Five-star combo guard Darryn Peterson committed to Kansas on Friday night, he told The Athletic, and is the first top-five recruit to sign with the program since Josh Jackson in the 2016 class. Peterson, who plays for Prolific Prep in Napa, Calif., chose Kansas over Kansas State, USC and Ohio State.
Peterson is the top-rated guard in the Class of 2025 and will be a candidate to replace sixth-year point guard Dajuan Harris, a four-year starter for the Jayhawks. At 6-5, he could end up playing alongside another point guard — whether that’s current sophomore Elmarko Jackson or someone Self pursues in the transfer portal next year — but it’s likely Peterson will fill one of the starting spots in the 2025-26 backcourt.
NEWS: 5⭐️Darryn Peterson (@PetersonDarryn) has committed to Kansas he tells @TheAthletic
He averaged 28.2 PPG, 7.2 RPG, 4.6 APG, 4.2 SPG & 3.0 BPG on the 3SSB circuit @Phenom_United @ProlificPrep pic.twitter.com/ffPMerzevn
— Tobias Bass (@tobias_bass) November 2, 2024
The Peterson signing marks a return to Kansas’ position as one of the top players on the recruiting trail. This is the second consecutive cycle in which Bill Self has signed a five-star — he brought in Flory Bidunga in the 2024 class — after a four-year stretch in which Kansas did not operate as fans were used to seeing as an NCAA investigation that resulted in five Level I violations hung over the program.
The notice of allegations arrived in September of 2019, but it had been expected since late 2017 when the FBI’s investigation into the college basketball recruiting world went public. The case really started to affect the program in that 2019 class, as the possibility of a postseason ban hung over the program. From 2013 to 2018, KU landed at least one five-star in every class (per 247Sports rankings) and averaged two per year. From 2019 through 2023, Kansas landed just two five-stars, but both had preexisting connections to the school: Bryce Thompson’s father played for KU, and Gradey Dick is a Kansas native whose brother attended KU.
It’s not like the program has fallen off during that time, but its high school signees have been transferring at a higher rate. In that 2013 to 2018 window, Kansas had just four players transfer, and two of those players (Carlton Bragg Jr. and Silvio De Sousa) had off-the-court issues. In the four classes from 2019 through 2022, Kansas lost 10 high school signees to the portal. Transferring has become much more common in recent years due to loosened restrictions, but some of the defections were the product of Kansas reaching on some recruits it wouldn’t have needed to reach on in the past.
Peterson will project as a one-and-done lottery pick, but looking ahead to 2025-26, Kansas should have one of its bigger, more athletic rosters in recent years, especially on the perimeter, with A.J. Storr (6-7), Rylan Griffen (6-5), Rakease Passmore (6-5), Jamari McDowell (6-4) and Jackson (6-3) all capable of returning.
(Photo: Lori Schmidt / Columbus Dispatch / USA Today Network via Imagn Images)
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