getting out of the friendzone

hi so me and this boy have been good friends for about almost 2 years now and when we first met, I had a bf so I had to friend zone him. I could tell he was devastated from it and was hard. we have kept in contact ever since and we have had a great time being friends. here is the thing. I also kinda had some feelings for him but they weren’t strong enough for me and my boyfriend to break up because me and my ex we’re together at the time for a year. as time went on, me and my ex broke up 4 months ago and he was there for me when it happened. he definitely helped me and I was greatful for that but at the time he was talking to another girl but he “broke up” with her on that exact same day. right your probably like whatttt haha. me and him still developed a close friendship but then one day I went to one of his games and I started to catch lots of feelings for him. I told him how I felt and he said that he really likes me but he has to focus on school and his sport. I was ok with that and it was fine. this happened about 3 weeks ago and then after a few days of that he started to really talk to me and he told me that he sees something with us. I was excited and happy. we talked for about 3 weeks until last night he told me that he was sorry and that he couldn’t do it rn. he is confused with his own emotions and wants to be good friends with me and he feels like the timing for us is wrong and he also feels like he forced himself in to it. I was kinda upset but I do respect his decision but i’m just deciding what to do. I still have strong feelings for him. help a girl out :)