After a big announcement last week when Mesa Montain View High School's talented 6-foot-10, 235-pound senior post Payton Dastrup gave a verbal commitment to Big-10 power Ohio State, the gifted post prospect has had a change of heart on the first signing day of the fall signing period.
Today, Dastrup decided to go with his heart and his gut instinct - changing his mind and signing a national letter of intent with Brigham Young University (BYU). BYU assistant coach Mark Pope was instrumental in the college recruitment of Dastrup.
"I just felt more comfortable with BYU,” Dastrup told Scout.com. “After I did commit, two days following I wasn’t miserable, but there was something missing. That’s why I changed.”
“I grew up following BYU sports as a young kid,” said Dastrup. "I wanted to play football, but when football fell through I had hopes and aspirations of playing basketball there.”
Dastrup has chosen to sign with BYU over heavy recruiting interest from Arizona, Virginia and Florida. During the recruiting process, Dastrup also was pursued heavily by other such top-rated programs as St. Johns, Arizona State, Oregon, USC, Boston College, Cal, Colorado, N.C. State, Oregon State, Stanford, Texas A&M, Utah, Utah State, UC Davis and Washington State.
Arizona’s 2014 class of prospects has been billed as one of the top classes of prospects in state history, if not the best, and while some prospects in the class have not lived up to the billing, Dastrup definitely has.
Dastrup is a rare find among today’s college prospects, as he is a true post player with excellent physical size and strength. He also has good lift off the floor and plays the game with a professional approach to the game – taking care of his body and preparing for each contest. Dastrup recently lost weight and has trimmed his once thick frame, and now has become much more athletic and quicker off the floor.
Dastrup has also indicated that he plans to take a two-year Mormon mission after graduating from high school, and will not compete in college until the 2016-2017 college basketball season. Dastrup will now join Highland HS 6-foot-6 senior forward Jake Toolson on BYU's 2014 recruiting class from the state of Arizona.
Congratulations again to Payton and his father David on his signing with BYU from our staff here at Arizona Preps.
Arizona Hoop Review Scouting Report: Dastrup is among the elite low-post prospects in the country – possessing a large body with broad shoulders, size and strength. He is a physically well-put-together post prospect that already possesses the body of a high-major division-I post player. Possessing broad shoulders and being built like a tank, Dastrup is an absolute load physically. A strong low-post scorer with good athleticism for his size, Dastrup is an excellent finisher already around the basket and enjoys physical contact. Very well-coached in the Mountain View system, Dastrup is much like that of former Kansas star post and current NBA forward Nick Collison. Has very good and strong hands, a good motor and runs the floor hard. Has good low-post footwork and good low post moves. Has developed a good ability t shoot the basketball out to 15-18 feet, but does his best work inside the painted area. A big-time low-post prospect that with continued hard work could play at the NBA level in the future.
