Across the last decade or so, Ohio State has consistently missed out on top tier recruiting talent, with the Buckeyes grabbing just one five-star — point guard D’Angelo Russell — from 2014-2023.
This offseason under first-year head coach Jake Diebler, however, the Buckeyes are starting to flip the script, having already secured a 2026 in-state pledge from Cleveland Garfield Heights five-star point guard Marcus Johnson (6-1, 175), who chose Ohio State on April 10 over schools such as Alabama, Illinois and Villanova.
While Johnson is a heralded prospect in the 2026 class, there is perhaps an even bigger fish that Diebler is trying to reel in this year in the 2025 recruiting cycle, that being Huntington (Wva.) Prep five-star combo guard Darryn Peterson (6-5, 195), who is quickly emerging as one of the top prospects in the class.
Peterson, who grew up in Canton, Ohio, and played his freshman year of high school basketball at Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy before transferring to the basketball-centric Huntington Prep, is currently tabbed as the nation’s third-best prospect with a 247Sports composite ranking of 0.9992. Those numbers may soon increase after the teenager put forth a dazzling display at the Adidas 3SSB Palmetto Road Championship held this past week at Rock Hill, South Carolina, a performance that caught the attention of coaches and media members in attendance.
Peterson stole the show in South Carolina from the onset. He opened the tournament on Tuesday with an eye-opening 38 points, 11 rebounds, six steals and three assists to lead his Phenom United AAU squad — founded by his father and former Akron basketball star Darryl Peterson (2001-05) — to a 70-61 upset win over talent-heavy Indiana Elite that included the likes of top-30 five-star prospects center Malachi Moreno (6-11, 230) of Georgetown (Ky.) Great Crossing and shooting guard Braylon Mullins (6-5, 180) of Greenfield (Ind.) Greenfield-Central.
Peterson shot 10-of-21 (47.6 percent) from the floor but did most of his damage from the free-throw line, going 18-of-20 from the charity strike.
The five-star followed that performance up with another strong outing on Wednesday, scoring 20 points and providing a game-tying shot with 20 seconds left in his team’s 68-66 loss to the Washington Warriors.
These two games only add to an elite spring and summer for Peterson in the Adidas 3SSB circuit, where he has averaged 22.4 points, 7.1 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.9 steals per game in 11 games, while also shooting 50 percent from the field and 32 percent from three.
Peterson’s stellar AAU outing this offseason has jolted the hype surrounding the five-star prospect, helping him land a second official visit with head coach Bill Self and Kansas along with future visits to Kentucky, Louisville, Washington and USC. But while the Blue Bloods may be calling, the Canton native still has interest in his hometown Buckeyes, who will host the five-star on an official visit to Columbus later this summer.
Peterson was originally offered by Ohio State before his freshman season at Cuyahoga Valley while Chris Holtmann was head coach and had two unofficial visits to the program in September 2022 and October 2023. But the combo guard said that the program has maintained a strong relationship with him since Diebler — who was heavily involved in his initial recruitment as an assistant under Holtmann — was named head coach in March, a development that makes a return to Ohio to become a “hometown hero” with the Scarlet and Gray an intriguing scenario.
“That hometown hero stuff, just being from Ohio,” Peterson told BuckNuts after his 38-point performance against Indiana Elite. “Coach Diebler has been recruiting me since the eighth grade. The foundation and the relationship is there with him and my family. I love Coach Diebler.”
“That’s the hometown,” he told On3 earlier this month. “Coach Diebler said he wanted to have e in that ball screen action a lot. That’s big for me, playing that point guard position.
While a commit from Peterson would be a massive get for Diebler and arguably one of the more important pledges in program history, the Ohioan said there is still some time left for him to make a decision, as he wants to go on each of his five scheduled visits before making a concrete decision before his senior season begins.
Regardless of the timeline of his decision, Peterson said he ultimately is looking for the program who best matches his goals and values as a player.
“I want to play for a coach that is going to help me get better,” Peterson told On3. “Someone who has the same goals as me and have me come in as a freshman, ready to play.”
