It was two years ago that Wrangler News contributor Sam Voas profiled another standout among the athletes of Tempe’s longtime Peat family.
Now, Peat is considered the top-ranked basketball prospect in the nation in the Class of 2025, shining on the court at Perry High School in Gilbert, as well as on the world stage on the U.S. Junior Team. When Peat was profiled as a 14-year-old eighth-grader, he was 6-foot-7 and on college basketball scouts’ radar.
The quiet gentle giant preferred to shun the limelight and let his game do his talking. During one of his days of online classes from Aprende Middle School done, Koa dribbled a basketball on the sidewalk as he sauntered across the street to his West Chandler neighborhood park. The young teenager moved with a balletic grace that made it hard to believe he 6-foot-7. He speaks little as he glides across the concrete basketball court at Centennial Park.
His mother, Jana Peat, admires her son from the sideline as he jukes an imaginary defender and rises up for a jump shot. “He is quiet, like his dad,” she said. Indeed, Koa’s voice is barely audible over the jangling swish of the chain net. Perhaps that sound communicates everything the eighth-grade phenom wants to say. Like many of basketball’s greats, Peat prefers to let his game do the talking. Talent like Peat’s truly does speak for itself. He was ranked ninth in the nation among basketball players in his age group.
Already, he has drawn the attention of college scouts. Arizona State became the first to offer him a scholarship. Now a junior in high school, Peat’s Division I offer list extends to 30 programs, including prestigious college hoops programs such as North Carolina, Arizona, Duke and Kentucky. He is now 6-foot-8, 215-pounds and a consensus 5-star prospect with a .9985 composite score, according to 247 sports recruiting profile. He reigns atop his state and region, second at his position and is the No. 3 player in the country, according to Rivals.
However, Peat’s talents don’t fall far from the tree. He is the youngest of seven children, and his father, Todd Peat, is a former NFL lineman. His four older brothers went on to play NCAA Division I football after graduating from Corona del Sol High. The most recent one, Keona, is playing for Arizona State. His two older sisters, also Corona alums, play D-I basketball. And most notably, Peat’s brother, Andrus, is an offensive lineman for the New Orleans Saints. Despite this, Peat believes that his basketball success is more a product of hard work than of genetics. He approaches the game with discipline and maturity far beyond his years. He completes two workouts a day, one on his own and another guided by his brother and coach, Todd Peat Jr. They include drills to improve shooting, ball-handling, footwork and conditioning. “I’d rather go through the hard work than go through losing,” Peat said, as he sinks another deep three-pointer. Jana smirks in agreement.
“He hates to lose,” she said. Peat credits his competitive spirit in large part to his siblings. For as long as he can remember, he’s been playing sports against his brothers, a tradition that is ongoing. He believes that these usually playful fraternal contests helped forge his drive to be the best he can be. “Yeah, they’re good,” he said, of his brothers’ basketball chops, “but I’m the best.”
Peat’s goal is to be an NBA player. In a perfect world, he’d be wearing a Suns uniform. “I’d like to play for my hometown team,” he said. That dream is starting to look more and more like a reality for the young hooper. Peat has been leading the Perry Pumas on varsity for three years and earned Gatorade Player of the Year 2022-23 after averaging 19.7 points per game, 9.4 rebounds per game, three assists per game and 1.3 steals per game. Peat has been in the national spotlight before high school began, but that didn’t infiltrate his work ethic and maturation as a young boy.
“It’s nice. I don’t really let it get to my head,” he said. “I’m just humble about it. I just work every day to try to be the best player I can be.” Following in the athletic footsteps of his family, but carving out a different path on the hardwood, Peat is destined for greatness.
