Harold Ayodele struts out of the Emporia State locker room after home games, dressed to the nines.
Ayodele sports a three-piece suit with the tie, handkerchief in the coat pocket and shoes to match.
“That’s Harold,” coach Garin Higgins says. “I tell the players to look good. He’s going to take it to the extreme.”
When you ask teammates about Ayodele’s wardrobe — which includes 10 three-piece suits, and that’s just here in Emporia — they all laugh. But when he arrived at Emporia State in the fall of 2008, the flash was all his teammates saw.
Ayodele had a reputation as a selfish player who was all about himself. His teammates saw a guy who wore sunglasses at night, had a look-at-me personality and the pedigree that enabled a sense of entitlement.
“When he came here, he was kind of a big head,” teammate Daniel Webb says.
In the last year, Ayodele has set out to change everyone’s perception.
He had never paid much attention to his studies, but the ESU coaches have left him no other choice.
“Now, I feel like if I don’t go to class,” he says, “they’re at the door waiting on me.”
Ayodele had let his weight get out of control — he ballooned to 370 pounds — but he’s now down to 320 and rarely misses a snap.
“Before, they used to call me two-plays,” he says.
And, most importantly, Ayodele has proved to his teammates that he’s a team player.
“I think he’s gotten a lot more humble,” Webb says. “He knows what he needs to do, and he doesn’t really talk that much anymore. He used to talk, talk, talk, but he’s backing up his talk and doing more playing than talking, which is most important to me.
“If you can play your hardest, that’s going to stand out more than talking.”
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The transformation was well past due for Ayodele, who admits if it weren’t for the Emporia State coaches, he probably wouldn’t be playing football anywhere.
Until Emporia State, Ayodele played with a sense of privilege — not a big surprise considering his bloodlines.
His oldest brother, Akin Ayodele, is an eight-year pro and the starting inside linebacker for the MIami Dolphins. Harold moved with Akin from his hometown of Dallas to Florida in 2002 when Akin was drafted by the Jacksonville Jaguars.
His middle brother, Remi Ayodele, is a three-year pro and a backup defensive tackle for the New Orleans Saints.
Akin played his college ball at Purdue, Remi played at Oklahoma and Harold was set to join another big-time program at Florida, where he signed out of high school. But because of grades, Ayodele had to go the junior college route instead.
After spending a year at Coffeyville Community College, Ayodele signed with Middle Tennessee State, where he played for a season. He left because he was short on class hours for the next season, and he had an ankle injury that went untreated for months.
“I just really wasn’t feeling the program after that,” he says.
ESU defensive coordinator Ken Gordon was told about Ayodele by a friend and decided to take a chance.
“When guys like that come our way, there’s a reason,” Gordon says. “I think he kind of slacked off. ... I’ve dealt with guys like that before, and you’ve just got to stay on top of them. You can’t let them slide.”
Ayodele bounced around so much that there wasn’t anyone — other than his family — that had held him accountable, and Higgins noticed right away.
“He was a guy early on that I had my doubts about whether he was truly committed to doing the right thing,” Higgins says. “... Harold is the youngest in his family, and I think he’s grown up with having things around him that maybe other kids don’t have or other players don’t have. He’s kind of been the baby of the family.”
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The first step Ayodele had to take in proving to the coaches that he belonged was taking care of his work in the classroom. After that, the coaches wanted to see him control his weight.
Ayodele started losing weight when strength and conditioning coach Matt Walter arrived in the spring. This summer he asked whether he could go to Florida to spend the summer training with Akin.
Some of his teammates questioned the move.
“A lot of times when you go home, you really don’t work out,” ESU linebacker Katrel Larkins says. “You work out, but not like you work out here.”
Ayodele knew he wasn’t going to be able to slack off around his brother.
“It was tough, especially him being a linebacker. His wind is like,” Ayodele spreads his hands far apart, “to mine. I was just more focused this season on getting my wind and losing weight, and he helped me big-time.”
Gordon trusted Akin as well, although he said he would have preferred Harold to stay on campus. Akin called Gordon regularly to let him know how Harold was doing and to give an update on his weight.
When Harold returned from Florida, he had trimmed down and was in shape.
“You could tell he was dedicated and was ready to play,” Larkins says.
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Ayodele sits at his locker, and teammates surround him. His booming, scratchy voice carries through the locker room and teammates continue to flock around him.
One thing that hasn’t changed since his arrival: Ayodele still likes to be the center of attention.
“The thing about Harold is, he’s got a great personality,” Higgins says. “He’s very talkative. He likes attention, but at the same time, I think he’s got some strengths in that area, too. I always talk to him about trying to be a guy, with that type of personality, you have the opportunity to be a great leader if you continue to do the right thing in the classroom, on the field and off the field.”
There’s no time better than now for someone to step up and be a leader for the Hornets. They’ve lost four straight games. The defense has been hit hard by injuries, especially on the defensive line, and Ayodele has been surrounded by freshmen lately.
Redshirt freshman Tim Chandler is one player whom Ayodele will play next to on Saturday against Nebraska-Omaha. Chandler is a tight end and moved to defensive end this week, a position he’s never played before.
On Tuesday at practice, Ayodele pulled Chandler to the side and started giving him pointers.
Ayodele has been one of the few constants and been one of the Hornets’ top defensive forces. His numbers are impressive for a defensive tackle — 27 tackles, 3.5 tackles for a loss, two sacks and a blocked extra point — but his biggest impact is his presence in the middle.
“He’s so big, wide and strong, they have no choice but to double-team him,” Larkins says. “A lot of times that leaves an open gap, for not just me, but a lot of the other linebackers too.”
Gordon says that Ayodele would still revert back to his me-first ways early in the season. He would ignore his assignment and try to make a play, but no one has embraced the team-first attitude more than Ayodele.
Whether it’s giving out pointers to a younger teammate such as Chandler or keeping the faith, he’s been an ideal player.
Despite Emporia State’s record, Ayodele believes in the team and believes in the program.
“I feel like the only change we need is a win,” he says. “If we win now, I don’t think we’re out of it. Everybody, they say, ‘They’re 1-4.’ Let’s get this win and watch where we go. We have the talent. We have the skill... We’ve got everything we need, we’ve just got to put it together and have that ball go our way just one game.”
Higgins says, “The things I’ve seen him do when we’re behind, and maybe when the offense is struggling. I’ve heard him talk about, ‘Hey look, we’ve got to stop them defensively. We can’t worry about what the offense is doing. We’ve got our job to do.’
“I’ve seen him play hard. Each and every week, I’ve seen him play harder.”
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Ayodele is only a junior, and when Gordon and Higgins talk about him, they keep repeating that he’s still a work in progress.
“Believe me, he’s been in my doghouse,” Higgins says. “He’s been in Coach Gordon’s doghouse. He’s getting out of mine, because of how he’s played, and he is trying to do better. He’s not perfect, by no means. He is still a work in progress.”
If he continues to grow, Gordon says he believes Ayodele has the talent to follow in his brother’s footsteps and could get an invite to an NFL camp after next season.
“If he dedicates himself to football — sometimes he’s got too much other stuff going on — but if he dedicates himself to football and worries about that,” Gordon says, “he could be as good as anybody that’s come through here.”
That’s quite the statement, considering former Dallas Cowboys defensive tackle Leon Lett played at Emporia State.
Ayodele still has plenty to prove until he gets to the next level. But one thing is certain — he’s already dressing the part.