Payton Dastrup number 55 on Rivals Top 100 for 2014 adds another

Ranked number 55 in the Rivals Top 100 for the 2014 class is 6-foot-9, 225-pound forward Payton Dastrup from Mesa, Arizona. BYU fans have had an eye on Dastrup and were wondering and waiting to see if the Cougars were going to offer him.

Dastrup received his first offers last year from Utah State and Virginia. Since that time USC, UC Davis, Utah, Arizona State, Arizona and Oregon State have added their schools to the mix as well.

Coach LaComb and Coach Nashif were the two coaches recruiting Dastrup. According to him, they have been in the mix from the beginning, that they have been to all his games the last two summers and that he hears from them daily.

This morning Coach LaComb called him and talked to him about how it was good to see him at the camp last week and that he was checking in to see how everything was going. He also let him know that Coach Rose was going to give him a call. Sure enough, just an hour and a half later Coach Rose called and told Dastrup of the excitement BYU had for him, that they liked his hard work and felt that he would fit in well with their system. With that said, Coach Rose told him that he had a scholarship available for him.

"I could tell they were going to offer, I just didn't know when it was going to be. When I was up at the BYU camp it seemed like they were going to offer when all the tournaments were over or even later than that. I kind of knew they were going to offer, I just wasn't sure when." said Dastrup.

Going into his junior year he has no plans to rush into committing anywhere. Dastrup plans to wait and see who else offers and then make a decision before his senior year.

There are some things that play to BYU's favor in his decision. He's well acquainted with the other commits and prospects from both the 2013 and 2014 class. Dastrup is LDS and likes that he will have others who live the same standards that he does and won't feel as much pressure outside the court. He also has family members that live in Utah Valley.

This week he is playing in a tournament at Durango High School in Las Vegas. On Thursday his team will take on fellow BYU prospect Jabari Parker 's team, someone who Dastrup has built a friendship with.

"Almost every LDS kid feels a bond with another LDS kid. We are both LDS, we are both highly recruited; we both come from good families. There's definitely a connection."