While it’s still homecoming season in Frisco ISD, one alumni that likely won’t be coming back to visit is Miami Dolphins running back and class of 2011 graduate, Jay Ajayi. Ajayi now lives in Florida and plays in the NFL, but the last two Sundays he’s been putting up numbers like he did in his days as the star running back on campus.  

In his last year of high school, Ajayi had four games with more than 200 rushing yards, and now in back to back weeks, Ajayi has etched his name in NFL history, becoming just the fourth running back to have consecutive games with more than 200 yards rushing.

“At Liberty, I had a lot of great games and 200 yard games,” Ajayi said. “But it’s a dream come true in the NFL.”

Ajayi’s friends are why he started playing football in the first place and his talent led to a college scholarship to Boise State University and soon thereafter the NFL.

“I started playing because my friends were playing and they wanted me to join because  was a natural at it,” Ajayi said. “I started thinking [the NFL] would be possible when I was at Boise State.”

Back at home, Ajayi is still remembered as part of one of the greatest teams the school has seen; the only team to make it to the playoffs in the school’s nine year varsity history.

“We bring him up obviously, we have a trophy case with some of his memorabilia in there,”  head football coach Chris Burtch said. “So yeah any time you have somebody that makes it big, it inspires younger kids that it’s possible.”

Burtch believes that watching Ajayi and other professional football players is beneficial for anyone wanting to excel in the sport.

“An time you watch something, if you want to be a student of the game you should watch more of it,” Burtch said. “Absolutely they could learn from him.”

Ajayi now joins Ricky Williams, Earl Campbell and O.J. Simpson as the only players to pull the rare feat, but he also set school records during his years here. As a senior, Ajayi rushed for 2,240 yards with 35 touchdowns, and those are the numbers current running back Dimitri Jones has his eyes on.

“I’m not so focused on what Jay Ajayi is doing in the NFL,” Jones said. “I’m more focused on the records that he set at Liberty as a running back that’s my goal right now is to be as successful as him as a high school running back.”

Focusing on himself more than Ajayi’s success, Jones wants to make his own history at the school.

“It’s one of my goals [to beat Ajayi’s records] because everyone always talks about his time,” Jones said. “I just want people to talk about the present. I want people to talk about us and that we made it to the playoffs, it’s not just Jay Ajayi’s class because right now they are the only one to make it to the playoffs, and I want to change that.”

It’s the same type of mindset that drove, and continues to drive the breakout star of the NFL.

“It’s not gonna be easy,” Ajayi said. “The path comes with ups and downs but stay determined. Stay focused and don’t cheat the grind.”

Whiles Jones will try to improve on his 1,305 yards and 12 touchdowns Friday against Frisco, the Dolphins have a bye this week; but that doesn’t mean Ajayi is going to rest.

“It was good to have a performance like that, but I definitely don’t want to be satisfied,” Ajayi said. “Don’t want to be a one-hit wonder so to speak, so I’ll just keep working.”

This story was originally posted on Oct. 21 but was updated on Oct. 24 with additional quotes and information after Ajayi’s second straight 200-yard rushing game.