Family football ties couldn't keep Arizona signee Koa Peat off the basketball court

Not long after Koa Peat outgrew the stroller that rolled him into the countless practices and games of his older siblings, a pattern began to emerge.

It wasn’t obvious right away. The father of Arizona’s five-star incoming freshman forward, Todd, spent nine years in the NFL as an offensive lineman for the Cardinals and Raiders, while an older brother, Andrus, went off to do the same for Stanford before becoming a first-round NFL Draft pick and All-Pro.

Three other older brothers also played college football, while a dramatic growth spurt during Koa’s eighth-grade year suggested an NFL future could have been possible for him, too.

That’s kind of how Sam Duane, who coached Koa at Gilbert Perry High School and three of his older brothers at Tempe Corona del Sol, had him pegged, even when Koa was just a third grader injecting energy into his summer basketball camps.

“Honestly, I thought he would be a football guy,” Duane said.

But Koa had other ideas long before middle school, or even elementary school.

His mother, Jana, could see it coming.

Saying “he was basically born in the gym and born on the field,” Jana Peat noted how she repeatedly ferried Koa into venues where his brothers and sisters were playing, until he started steering her around — and into one particular sport.

“When he first took an interest in basketball, I would take him out to play in the driveway,” Jana said. “He was like, 3, 4 years old, shooting baskets. We’d go do our morning routine and take our nap, and then after that, we’d go out in the evening, as well.

Two-a-day basketball workouts. For a preschooler who demanded no less.

“He was just obsessed with it,” Jana said.

His older siblings helped stoke that passion. Also with two sisters who have played college basketball, Koa said he would always try to play with his brothers and sisters, and that their competition over all those years “is what made me better.”

Because he is 13 years older than Koa, Andrus said he didn’t directly compete with Koa but noticed how his other siblings pushed each other, and where the ultimate focus of his youngest brother was.

“As a young kid, he always had a love for the game,” Andrus said. “You could see it. He loved basketball.”

Koa kept his options open for a while, playing football and basketball into his junior high school years, as did brothers Todd Jr., Andrus and Cassius and Keona, all of whom played basketball at Tempe Corona del Sol before launching college football careers.

But after Cassius helped Corona Del Sol win four straight state basketball titles through 2015, Duane left to pursue an administration certificate, then took over at Perry in 2016-17. His link to the Peat family could have ended there.

Duane said he stayed in touch with Cassius and the family but moved on at Perry, developing college players such as former UA target Cody Williams, who spent a season at Colorado before entering the 2014 NBA Draft, and former UA center Dylan Anderson.

Keona even enrolled at Corona Del Sol long after Duane left, then walked on to ASU’s football team and is now in the transfer portal, with the possibility of joining Koa at UA.

“There was no ‘Hey, come to Perry’ stuff at all,” Duane said about Koa. “But when he did come to Perry, I was like, ‘Holy Moly, Koa.’

The fact that the Peat family lived close to Perry, where Duane was building a basketball powerhouse, made Koa’s choice something of a no-brainer. He signed up for Perry in 2021 and joined a team that included Williams and Anderson in the Section 7 recruiting showcase that spring.

“After he graduated from junior high, he came to our first summer workout, and he hadn’t even attended a class yet,” Duane said. “I was like ‘OK, he’s good.’”

Duane cracked up at that memory.

“You just know,” he said.

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By that point, Peat had already begun attracting college offers. ASU was the first high-major to offer him, during eighth grade, while Arizona watched him at the 2021 Section 7 event and began recruiting him heavily in the years to follow.

That meant a lot of recruiting management over the next four years, a load even for a family that had been through college recruitments before — not once, but six times before.

“Basketball is a lot different than football,” Jana said of the recruiting process. “I don’t know — it just seems like it’s a bigger sport.”

It was all hands on deck. Koa said his siblings’ journeys through college inspired him to excel and deal with the recruiting process, while his parents helped sort through all the options.

“I would come up to them and tell them how I feel,” Koa said. “They kind of let me pick this decision. They didn’t pick it for me. I could talk to them, talk to my close family members, talk to my coaches about anything I had on my mind about my recruitment process.”

That support helped Koa keep his focus on Perry, which he helped win four straight state titles.

In 2024-25, Perry won the Arizona Open Division title, finished 26-2 and ranked No. 4 nationally, the highest-ever postseason ranking for an Arizona team in MaxPreps history, as Peat averaged 18 points, 10 rebounds and 4.9 assists.

He also played the Pumas’ final two playoff games with a broken hand. He had been cleared to play just a day before the semifinal against Phoenix Sandra Day O’Connor, blowing off any worry that the injury might put him at risk.

“We brought him off the bench at the end of a quarter just to see how it was going and he was like, ‘Coach, I’m good,’” Duane said. “So I’m like ‘Let’s roll with it,’ and he was phenomenal in the final.”

With 16 points off the bench in the semifinal on March 5, Peat had 20 points from all over the floor, nine rebounds and two blocks in Perry’s 63-44 win over Phoenix Sunnyslope in the championship game on March 8.

“I get that every coach says their guy is awesome, right? Everyone,” Duane said. “But you will love Koa.”

Throughout those years at Perry, Peat built a relationship with Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd and the Wildcats. Peat said he visited McKale Center “a lot of times,” while he kept bouncing all things recruiting off his siblings.

Over breakfast one day, Koa said he spoke with Andrus, too.

“He didn’t really talk to me until it got really serious,” Koa said. “We just talked through how I was feeling, talked through my process. And he gave me great advice.”

Less than three weeks after leading Perry to the Open Division title, Koa went on ESPN to announce he had picked the Wildcats over ASU, Houston, Baylor and Texas.

“Just seeing that environment, I’ve seen all the fans there, seeing how much they love basketball down there just makes you excited, makes you want to play down there,” Peat said. “I’m super, super thrilled and excited to get down there.”

No doubt Lloyd returns that sentiment. While Peat is expected to slide into the power forward spot vacated by Trey Townsend next season, Lloyd said he would impact the game in a lot of different areas.

“The great thing about Koa is his versatility,” Lloyd said. “He’s a guy that can really handle the ball, he could dribble the ball, he can drive, he can pass, he can make decisions. He’s a guy that could do the tough things around the basket. He’s great defensively. He’s great on the glass.”

Peat made it official last week, joining other Perry athletes in signing college scholarship papers during a ceremony inside the school’s auditorium. A free agent who played for the Raiders last season, Andrus showed up wearing a navy “Arizona Basketball” T-shirt.

“We’re super proud of him,” Andrus said. “He’s a hard worker and does things the right way.”

Then, after the signing ceremony ended, with students and staffers heading off to classes, Koa stopped in the auditorium lobby and sat down at a small table, where several Arizona-based reporters were waiting for him.

He kept grinning.

“It’s a surreal moment,” Peat said. “It’s kind of what I’ve been working for my whole life.”