Peterson named McDonald’s All-American – KU Sports

Kansas signee Darryn Peterson watches the video board prior to tipoff on Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024 at Allen Fieldhouse. Photo by Nick Krug

Kansas men’s basketball signee Darryn Peterson was named a McDonald’s All-American, KU announced on Monday afternoon.

Peterson, a 6-foot-5, 195-pound combo guard from Canton, Ohio, is a consensus top-three player in the 2025 recruiting class. The selection makes him KU’s 52nd signee to receive the honor, following his future teammates Flory Bidunga, who tallied six points and six rebounds in the 2024 edition of the game, and Elmarko Jackson, who had seven points in 2023.

The 2025 McDonald’s All-American Games for men’s and women’s basketball will take place at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, on April 1.

Peterson currently attends Prolific Prep in Napa, California. He visited KU for the Jayhawks’ conference opener against West Virginia on Dec. 31 and received a hero’s welcome, including an ovation from the crowd and film of his highlights played on the Allen Fieldhouse video board early in the first half.

Since Peterson signed with KU on Nov. 13, head coach Bill Self has showered him with praise, calling Peterson “as important as any recruit we have recruited in recent memory” and later putting it in more definitive terms: “To me, Darren’s the best player we’ve recruited since we’ve been here. When you talk about a player, and a combination of a player and a prospect, I think that’s without question. He’s a special talent.”

He makes up one part of a three-man 2025 recruiting class that also includes forwards Samis Calderon and Bryson Tiller, although Tiller is technically already a member of the KU men’s basketball team, having enrolled at the semester break with the intention of redshirting.

Peterson initially committed to KU over Kansas State, Ohio State and USC on Nov. 1. He averaged 28.2 points, 7.2 rebounds, 4.6 assists, 4.2 steals and 3.0 blocks per game on Adidas’ 3Stripes Select Basketball circuit.

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Written By Henry Greenstein

Henry is the sports editor at the Lawrence Journal-World and KUsports.com, and serves as the KU beat writer while managing day-to-day sports coverage. He previously worked as a sports reporter at The Bakersfield Californian and is a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis (B.A., Linguistics) and Arizona State University (M.A., Sports Journalism). Though a native of Los Angeles, he has frequently been told he does not give off “California vibes,” whatever that means.

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