$3.8 million NIL-valued AJ Dybantsa and Utah Prep impress as they hold Fort Erie scoreless for whole quarter

AJ Dybantsa, BYU signee and the No. 1 ranked player in the Class of 2025, as per On3's Industry Rankings, led Utah Prep to an 80-57 victory over Fort Erie in the Grind Session on Saturday. Utah Prep held their rivals scoreless in the third quarter.

Famous basketball page SLAM High School took to Instagram to share some highlights of the game as Dybantsa and his teammates played lockdown defense and dominated on the attacking front:

"AJ Dybantsa and Utah Prep made a statement in the first round of the Grind Session World Championship last night 😳 🚨 @therealgrindsession @bryanchow_," the post was captioned.

The $3.8 million NIL-valued player (according to On3), also led his team to an 88-75 victory against Winston Salem Christian on Sunday to move to the Final Four and will have a rematch with Fort Erie on Saturday, for a chance to move to the finals.

If they advance to the finals, Dybantsa will either face No. 2 recruit and Kansas Jayhawks signee, Darryn Peterson, or Louisville signee and DME Academy's point guard, Mikel Brown Jr.

While Dybantsa has been displaying impressive performances on the court, he made moves off the court after he became the cover star of the Boston Globe Magazine. The 6-foot-9 small forward shared an image of the magazine that dubbed him as "basketball's next superstar" on his Instagram Story:

AJ Dybantsa gets featured on the cover of Boston Globe Magazine (Image: IG/aj.dybantsa)

"Raised in Brockton. Bound for the NBA. Meet basketball's next superstar," the cover page of the magazine read.

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AJ Dybantsa is already a fan favorite at BYU

The BYU signee has already become a fan favorite at the Cougars. Before signing for them, he frequently attended their games with his father and was present when the Cougars faced West Virginia on March 1.

In a video posted on X (formerly Twitter) by the former sports writer for The Utah Statesman, Nathan Dunn, the fans were chanting Dybantsa's name:

"Dybantsa is going through the ROC, to “AJ” chants," he captioned the video on X.

The Cougars won that match by a 77-56 score. They now have a 24-9 overall record and are third in the Big 12, below Houston and Texas Tech. The Cougars were on a nine-game winning streak that started with a 73-69 win against West Virginia on Feb. 12. However, it was broken after a 74-54 loss against Houston on Saturday in the Big 12 Championship semifinal.

AJ Dybantsa will be joined by Xavion Staton and Chamberlain Burgess at Kevin Young's side next season.