Meet Xavion Staton, BYU basketball’s next ‘big’ thing

Xavion Staton is the Kevin Young recruit who occasionally peeks out from the shadow of projected No. 1 draft pick AJ Dybantsa.

Both played for Utah Prep in Southern Utah’s St. George area.

Both players are on BYU’s campus right now getting acclimated, working out, meeting with strength and conditioning coaches and nutritionists, signing up for classes, and preparing for summer workouts.

Staton is 7-foot-1, athletic and mobile. He’s a swatting-machine rim protector, like current BYU starter Keba Keita. He can alter shots if he doesn’t get his paws on the orb.

Those around Utah Prep say Staton’s year was kind of the opposite of Dybantsa’s, who found himself a huge target of national media wherever the team traveled. Dybantsa had handlers who managed his time, his interviews and his appearances. He was very protected.

Staton is a freewheeling, friendly, very open, affable player whose unrestricted freedom off the court was used to engage with anyone who wanted a part of his time.

“BYU fans are going to love him,” said Utah Prep’s Justin Mabey.

When told about what Mabey said about his personality, Staton said, “That’s spot on.”

“I didn’t think that any of this would have happened already. I went into basketball just trying to get college paid for at the most,” Staton told the Deseret News. “Once I found out I was actually somewhat good at it, I feel like everyone deserves some kind of shot or chance.

“So, being able to talk to people and get to know people, that’s always been who I am. I’m very open, very welcoming. So I love to get to know people and people to get to know me. I just love to express that.”

He is ecstatic that he got to play with Dybantsa at Utah Prep before both arrived at BYU.

Of Dybantsa, he said, “I mean that guy, you know, he’s really good at basketball,” he explained. “Obviously, he’s a great player, but he’s also a wonderful passer. He’s a great leader. For him, having the status that he has, he’s a very humble person and a great person to be around.

“I feel like being at Utah Prep was the right move as far as developing that chemistry (with AJ), because coming into BYU, I feel like it would have been completely different if I had not made that move.”

Staton and Dybantsa had an up-and-down year as a team. There were a lot of changes, including a coaching change in midseason, and everyone needed to make adjustments.

But Staton came to Utah Prep for development in his game. “I felt I got that,” he said.

Staton is one of those humans who towers above everyone wherever he goes. He has a bald head and plays with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar goggles. He is a gentle giant who comes off as sensitive, attentive and kind. While Dybantsa has already connected with Marriott Center fans, Staton will equally become a charmer of the crowds.

But put up a shot in his zone, and he becomes a hawk after a rabbit.

“Xavion Staton is a very intriguing player as well, an incredible shot blocker,” said On3 senior recruiting analyst Jamie Shaw on ESPN 960 this past week with Ben Criddle.

“He might be the best rim protector in high school basketball. There’s a lot of upside there as well,” Shaw continued. “Right now the shot blocking translates, but he’s new to basketball. He’s like a baby deer out there. There’s going to be a little bit of a learning curve there.”

Staton said his first contact with BYU was with then-Stanford assistant Brandon Dunson, who was recruiting him to Palo Alto out of Sierra Vista High in Las Vegas his junior year. When Dunson was hired at BYU, he then switched his pitch to the Cougars, Provo and BYU’s campus.

“You’ll just love it there,” Dunson told Staton.

Sierra Vista coach Joseph Bedowitz told the Desert Sun at a recent tournament in Las Vegas that Staton was a cheat code on defense.

“For a coach he’s like a basketball cheat code,” Bedowitz said. “He’s not going to block every shot, but he changes every shot and then when he’s in the paint on offense, he draws attention away from our guards.”

Staton said before everything, a swatter is what he is.

“That is one of the things that does not fluctuate, no matter what kind of game or whatever is happening. I’m a shot blocker. That’s what I rely on. Now my game is expanding to other things and I’m adding on things. But yes, I am a shot blocker.”

Staton bought into Dunson’s pitch that coming to BYU would put him in touch with an NBA development coaching atmosphere and Kevin Young would lead the way.

In one week on campus, he’s already received a workout program from strength and conditioning coach Michael Davie to put on weight and muscle, and to increase his strength.

“I’ll need all that to play in the Big 12,” said Staton.

So far, there will be no roommates for Staton. “I like my space,” he said.

Studying interior design and real estate, Staton likes to design spaces and he said it won’t be unusual for him to move his furniture around in a few weeks — just to see what works.

So far, he likes his spaces in Provo. “It’s just amazing. It’s beyond what I expected.”

Staton said his parents plan to make it to every home game from their home base in Las Vegas.

In the offseason, Young and staff are seemingly adding new players from the transfer portal weekly. The latest is 6-foot-7 shooting guard Tyler Mrus from Idaho.

That was preceded by an announcement that Southern Illinois guard Kennard Davis was coming. Earlier, it was Baylor point guard Robert Wright III and Washington transfer Dominique Diomande, a 6-8 forward.

In all this, it’s easy to forget that Staton, like Dybantsa and Orem High center Chamberlain Burgess, were the foundation of Young’s 2025 class.

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