But he’s still got areas to improve. For all his instincts and athletic ability, the 6-foot-4, 252-pound Ayers has a tendency to freelance outside of his assignments in the specific defensive scheme, something that used to infuriate Carter.

“If the guy is not near the play or ball, Akeem doesn’t always want to be bothered with it,” Carter told the LA Times last year. “That’s understandable when you’re young. As you get older, you realize you have to work in the scheme. He could hurt us one day.”

Carter nailed it on the head there…even in his third year in the program he looked like a true freshman at times, if Ayers can get this down the sky’s the limit.