Darryn Peterson, the first 2025 recruit to get a UK basketball offer, makes his college choice

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

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

Over the last two-plus years, Peterson’s high-profile recruitment was narrowed down to a select group of four schools: Kansas, Kansas State, Ohio State and Southern California.

Notably, that group of finalists didn’t include UK — which Peterson took an official visit to in March — or Arkansas, where former Kentucky coach John Calipari now patrols the sideline.

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

Peterson’s commitment to Kansas was live streamed on the 247Sports YouTube channel.

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

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

Peterson, an Ohio native, has a Name, Image and Likeness endorsement deal with Adidas. Peterson also played AAU basketball on the Adidas grassroots circuit. Of Peterson’s final four schools, Kansas was the only option that’s outfitted by Adidas.

Kentucky basketball previously recruited Darryn Peterson

While he was at Kentucky, Calipari invested recruiting resources into trying to make Peterson a Wildcat. UK’s pursuit of Peterson started early, when Calipari offered Peterson a scholarship ahead of his sophomore high school season.

This was notable as part of Calipari’s shift toward offering prospects UK scholarships at an earlier stage of their prep careers.

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. That proved to be the final game Calipari coached for UK inside Rupp Arena.

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

For a moment, it appeared that Calipari’s successor — current UK coach Mark Pope — was primed to pick up where Cal left off in terms of Peterson’s recruitment.

Pope reoffered a Kentucky scholarship to Peterson, and On3 reported that Peterson was set to make a return visit to UK in August or September of this year. That return trip to UK with Pope at the helm never materialized, and Kentucky was officially cut from college consideration by Peterson in September.

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

▪ Power forward Cameron Boozer (Duke).

▪ Guard Darryn Peterson (Kansas).

▪ Guard Darius Acuff Jr. (Arkansas).

▪ Guard Isiah Harwell (Houston).

▪ Small forward Jalen Haralson (Notre Dame).

▪ Guard Jasper Johnson (Kentucky).

▪ Small forward Tounde Yessoufou (Baylor).

▪ Small forward Dwayne Aristode (Arizona).

▪ Guard Darius Adams (UConn).

▪ Guard Cayden Boozer (Duke).

▪ Guard 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 four-star point guard Acaden Lewis, who will be making his college commitment Saturday afternoon.

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

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