm one element one more time. And he will raise his hand until a coach says, "Peter, no more questions."

Even though Ajayi is in his junior season, he crams before every game to make up for the knowledge his teammates may have learned in their youth. Ajayi, a Brooklyn, N.Y., native, was a highly touted basketball player at Poly Prep Country Day School, where he was a teammate of Chicago Bulls rookie Joakim Noah.

Ajayi was supposed to be a basketball player at Harvard. But one day before he was supposed to make his commitment, he changed his mind. He wanted to play football, a sport he played for three years in high school.

"I love basketball in its entirety," Ajayi said. ". . . I love everything about the sport. But there's nothing like a game of football. The training for football, I felt, was much more difficult, but the exhilaration from football was unmatched by anything I felt in the basketball realm.

"When the ball is snapped in a high school football game, the rush I felt - just that was enough to take me to football over basketball . . . That, for me, made the choice. I love that. I still love that."

Harvard coach Tim Murphy, who was aware of Ajayi but didn't heavily recruit him, said that passion for football was enough for him to give Ajayi an opportunity.

In three years, Ajayi has become a versatile player for the Crimson at defensive end and linebacker. He is tied for first in the Ivy League with five sacks, as Harvard (5-2, 4-0) travels to play Columbia (1-6, 0-4) tomorrow.

"He made the transition of being an athlete as a freshman to a football player as a sophomore to a playmaker as a junior," Murphy said. "We still think there is tremendous upside and potential with Peter."

Ajayi will tell you he never regretted his decision to play football, but early on he realized just how much work he had to do to compete.

Ajayi picked up basketball the summer before ninth grade. He became a power forward for Poly Prep, a program that has been ranked nationally in recent years.

"He was long and very athletic with good skills," Poly Prep basketball coach Bill McNally said. "We had a lot of success when he was here and Pete was definitely a big part of it. He was an all-league player and a Division 1-caliber basketball player."

Ajayi played football as a sophomore, but it was during his junior season when his interest in the sport was piqued. He played linebacker and defensive end, and the more success he achieved, the more he wanted to play.

When Ajayi reached Harvard, he learned how far he had to go. Ajayi weighed 217 pounds as a freshman and after a series of strength and conditioning tests, discovered he was the second-weakest player on the team.

Improving Ajayi's strength became his first goal. He is now 6 feet 3 inches and weighs 235 pounds. He has also worked with coaches like defensive coordinator Kevin Doherty to learn the fundamentals of his position.

"The contact part of the game didn't come naturally to him, but the work ethic was there," Doherty said. "It was a matter of getting him familiar with the contact and realizing he does have toughness. He just didn't know how to use it."

Soon, Ajayi said he began to develop instincts for his position, but he still had a number of questions. McNally said it is in his nature to want to learn.

"He's a real meticulous sort of athlete," McNally said. "He wants to know everything down to the nth degree. That's something that really helps him prepare himself for competition. He's the type of kid that loves to be coached."

Murphy credits Ajayi for making himself into an impact player.

"When he was a sophomore, he could come free just on his athleticism and quickness, but he wouldn't make the play," Murphy said. "Now, he's one of the better athletes in the entire league."

McNally said he knew Ajayi would be a successful football player, but a part of him wishes to see him play basketball again. McNally recently met Harvard basketball coach Tommy Amaker and was sure to let him know, "There's a kid on the football team that's a very good basketball player."

But Ajayi says he does not miss the sport, even as he watched Noah help the University of Florida earn back-to-back national championships.

"[Football] is so year-round now, there's not a lot of time where I'm sitting around thinking about basketball," Ajayi said. "Even now, it feels fresh. I never really thought about basketball. I'm all into football."

Monique Walker can be reached at mwalker@globe.com.