Darryn Peterson, first 2025 recruit to receive UK basketball offer, chooses college

In August 2022, guard Darryn Peterson became drafted from the first class of 2025 to pick up a Kentucky basketball scholarship offer.

To say that a lot has changed since then would be a significant understatement.

Over the past two years, Peterson’s high-profile recruiting has been limited to a select group of four schools: Kansas, Kansas State, Ohio State and Southern California.

Remarkably, that group of finalists did not include Great Britain – which Peterson made an official visit in March — or in Arkansas, where former Kentucky coach John Calipari now patrols the sidelines.

On Friday, Peterson’s recruitment ended when he committed to head coach Bill Self and the Kansas Jayhawks.

Peterson’s commitment to Kansas was broadcast live on 247Sports YouTube Channel.

Peterson – a 6-foot-5 combo guard — is the first commitment for Self and Kansas from the 2025 recruiting class.

Ranked by the 247Sports Composite as a five-star prospect and the No. 1 recruit. 3 in the 2025 draft, Peterson has long been linked to Kansas as a potential college choice.

Ohio native Peterson has a name, image and likeness approval agreement with Adidas. Peterson also played AAU basketball on the adidas grassroots circuit. Of Peterson’s final four schools, Kansas was the only Adidas-equipped option.

Kentucky basketball previously recruited Darryn Peterson

While at Kentucky, Calipari poured recruiting resources into trying to make Peterson a Wildcat. Peterson’s pursuit of UK started early, when Calipari offered Peterson a scholarship before his sophomore season.

This was notable as part of Calipari’s shift to offer UK scholarships to prospective clients at an earlier stage in their training career.

In March, Peterson took an official visit to UK that coincided with the final home game of the 2023-24 season, a Senior Night win over Vanderbilt. This proved to be the last game Calipari coached for UK in Rupp Arena.

That trip to Lexington also marked Peterson’s first official recruiting visit. He was also at Rupp Arena in October 2023 for that year’s Big Blue Madness event.

For a moment, it looked like Calipari’s successor — current UK coach Mark Pope — was poised to pick up where Cal left off in recruiting Peterson.

Pope again offered a Kentucky scholarship to Peterson, and On3 reported that Peterson was ready to make a return visit in the UK in August or September this year. That return trip to UK, with Pope at the helm, never materialized, and Kentucky was officially kicked out of college by Peterson. in September.

With Peterson’s commitment, there have now been 13 five star prospects (per 247Sports Composite) in the 2025 recruiting class who have committed to colleges. Those players are:

Power forward Cameron Boozer (Duke).

Guard Darryn Peterson (Kansas).

WATCH Darius Acuff Jr. (Arkansas).

Guard Isiah Harwell (Houston).

Small forward Jalen Haralson (Notre Dame).

WATCH Jasper Johnson (Kentucky).

Small forward Tounde Yessoufou (Baylor).

Small forward Dwayne Aristode (Arizona).

Guard Darius Adams (UConn).

Guard Cayden Boozer (Duke).

WATCH Braylon Mullins (UConn).

Center Malachi Moreno (Kentucky).

Power forward Sadiq White Jr. (Syracuse).

Johnson and Moreno are expected to soon be joined in UK’s 2025 recruiting class by a four-star guard Acaden Lewis, who will make his college commitment on Saturday afternoon.

In just a few hours, Lewis is projected to choose Kentucky from a final list that also includes Duke and UConn.

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