Mesa Mountain View High School’s superb 6-foot-10, 235-pound senior post Payton Dastrup is set to announce his college decision - following in the footsteps of other top-rated prospects in Arizona's 2014 class this fall.
After recent commitments from top-recruited 2014 prospects, Zylan Cheatham (San Diego State commit) and Michael Humphrey (Stanford commit), Dastrup will now announce his college decision on Thursday, November 7th at 7PM on the campus of Mesa Mountain View High School.
The recruiting process for Dastrup has been a long one, and he has had an impressive list of schools in hot pursuit of him for some time now. Dastrup has been one of the top-rated post prospects in the country for the past two years – compiling a long list of scholarship offers from college programs across the country.
Dastrup’s list of college offers included offers from such programs as Kansas, Ohio State, Florida, UCLA, Virginia, St. Johns, Arizona, Arizona State, Oregon, USC, Boston College, BYU, Cal, Colorado, N.C. State, Oregon State, Stanford, Texas A&M, Utah, Utah State, UC Davis and Washington State.
Dastrup recently trimmed his list down to Arizona, Ohio State, Virginia, Florida, BYU, UCLA and Kansas, in no particular order.
Dastrup has already taken official and unofficial recruiting visits to each of the schools. Dastrup has not indicated if he has a current leader at this point.
Dastrup is coming off his best performance to date in this year's 15th Annual Arizona Preps Fall Showcase, where he showed up thinner or much more athletic. In the event, Dastrup was the runner-up for the Slam Dunk Contest in the event, and put on a show for the participants and fans in attendance for the event - proving why he is considered among the top 50 prospects in America's 2014 class by many different scouting and media outlets.
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 has received loads of high-major division-I interest throughout his high school career.
While playing this spring and summer with the Cal Supreme (CA) Nike-sponsored club program and competing in numerous Nike EYBL events, Dastrup saw his list of college offers soar.
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 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.
Arizona Preps will be in attendance for next week's college commitment and bring you complete coverage of Dastrup's commitment.
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. He has developed a good ability to 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.
