No. 1 recruit Tyran Stokes has made his college decision.
Stokes announced Tuesday on ESPN’s “NBA Tip-Off” that he’s heading to Kansas. He is the top recruit in Rivals’ 2026 high school rankings and the only player in the top 40 who had not announced where he would play next season.
Stokes’ decision is a massive boost for a Kansas team that will look very, very different in 2026-27 after coach Bill Self said that he would be returning for another season.
With Darryn Peterson a likely top-three pick in the 2026 NBA Draft, Kansas has also lost center Flory Bidunga to the transfer portal along with eight other players. In addition to Bidunga, players like Bryson Tiller, Elmarko Jackson and Jamari McDowell have also transferred. With Tre White and Melvin Council’s eligibility exhausted, Kansas’ top returning scorer is Kohl Rosario. He averaged 3.4 points per game as a freshman in 2025-26.
Though the Jayhawks have added center Christian Reeves from Charleston, Toledo guard Leroy Blyden Jr. and Utah forward Keanu Dawes, Stokes will assume a role similar to the one that Peterson occupied a season ago when healthy. The Kansas offense should revolve around him.
The 6-7 Stokes is a different player than Peterson, however. Peterson could be a lethal 3-point shooter and Stokes will have to show he can stretch the floor. But he’s a versatile wing who should have the ball in his hands a lot — even if Kansas keeps adding players in the transfer portal.
Before Stokes’ arrival, Kansas had the No. 14 recruiting class in the country. The group includes four other four-star prospects in point guard Tay Kinney and power forward Davion Atkins. Kinney is the No. 17 player in the country and the No. 3 point guard in the class, while Atkins, a native of Dallas, is the No. 6 power forward in the class of 2026.
They’ll also likely play key roles for a Kansas program that has heavily relied on veterans in recent seasons. Since Kansas won the national title in 2022, Peterson and Gradey Dick (2022-23) are the only freshman to be among the Jayhawks’ top two scoring leaders in the past four seasons.
And Kansas hasn’t gotten past the first weekend of the NCAA tournament since that national title win, either. After losing to St. John’s on a buzzer-beater in the second round in March, Kansas has lost three second-round games and one first-round game since 2022.