originally from the canton Darryn Peterson made one of the most anticipated decisions on the national basketball recruiting scene, choosing the University of Kansas as his destination for his 2025-26 freshman season.

Peterson announced his commitment Friday night on the CBS Sports HQ streaming channel. He chose Kansas over three other finalists, Kansas State, Ohio State and USC.

“I will take my talents to the University of Kansas. Go Jayhawks,” Peterson he said on CBS Sports HQ.

Peterson’s father, Darryl Peterson IIapparently telegraphed Kansas as his choice earlier in the week, posting an Instagram story announcing that Jayhawks coach Bill Self would take his final recruiting visit with Peterson in preparation for the commitment.

“I just feel like it aligned perfectly with my academic and athletic goals,” Peterson said. “Kansas has a strong history of development and success, which were two huge things for me during this process – finding where I can grow as a player and also being successful while doing it.

“They did a great job recruiting me. They recruited me from my freshman year. So the relationship was there. (I) told me how he could use me in the offense and what he could do to use my talents and what he saw for me and I saw the same things he saw.

Peterson17 years old, is expected to become a high-profile NBA draft pick in the near future, probably after just one collegiate season. This has been Peterson’s career blueprint since his days at CVCA, where he played as a basketball phenom as a freshman and sophomore. Five star recruit averaged 31 points, 9.8 rebounds, 2.8 steals and 1.3 assists in his final season of high school hoops in Ohio.

Peterson narrowed his college choices to a list of eight schools: Arizona State, Louisville, Kansas, Kansas State, Kentucky, Ohio State, USC and Washington. He later narrowed it down to Kansas, Kansas State, Ohio State and USC. In the end, Kansas won the Peterson sweepstakes.

A 6-foot-5 guard, Peterson is the No. 3 ranked high school prospect in the country ESPN’s Recruiting Database.

“I feel like I can score, defend, facilitate, rebound,” Peterson said. “I’m willing to do whatever it takes to win.”

Peterson was born in Canton and raised in Akron and Canton, his father a former University of Akron basketball player, Darryl Peterson II, told the Beacon Journal in 2023.

Peterson left Northeast Ohio in 2023 to play at Huntington Prep in West Virginia as a junior and then transferred in August to Prolific Prep in California’s Napa Valley for his senior season.

After leaving CVCA, Peterson became the first high school athlete to sign a NIL contract with Adidas, which has an apparel contract with Kansas.

“There are tons of high school athletes (Adidas) could have picked, but they picked me to go first,” Peterson said. “It feels great to be a part of history and it’s great to have a global brand behind me and believe in me.”

Shortly after inking a deal with Adidas, Peterson also signed a deal with Fanatics. The Ohio High School Athletic Association prohibits student-athletes from signing endorsement deals, so deals with Adidas and Fanatics could not materialize for Peterson while he played for CVCA.

“Sure, I mean, (NIL) was part of (the decision to transfer from Ohio). It wasn’t the biggest part,” Dad Darryl Peterson II he told the Beacon Journal last year. “The main part was playing against national talent, at the national level, training, training to get ready for college and that kind of thing. That was the main thing. But if we can do that and still access NIL, why not? Going to prep school allowed us to unlock that and it was great.”

Future NFL and NBA?: Darryl and Darryn Peterson push each other with dreams of being brothers playing at the highest levels of football, hoops

Between Peterson’s final season at CVCA and his only season at Huntington Prep, captured a gold medal with the US U16 Men’s National Team. He averaged 16.8 points, 3.8 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 3.3 steals in six tournament games for Team USA en route to it, winning the 2023 FIBA ​​Men’s U16 Championship in the Americas.

Now Peterson will be in the NCAA basketball spotlight at Kansas.

“I’m going to do my best to take us to a championship and bring it back,” Peterson said.

The Next Kobe Bryant?: CVCA’s Darryn Peterson compared to former NBA coach’s Los Angeles Lakers icon

Nate Ulrich can be reached at [email protected]. On Twitter: @ByNateUlrich.

This article originally appeared on the Akron Beacon Journal: Darryn Peterson is committing to play college basketball at Kansas