When all the options were at Justice Shelton-Mosley’s feet, his father talked to him about choices.

The list of Shelton-Mosley’s college offers ran coast to coast — from Yale and Boston College to Cal and Arizona. Coming out of Capital Christian in Sacramento, he had the kind of undeniable talent that could’ve landed him at a Power 5 school.

But Anthony Mosley wanted him to think about it all, because he had been there before.

He played college football at Fresno State. A running back, he had stints in the NFL in the 1980s with the Chicago Bears. He also spent time in the CFL.

“As I learned in my career, at any time it all can go away,’’ Anthony said.

He wanted his son to truly consider what Harvard could offer him — not just on the field but beyond it.

“He had a lot of options and I raised him as a young man to make choices early in life,’’ Anthony said. “But when it was time for him to make a decision, we talked about loyalty and Harvard was one of those colleges that was loyal throughout the time — from the time they offered until the time that he decided to commit.

“We also talked about different situations that happened at other colleges where he had the opportunity to get an athletic scholarship but if something happened athletically, what would you do? And the most important things about going to college, as we all know, is to get a proper college education.’’

Shelton-Mosley took those words with him wherever he went.

“He definitely steered me in this way to come here,’’ Shelton-Mosley said.

When he was at a basketball camp and coaches preached education, the words stuck out more. When he listened to his AAU coach, education was all he heard. When he went on a visit to Northwestern, and they told him that college was more than just a four-year decision, it was a 40-year decision, it made him think about what he wanted for the next 40 years of his life and the more Harvard made sense.

“That really got to me,’’ Shelton-Mosley said. “And I really was like, maybe that’s best for me.’’

Beyond the endless high school numbers — the school-record 88 touchdowns, the back-to-back league MVP awards — Harvard coach Tim Murphy knew he was meeting someone special when he made the cross-country trip to recruit Shelton-Mosley.

“When you walk into his high school in Northern California and you mention Justice Shelton-Mosley, you talk about, he was the man,’’ Murphy said. “But not just in the context of his athleticism. Everything he did, he just did it right and he did it effortlessly.’’

As a freshman last season, Shelton-Mosley made the transition to the Ivy League look just as seamless — no matter how much the Crimson put on his plate. As a receiver, he caught 40 passes for 589 yards and six touchdowns. As a kick returner, he piled up 331 yards on 10 returns. On punts, he picked up 190 yards and a touchdown. He became the team’s instant all-purpose weapon.

“The expectations were high just because you watch, he was a human highlight film in high school,’’ Murphy said. “He had a couple Pac-12 offers. So the expectations were high. But we’ve all been there, we’ve all seen it go the other way more often than the way it went with Justice.

“The expectations are too high, making the transition from being 3,000 miles from home to being at an elite academic institution to being a starter, all those things. And he just did it — it wasn’t effortless, but it appeared that way.’’

But from the time he was a toddler, Shelton-Mosley had been putting the work in.

In the seventh grade, he had 4 a.m.wake-up calls, his father there to run him through drills before school.

“A lot of people thought I was maybe training too hard, doing too much when he was 12 years old,’’ Anthony Mosley said. “But he’s humble. He listens. I can’t say I was that type of player 30 years ago. Things were different and I was a little bit of an overconfident, kind of mouthy type of player. But he’s just the opposite. He’s very humble.’’

Mosley flashed back to a telling moment during Justice’s high school games in which his son’s character trumped his talent.

“He had, I think, four or five touchdowns and he was still in the game,’’ Anthony said. “They punted the ball, he sprinted about 40 yards down the field and just before the end zone, he stepped out of bounds. His coach ran across the field and asked him, ‘What’s wrong with you? What’s going on? Why would you step out of bounds? You had an easy touchdown.’ And he tells his coach, ‘I wanted my teammates to get an opportunity to play. I’ve already had a good game and I wanted to give other players an opportunity to play.’ That’s the type of person that Justice is.’’

Shelton-Mosley’s work ethic is the reason he’s on the field catching passes long after practice ends. It’s the reason he emerged as a quiet leader for a Harvard team that won a share of its third straight Ivy League title a year ago.

“Everybody has a certain comfort zone, everybody has a certain personality and we always talk about, ‘Be who you are,’ ’’ Murphy said. “And he is definitely the leadership by example in everything he does — his work ethic, his workouts in the offseason, his competitiveness, his ability to make big plays under pressure.’’

With the Crimson in the midst of the biggest rebuilding project in Murphy’s 23 years as head coach, Shelton-Mosley’s leadership will be that much more important. The Crimson lost a senior class that won 90 percent of its games and three Ivy League titles. Fourteen of the 15 starters were All-Ivy. The Ivy League Player of the Year was the quarterback. Four players reached the NFL.

“I’ve got to kind of step up my comfort zone now,’’ Shelton-Mosley said. “It’s going to have to be more vocal leadership.’’

He also knows he’ll be on opponents’ radar all season. It won’t change Murphy’s plans for using him at all. Coming up with different ways to get Shelton-Mosley the ball is part of the pleasure in coaching him, Murphy said.

“Oh, it’s fun,’’ Murphy said. “One thing I talk about with our staff every week is, ‘OK, we’ve got to make sure that Justice gets X amount of touches.’ ’’

Julian Benbow can be reached at jbenbow@globe.com.