Is Virginia Trending To Land One Of The Top Forwards In The Transfer Portal?

While the focus for Virginia has been on retaining its own players for next season, that mission has been accomplished. UVA has brought back the core for next year's team, but they have some holes to fill in the transfer portal and they might be closing in on landing one of their top targets.

Virginia has been linked to NC State transfer Cole Cloer since the transfer portal opened and Cloer is picking up predictions to land with the Cavaliers, most notably from On3 Sports Jamie Shaw.

BREAKING: On3’s @JamieShaw5 has logged an expert prediction for 6’7 SF Cole Cloer ✍️

NC State ➡️ Virginia

The #58 overall transfer was at NC State before entering the portal with Will Wade’s departure. The freshman out of IMG was the #59 player in the 2026 HS Class.

🔵🟠 https://t.co/VTuRTcRnVj pic.twitter.com/olq7qiamY6
— NCAA Recruiting Center 🌐 (@PortalPredict) April 13, 2026

Cloer has yet to play a college game, as he was a prospect in the 2026 recruiting class, but he was released from his NLI after WIll Wade left for LSU. He is ranked as the No. 58 overall player in the transfer portal according to the 247Sports composite and the No. 8 small forward in the portal.

This would be a huge addition for Virginia and give them a player who has a reputation as a great shooter, helping them stretch the floor and replace some of the skill that Jacari White brought to them last year. The 6'7 190 LBS forward was heavily recruited by Virginia as a high school player and he could be the first transfer to join Ryan Odom's second portal class.

Here is part of Cloer's high school scouting report, courtesy of 247Sports Adam Finkelstein:

"Cloer is a big-time shooter of the basketball who also possesses good wing size and bounce at the rim. He has a high and compact release, gets beautiful loft and rotation on his ball, and is a threat to make all different types of shots. He can make threes on the move or off the dribble, knocked down 43% of his open spot-up threes in EYBL play, and also has a complimenting pull-up game with his ability to score overtop of most opposing wings. Most of all, he has that outward confidence and swagger that almost all great shot-makers share.

While Cloer isn’t really a creator off the dribble, he has a defined niche that is translatable to the highest levels and a good complimenting skill-set. He uses his shot-fake very well, has a long first step if he gets his defender in the air, good feel as a ball mover, a solid left hand, and can take smaller defenders into the post. He’s even shown some flashes of being able to be a secondary pick-and-roll threat.

Physically, he has very good positional size at over 6-foot-7 (with shoes) and the bounce to be a lob threat or rise-up for explosive open floor finishes. While he lacks ideal length and has a bit of a long neck, he’s gotten stronger and added some noticeable muscle mass definition. Defensively, increased strength and physicality will only benefit him, but there is room for growth with his footspeed and attention to detail at times."

Odom did a fantastic job in the transfer portal last offseason to put Virginia in a position to compete in the ACC. Landing Cloer would be a step in the right direction to having two straight top notch portal classes and filling needs on the roster.