Darryn Peterson, a five-star prospect from Northeast Ohio, has picked Kansas ahead of Ohio State.

Friday night, the 6-5, 195-pound combo guard announced that he will sign with the Jayhawks for the 2025 recruiting class from a list of four finalists that also included Kansas State, Ohio State and USC.

Peterson is the No. 3 prospect in the 2025 class and has a .9992 rating in the 247Sports.com composite. He is the highest-rated prospect from Ohio since LeBron James earned a perfect 1.000 rating in the 2003 class.

Peterson was first offered a scholarship by Ohio State before he ever set foot in high school. He played his first two years at Cuyahoga Valley (Ohio) Christian Academy before transferring to Huntington (West Virginia) Prep for his junior season. This year, he will play his final year of prep ball at Napa (California) Prolific Prep, before returning to his home state to begin his college career.

Peterson was first recruited by Ohio State coach Chris Holtmann and his then-assistant coach Jake Diebler. When Holtmann was fired last year midseason, Diebler went from interim to full-time replacement and maintained Ohio State’s recruitment of Peterson. Diebler made a point to re-offer Peterson, and throughout his recruitment the five-star guard kept Ohio State among one of his top choices.

Ohio State has hosted Peterson on multiple campus visits. Most recently, he took an official visit to Columbus during the weekend of August 31, and shortly afterward trimmed his list of from a top eight of Arizona State, Kansas, Kansas State, Kentucky, Louisville, Ohio State, USC, and Washington to four finalists: Kansas, Kansas State, Ohio State and USC.

He took official visits to all four of his finalists, finishing up with Kansas State during the weekend of Sept. 27 with an eye on picking a school and signing during the early signing period. In the interim, the Buckeyes and Jayhawks were consistently mentioned as the most likely candidates to land his signature.

Ohio State has two commitments for its 2025 class. Dorian Jones, a four-star guard from Richmond Heights, Ohio, and A’mare Bynum, a four-star forward at Branson (Missouri) Link Academy. Jones is the No. 68 national prospect and Bynum No. 99 in the 247Sports rankings. The Buckeyes have the No. 28 national recruiting class according to the website.

Ohio State is expected to sign three or four players for this recruiting class.

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