Cayden Daughtry’s summer made the decision-making part look a lot more complicated.
The Class of 2027 point guard from South Florida just put together a monster run at Peach Jam, then turned around and trimmed a massive offer list down to 14 schools. After drawing roughly 30-plus offers, Daughtry said he is weighing Iowa, Miami, UConn, Florida, Arkansas, Michigan, USC, Kentucky, Louisville, Tennessee, Florida State, Villanova, Providence and Vanderbilt.
That’s the kind of group that tells you how loudly he’s played himself onto the national radar.
At Peach Jam in North Augusta, S.C., Daughtry was the engine for Florida Rebels’ title run. He poured in 33 points in the championship game, pushing his team to a 71-60 win over Drive Nation. The undersized 6-foot-1, 160-pound guard did damage all event long, showing the quick-trigger scoring and pace-setting style that made him one of the toughest guards in the gym.
He finished as the EYBL’s scoring leader at 28 points per game, and he added six assists and five rebounds a night. In the 30th year of Peach Jam, the first ever regular season MVP of the EYBL left behind a clear imprint.
Now the attention shifts from production to process. Daughtry released his official visit schedule on Monday, and Florida State gets the first stop at the end of the month, Aug.
28-30. He’ll follow that with Tennessee on Sept. 4-6, then Iowa on Sept.
11-13, UConn on Sept. 19-21, Florida on Sept. 25-27 and Miami from Oct.
16-18.
Florida State has been involved from early on and has treated him like a priority long before his summer explosion. Daughtry made it clear back in December that the Seminoles’ style caught his eye.
“One thing I really like about (Florida State) is that they shoot a lot of 3s,” as Daughtry told ZAGSBLOG following the City of Palms tournament back in December.
“The head coach (Luke Loucks) is coming in from an NBA offense. He’s coming in keeping that mindset. They basically told me, ‘we want you to come here and shoot the ball.'”
Florida is also pressing hard, with Todd Golden and the Gators selling Daughtry on a path that mirrors Walter Clayton’s scoring burst on the way to Florida’s 2025 national title.
“Coach Golden has been illustrating the same message: they want to get me to the league as quickly as possible,” Daughtry said.
“They envision me as a one and done type of guy.”
Iowa has stayed steady throughout the process, too, and Daughtry has clearly paid attention to what the Hawkeyes are building with a new coaching staff. He said in December that he appreciated the direction of the program and the way it uses Bennet Stirtz, the No. 16 pick in the 2026 NBA draft.
“I like how they are coming in with a new coaching staff,” Daughtry explained back in December.
“It’s cool just knowing they have good coaches there. The way they utilize (No.16 2026 NBA draft pick) Bennet Stirtz is really cool to watch. Just making sure he gets the ball and he gets the right touches.”
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