​Cody Peck experienced one “Welcome to College Basketball” moment during the pickup game in July that featured current and former Dayton Flyers, including Obi Toppin and DaRon Holmes II.“I was guarding the post, and they pitched it out to Obi,” Peck said, “and by the time I turned around, he was already in there.”Toppin, a six-year NBA veteran, has scored on much more experienced players. Peck, a 6-foot-10 forward, is one of three freshmen on Dayton’s 2026-27 roster. He also plays the same position as Toppin and Holmes, Dayton’s most recent All-Americans.Playing against them, Peck said, was “super cool” because he knows “people from here that played similar to me can make it to that level.”While Toppin was unranked recruit when he arrived at Dayton, Peck is similar to Holmes in the hype that comes with him to Dayton. Holmes was a top-50 recruit. Peck ranked 81st in the 2026 class, according to 247Sports.com.Peck arrived at Dayton after a long recruiting process. He received a scholarship offer from Dayton in August 2025, visited the UD campus in September and committed in April after playing his senior year at the Davidson Day School in Davidson, N.C., north of Charlotte.Peck picked Dayton over Creighton, Tennessee, and the Miami Hurricanes in part because of a deep history between his family and Dayton coach Anthony Grant. Peck’s dad, Michael Peck, was a senior at Marshall in 1994 when the new head coach, Billy Donovan, hired Grant as an assistant.Later, Michael worked as an assistant coach with the Florida Gators on his sister Carolyn Peck’s staff from 2002-07. Grant worked on Donovan’s staff at Florida from 1996-2006.Peck is one of nine newcomers on the 2026-27 roster. All nine sat down for individual interviews with the Dayton Daily News on July 27 to talk about summer practices and the season ahead.“It’s been great,” Peck said. “Everybody’s been super open. It hasn’t been like an awkward transition or anything. From the first day, everybody was super cool. Practice has been good. Everybody’s super positive. They don’t criminalize mistakes. They help you learn through them, so it’s been really nice.”RELATED: Quinnipiac transfer Randall wants to bring energy to FlyersThe Flyers finished an eight-week summer practice period last week. They’ll return to campus later this month. Classes start Aug. 24. Fans will get a first chance to see the team on Oct. 7 in an exhibition game against Xavier in the CareSource Invitational at the Lindner Family Tennis Center.Peck described the 10th team of the Grant era as a “connected group.” Grant also praised the team’s connectedness in his first interview of the summer. Peck said everyone has a common goal.“Nobody here is selfish at all,” he said. “Everybody wants to see everybody else succeed, and I think that’s the biggest thing you can say about this group. We’re picking each other up, not letting anybody get down on themselves after mistakes. I think that’