The first major domino of the 2025 college basketball recruiting class has fallen, as Darius Acuff Jr. announced his commitment to Arkansas on Friday.
A five-star point guard out of IMG Academy, Acuff picked the Razorbacks from a final three that also included Kansas and Michigan. Other premier schools to offer him include the likes of Alabama, Houston, Kentucky and UConn.
It is a major commitment for head coach John Calipari, as Acuff is his first big-time high school recruit at Arkansas who wasn’t previously committed to him at Kentucky like the five-star freshman trio of Boogie Fland, Karter Knox and Billy Richmond III on this year’s team.
Acuff is also the first player ranked inside the 247Sports Composite top 20 to announce his college decision and only the second of 23 five-star recruits, joining Syracuse pledge Sadiq White Jr. (No. 22).
Checking in at No. 8 overall on that list, he is the third-highest ranked player to commit to Arkansas basketball during the 247Sports Composite era (since 2003), behind only Nick Smith Jr. (No. 1 in 2022) and Al Jefferson (No. 3 in 2004) — the latter of whom was drafted out of high school and never made it to campus.
Acuff is ranked as high as No. 4 nationally by 247Sports, while also being No. 9 on Rivals and No. 10 on ESPN. The outlier is On3, which has him at No. 18.
Although he’s now at IMG Academy in Florida, Acuff is originally from Detroit. Michigan isn’t exactly a fertile recruiting ground for the Arkansas basketball program, but he’ll be the seventh player from the state to suit up for the Razorbacks, according to HogStats.
Perhaps the most memorable name from that list is Olu Famutimi, a former five-star recruit originally from Canada who played his high school ball in Flint. That’s the same hometown as the most recent Arkansas basketball player from Michigan – Keyon Menifield Jr.
The Razorbacks’ best player from the Great Lake State, though, was George Kok. The first 1,000-point scorer in program history, he was an All-American and guided Arkansas to the 1945 Final Four.
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Darius Acuff Scouting Report
Darius Acuff is ranked as the best point guard in this class for a reason. He takes total command of the court when the ball is in his hands. His combination of difficult shot making, ball handling and high IQ make him dangerous, especially in pick-and-roll scenarios:
The 6-foot-3 guard is most comfortable driving the ball and getting a foot in the paint where he has a wide variety of scoring weapons at his disposal. He’s got good touch and range on his running floater, but he’s also capable of finishing tough, contested layups with either hand.
Acuff has shifty explosiveness with the ball in his hands. Not so much like notable point guard athletes like Russell Westbrook or Ja Morant, but more of a change of direction, hard-to-stay-in-front-of type shiftiness like former Villanova star and one-time NBA All-Star Jalen Brunson.
Also similar to Brunson, Acuff’s strength for his size helps him navigate crowded areas and get to his spots regardless of the height of surrounding defenders. He also usually plays below the rim, rarely rising to attempt dunks regardless of how open his path is.
The newest Razorback isn’t quite the same type of shooter as Brunson, who has hit 41% of his 3-point attempts over his last two seasons with the New York Knicks, but Acuff has no shortage of scoring moves in his bag of tricks.
Even though he doesn’t have the silky-smooth jump shot of sharpshooters like Isaiah Joe, he’s a more than capable 3-point shooter – potentially even an excellent shooter as he continues to develop. He shot 49.1% from the field, 35.9% from long range and 87.5% from the free throw line, the latter of which can often indicate how good of a shooter a player can become. He’s most lethal from the top of the key either coming off of ball screens or spotting up for kick-outs when a teammate has the ball below the free throw line.
Acuff is more accurately described as an extremely tough shot maker rather than a pure shooter, though. Think of someone like recent Razorback JD Notae, only stronger and listed as two inches taller. Notae didn’t boast the best 3-point percentage (31% at Arkansas), but there was rarely a shot on the court he didn’t feel comfortable taking – and often making.
Acuff has a similar ability to get off his shot regardless of how well the defender contests. His reputation as a tough-shot maker is for good reason, but this also means that he’s a tough-shot taker, and those don’t look as good when they miss. It’s easy to remember the many positives of a scorer like Notae, but he had his fair share of frustrating shot attempts as well. Although projected to be a better scorer and all-around player than Notae, Acuff’s score-first mentality is certainly similar.
His overall development as he progresses through college and on to the pros will likely depend on his improvement as a playmaker. While he is a willing passer, he’s not blowing away scouts with his vision or passing IQ at this point in his career.
He can be an effective shooter either spotting up or off the dribble with little difference between the two. It’s more common for an incoming freshman recruit to excel at one or the other rather than both, so this is certainly a positive in Acuff’s favor.
His strength and quickness should give him all the tools necessary to be a plus defender despite him staking his reputation on offense. Because he likes to get out and run in transition, Acuff is usually on the hunt to tip passes or force steals, but he’s not likely to be among the team leaders in forced turnovers – especially as a freshman. He is exceptionally good, however, at making himself available transitioning from defense to offense as soon as the ball changes possession.
He often gets out ahead of the break ready for an outlet pass off of long rebounds or forced turnovers elsewhere on the court. These types of fastbreak opportunities can instantly change the momentum in a game if he stays consistent at converting them.
What it Means for Arkansas Basketball
At this stage, it’s impossible to project how Darius Acuff Jr. fits on the 2025-26 Arkansas basketball roster because he’s really the only known piece on that team.
Johnell Davis and Jonas Aidoo will exhaust their eligibility this season and it wouldn’t be particularly surprising if any of the other main rotation players do well enough to enter the NBA Draft next summer, but predicting which of them do before a single game is played would be tough.
However, it’s a safe bet that Acuff will be a big part of whatever the Razorbacks do that season given his skillset and Calipari’s history with similar players — a fact that’s not lost on the star guard.
“Coach Cal is a great guard coach,” Acuff told 247Sports. “Most of his guards are in the league.”
The list is long and impressive, but on his YouTube show earlier this summer, college basketball insider Aaron Torres specifically mentioned three notable Calipari products – Derrick Rose, Tyreke Evans and John Wall – as examples of what Acuff could become.
That would be huge for the Razorbacks because all three of those players were tremendous in their lone collegiate seasons before taking their talents to the NBA and enjoying varying levels of success. Evans was the Rookie of the Year, Wall is a five-time All-Star and Rose even won the NBA MVP award while leading Tom Thibodeau’s 2010-11 Chicago Bulls squad. At 22 years old, Rose was the youngest NBA MVP winner in league history.
Aside from Rose and Acuff both coming from Midwest metro areas (Chicago and Detroit, respectively), they also come in around the same area in recruiting rankings given Rose was ranked as the nation’s No. 5 recruit. It’s putting the cart in front of the horse at this point, but if one day Acuff replicates Rose’s feat, Calipari would join legends John Wooden and Dean Smith as the only collegiate coaches to produce multiple NBA MVPs.
In such a scenario, Acuff would be the first Pro Hog NBA MVP, as well as the Arkansas basketball program’s second All-NBA first-teamer ever after Sidney Moncrief.
Sure, these are lofty expectations, but they are not outside the realm of possibility for the immensely talented Darius Acuff Jr.
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