New Man on Campus: Darryn Peterson

The Kansas Jayhawks landed their highest recruit in nearly a decade in Darryn Peterson who is one of the early headliners at the top of the 2026 NBA Draft.

One of the best times of the year for any fanbase is the preseason. It’s full of hope, optimism, and envisioning how all the new faces on the team can bring glory to the program. As Barney Stinson always said, “New is always better.” Obviously, that’s not always the case. However, it’s tough not to have that attitude if you’re a Kansas Jayhawks fan and the top recruit in the class chooses you. The 2026 NBA Draft is looking incredibly fun at the top, and the new man on campus for the Jayhawks, Darryn Peterson, is a big reason why.

The Kansas Jayhawks are one of the true “blue blood” programs in college basketball, but they’ve been having something akin to an identity crisis as of late, at least for their standards. They’ve been stuck between attacking the transfer portal, recruiting the top high schoolers, or focusing on development. They’ve explored all routes but haven’t had the success they became accustomed to. So, instead of randomly throwing money at any transfer who would take it, they just went out and got their highest recruit in nearly a decade. Depending on where you look, Peterson finished somewhere in the Top 3 high school recruits and number two on RSCI. The last Top 10 recruit, per RSCI, that Kansas signed was Quentin Grimes in the 2018 class (he ranked #8). You have to go back to 2016 with Josh Jackson (he was #1) to find a recruit who was rated higher than Peterson.

Now, we know rankings aren’t everything. That’s why we watch the games, break down the numbers, and wait for the sample size to grow. However, Peterson looks the part of a top recruit. As we head into the season, he’ll be my top prospect. Peterson has a fascinating blend of balletic athleticism, innate feel, scoring versatility, and defensive upside. He’s exactly what you dream of in a modern shooting guard.

Peterson’s ideal role, in my opinion, in the NBA is as a two-guard, so let’s start with his scoring. With Prolific Prep, Peterson ranked in the 86^th percentile overall in points per possession (PPP), the 86^th in running the pick-and-roll, the 86^th in transition, the 91^st in isolation, the 72^nd spotting up, and the 91^st when running off screens, per Synergy. Peterson’s handle, athleticism, shooting, and feel make him a deadly scorer regardless of the situation he’s in.

We see top recruits fail to emerge at the next level all the time because they can’t figure out how to reliably knock down shots. It would be shocking if that’s the case with Peterson. Overall, Peterson ranked in the 61^st percentile on jumpers and the 78^th percentile shooting off the bounce. He gets great elevation on his jumper, gets to his spots at will, and has supreme confidence.

Now, unfortunately, those percentile ranks don’t make much sense on their own. That’s because Peterson ranked in just the 31^st percentile shooting off the catch. That’s a tough drop off, but one that feels like the culprit of sample size. With Prolific Prep, Peterson took 100 shots off the bounce and just 32 off the catch. As we saw, a lot of these attempts are high difficulty shots. Peterson spent most of his time on the ball in high school, because that’s what happens to the best player on the court. A lot of his off-ball shooting opportunities came in grenade-esque situations. There’ll be some adjustments to improving his efficiency off the catch, but it shouldn’t be a major one.

What makes Peterson’s scoring so much fun is that he isn’t just a one-trick pony. Peterson has a relatively diverse and pro-ready shot selection as 46.5% of his shots come at or around the rim, 15.8% come in the midrange, and 36.2% come from three. Peterson projects to be a dynamic shooter, but I find his rim pressure to be the most exciting part of his game.

Around the rim, Peterson ranked in the 86^th percentile in PPP and shot 69.9% overall (69% on layups). In the halfcourt, the efficiency didn’t really change either, as he shot 70.6% at the rim overall and 65.9% on layups. Peterson’s athletic tools allow him to get to spots in ways that most people simply can’t imagine. He seamlessly blends balletic footwork with the first step of a sprinter with the explosiveness of a dunk champion.

The truly captivating part, though, is how he combines his physical gifts with his handle. His handle can get a little loose at times, but in totality, it is very good. Peterson thrives at changing pace and direction. He is shockingly composed under pressure and does a brilliant job of improvising. Like Second City level of improv, not your community theatre level. By refusing to pick up his dribble until he wants to, Peterson constantly keeps defenders on their heels. It’s a sense of defensive manipulation that we see from the best scorers in the league. Then once he gets to a spot he had no business of getting to, he then has the strength to finish through defenders, the vertical pop to finish over them, or the scoring touch to finish at unique angles.

It isn’t uncommon by any means to see elite athletes feast when getting to the rim. Thankfully, Peterson already has the perimeter scoring game to complement his rim pressure. That alone separates him from a lot of high school players. What makes that gap even bigger, though, is Peterson’s playmaking ability.

Collapsing a defense and having scoring gravity is awesome, as long as you do something to counter it. Peterson regularly does that. When we factor in his assists, Peterson ranked in the 85^th percentile overall and the 82^nd percentile in the pick-and-roll. He also led Prolific Prep in assists while having the lowest turnover rate and highest assist-to-turnover ratio. He likely isn’t going to be a primary or heliocentric creator in the NBA, but Peterson’s feel, floor mapping, and unselfishness shine when we look at his passing capabilities.

Peterson does a great job of finding cutters and rollers around the rim, but his passing vision isn’t limited to just the interior. He does a fantastic job of recognizing where the help defense is coming from and countering it. If no help defenders come, he’s more than happy to dump it off inside as we just saw. However, when help rotations and taggers are active, Peterson has no issues finding weak side shooters.

These situations likely won’t be a one-for-one translation for Peterson as he scales up in competition. It’ll be more difficult to collapse a defense, and their rotations will be more disciplined. However, what matters here is the consistent processing, recognition, and manipulation of these defenses. Peterson doesn’t have to make any of these passes. He could easily go into shot-hunting mode, which he wasn’t totally immune to; more often than not, though, he was concerned about making the right decision. Even though the defensive coverages will get more complex, Peterson’s processing speed should also continue to skyrocket. Given where he already is in that realm, it’s pretty exciting to envision where he’ll be in a few years.

Finally, we have to talk about the defense. Sorry, I can’t help myself. It is incredibly difficult to really judge a high schooler’s defensive capabilities given the context. Especially with top recruits who have an insane offensive workload like Peterson, the effort tends to come and go. I wouldn’t classify Peterson as a suffocating defender in high school, but the signs were really encouraging. The obvious standout was how Peterson can be highly disruptive with his physical tools. He also showcased some encouraging on-ball fundamentals in how he slid his feet and sat down in a defensive stance. The big gripe is his effort off-ball. He tended to give too much of a cushion and was fine with zoning out a bit from time to time. All of this is incredibly common in young players, and the good far outweighed the bad.

High school rankings don’t mean everything, but Darryn Peterson is one of the most exciting college players and draft prospects in the country next year. He moves like a pro, processes the game like a pro, and does everything you dream of in a two-guard in an era that demands that everyone can dribble, pass, and shoot. Peterson could easily put up insane numbers as a freshman, but it also wouldn’t shock me if he has some scoring efficiency struggles. If he does, I beg you not to get too hung up on the numbers but focus more on the process, on what types of shots he’s taking, how he’s getting to his spots, and whether or not things are improving. Peterson already processes the game in ways that few players his age can. If that trend continues along with his versatility, he’ll be more than worthy of the top pick in the 2026 NBA Draft.