There’s Eastern Time. There’s Pacific Time.
And then there’s Jay Time.
At Liberty High School just north of Dallas, you could set a watch to it.
Jay Ajayi’s now-international legend was born at
Liberty High, where in the fall of 2010, the hottest fashion accessory was a T-shirt that read “It’s Jay Time” next to image of giant clock.
The time? Kickoff for Redhawks football.
Jay Time is now 1 p.m. local. Ajayi, with back-to-back 200-yard games, has again made it worthwhile for Dolphins’ fans to set an alarm Sunday mornings.
But before he became the first running back since LaDainian Tomlinson in 2006 to win AFC Offensive Player of the Week honors in
consecutive weeks, before he was the
first FBS player to have 1,800 yards rushing and 500 yards receiving in the same season, before he was a finalist for Dallas’ prestigious Landry Award, Ajayi was a scrawny high school freshman with a British accent and amazing feet.
Galen Zimmerman coached Ajayi at Liberty, where the transplant from England played football in the fall, soccer in the winter and ran track in the spring.
And as he’s done on every level since Pee-Wee ball, Ajayi made a fast impression.
Ajayi, always young for his class, made his varsity debut late in his sophomore season. In his first game, Ajayi had over 100 yards on just 10 carries.
“He’s pretty special,” Zimmerman said. “[In high school,] you could see how he’s not just really good, he’s a special kind of good.”
