Syracuse Basketball: New ‘Cuse recruit is a 5-star, top-5 national prospect

Syracuse basketball has offered a scholarship to 2025 five-star shooting guard Darryn Peterson from Ohio, who was named a first-team All-American during the recently completed 2022-23 season.

High-school hoops analyst Alex Karamanos, via Twitter, disclosed that the Orange coaching staff had offered the 6-foot-5 Peterson, who is rated a top-five overall prospect in the sophomore cycle, according to multiple recruiting services.

Peterson is a standout for the Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy, a prep school in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. On the AAU circuit, which recently got underway, he suits up for Team Phenom United in the 16U division of the Adidas 3SSB league.

While his recruitment is likely in its early stages, Peterson has already obtained more than two-dozen offers from a range of high-major programs, according to recruiting Web sites.

Syracuse basketball coaches are quite active these days in the 2025 recruiting cycle.

Last weekend, amid an NCAA live period, the Adidas 3SSB league held a session at the Iowa West Fieldhouse in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

"Here are some thoughts from 247Sports national basketball director Eric Bossi on this new Orange recruiting target. “Powerful, athletic and tough, Peterson gets to the rim whenever he wants and the 6-foot-5 two often finishes with dunks in traffic. He can shoot with range, he plays hard on both ends of the floor and watching with him with his Phenom United team, he looks like a kid who really has a lot of fun out there. Sometimes young players who make it look as easy as he does can coast and just rely on their talent overwhelm their peers, not Peterson. He goes right at them, tests them physically and so far appears to get a little bit better each time we are able to see him play,” Bossi wrote."

In early April, Peterson was named to the 2022-23 MaxPreps sophomore All-America first team. Jordan Divens, the national basketball editor for MaxPreps, says that Peterson averaged 31 points, nine rebounds and three steals per game in the most recent term for Cuyahoga Valley.

Besides Syracuse basketball, Peterson’s offer sheet includes squads such as Arizona State, Arkansas, Baylor, Indiana, Kentucky, LSU, Maryland, North Carolina, Ohio State, Pittsburgh, St. John’s, Texas, West Virginia, Xavier, Alabama, Cincinnati, Illinois, Kansas State, Michigan, TCU, Texas A&M and Washington State, among others.

When I penned this column, the industry-generated 247Sports Composite had Peterson at No. 4 nationally, No. 1 at shooting guard and No. 1 in Ohio. The industry-generated On3 Industry Ranking, meanwhile, ranked him the No. 8 national prospect, No. 4 at shooting guard and No. 1 in Ohio.

Within the sophomore class, in recent days, Syracuse basketball coaches also offered 2025 four-star forward Sadiq White, a 6-foot-8, top-20 overall player, per 247Sports. White goes to Myers Park High School in Charlotte, N.C., and he runs with the Charlotte-based Team United in Nike’s EYBL league.

Other prior offers by the Orange to 2025 prospects have gone out to four-star shooting guard Kiyan Anthony, five-star combo guard Darius Adams, four-star point guard Jerry Easter II, four-star wing Efeosa Oliogu and four-star wing Brandon Stores Jr.