John Calipari and top-10 recruit Darius Acuff committed to Arkansas

Top-10 senior Darius Acuff, one of high school basketball’s elite guards, announced his commitment to John Calipari and Arkansas on Friday — becoming the first five-star prospect on the board in the 2025 class.

Acuff chose the Razorbacks over Kansas, with Michigan also on his shortlist of three. With the Jayhawks considered the favorite back in the spring, Acuff met with Lawrence in late April. But Calipari made him a priority over the last few weeks and eventually won.

“We have a great relationship. We’ve been tight for a year and a half,” Akaf said of Calipari. “Growing up I knew what kind of guard coach he was. He had the best relationship with me. He kept it real. When you talk to him it’s like he’s already your coach. He was there from the beginning. It was a divisive. I want to be a part of it by speaking for him.

Acuff visited Arkansas’ campus in May.

“I spent a lot of time on my visit with Coach Cal, Coach Chin (Coleman) and the staff,” he said. “I saw how hard he coached Rob Dillingham at Kentucky. He pushes his guys and encourages them. So, when they come into the game, they know what to do.”

“When he first proposed to me last year, I remember our first conversation. (Calipari said,) ‘I knew you, but I never saw you play. Then I saw you and said you have to stay.'”

A 6-foot-2 native of Detroit who attended IMG Academy (Florida), Acuff is the No. 2 point guard and No. 10 overall prospect in the ESPN 100 for 2025. He averaged 23.9 points — second in the competition — and 3.6 assists for The Family on the Nike EYBL circuit this spring, and then started six games for the USA Basketball U18 team in the FIBA ​​U18 AmeriCup. He averaged 17.8 points and 4.0 assists en route to the gold medal.

Acuff can score as well as anyone in the class. He gets into the paint with ease, with his speed, a tight and controlled handle, along with movement in his play to keep defenders off balance. He’s tough to guard because he can go either way on the bounce or pull up and knock down a jumper. An underrated distributor, Acuff has vision and timing on his passes. The next step for him is balancing his game while scoring and being a ball mover.

“I’m working on being a team player,” Acuff said. “I’m trying to use my voice more and be a leader. Me and coach Sean McAloon had a lot of conversations this spring and summer about how I can get better. I’ve got to be more of a point guard. Tell me early.”

Acuff becomes the 16th five-star point guard to commit to Calipari since taking over at Kentucky in 2009. Calipari has now landed at least one five-star point guard in every class except 2012 and 2019.

That trend has carried over to Arkansas so far, as five-star point guard Boogie Fland followed Calipari from Kentucky to Fayetteville in the 2024 class.

Calipari recruited seven No. 1 classes in Lexington during his time at Kentucky and has continued to make major changes since moving to Arkansas. With Acuff in the fold, Calipari is still targeting Melick Thomas (No. 7), Koya Peat (No. 4), Caleb Wilson (No. 5), Nate Ament (No. 8) and more. The Razorbacks also made the final five for Jasper Johnson (No. 12), who made his roster cut on Wednesday.

In what has become a remarkably slow-developing class of commitments, Acuff is the first five-star senior to announce his college decision. Entering the week, No. 20 Sadiq White — who is headed to Syracuse — was the highest-ranked prospect to commit.