Virginia Freshman Forward Jacob Cofie Enters Transfer Portal

Aaron Snyder

Virginia freshman forward Jacob Cofie has entered the transfer portal, as first reported by On3's Joe Tipton on Tuesday afternoon (March 25). Cofie started 16 games in his first year at UVA and was fifth on the team in scoring and now hits the portal with three years of eligibility remaining. According to the report from Tipton, Cofie is considering a return to Virginia.

NEWS: Virginia forward Jacob Cofie is entering the transfer portal, per his agency PNW Sports Group. Will consider a possible return to UVA.

The 6-10 freshman averaged 7.2 points and 4.6 rebounds per game this season. Former 4⭐️ recruit and Washington State Gatorade POY.… pic.twitter.com/4TUk6dKjwQ

— Joe Tipton (@TiptonEdits) March 25, 2025

In September of 2023, Jacob Cofie became the first verbal commit in Tony Bennett's 2024 recruiting class, choosing Virginia over USC, Washington, and Ohio State. Like many recruits, Cofie specifically mentioned that "being coached by Tony Bennett would be an honor." Well, the 2023-2024 Washington Gatorade Player of the Year never got a chance to play a game for Bennett, who retired a couple of weeks before the season began.

Cofie stuck it out with Ron Sanchez and the rest of Bennett's staff and got off to a hot start to his college career, scoring 16 points in his debut, then recording an 11-point, 11-rebound double-double in his second game, and then a 12-point game in Virginia's win over Villanova in Baltimore. Consistency eluded Cofie for the rest of the season, despite him starting 16-consecutive games from mid-December to mid-February. He had only seven more double-digit scoring games and he seemed discouraged from shooting three-pointers. After knocking down five threes in his first three games, Cofie made just five more threes for the rest of the season and shot 24.4% from beyond the arc for the year. Cofie averaged 7.2 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 1.1 steals per game and shot just under 50% from the floor.

There were certainly some growing pains for Cofie in ACC play, particularly on the defensive end, and he routinely found himself in foul trouble. But there were also plenty of encouraging moments that showed Cofie still has a ton of potential to be a star in the future, which makes his entrance into the transfer portal a disappointing one for the Cavaliers.

It's an understandable move for Cofie, who will likely draw a great deal of interest from major conference programs due to his mobility, coordination, and versatility as a 6'10" forward. Entering the portal allows him to see what his market value is and then it will be up to Virginia and its new head coach Ryan Odom to determine if they can or are willing to compete in that bidding war to get Cofie to withdraw from the portal and come back to UVA. With three years of eligibility remaining and a great deal of raw talent to extract, Cofie is likely to be a hot commodity in the portal.

Jacob Cofie is the seventh Virginia player to enter the transfer portal this offseason, joining junior guard Isaac McKneely, junior guard Andrew Rohde, sophomore guard Dai Dai Ames, redshirt freshman center Anthony Robinson, sophomore center Blake Buchanan, and sophomore forward TJ Power. The other six Cavaliers were among the nearly 1,000 college basketball players to enter the portal when it opened on Monday, while Cofie followed suit on Tuesday.

Stay up to date on all the latest Virginia basketball transfer portal activity, including outbound transfers from the current roster and UVA's effort to pursue players in the portal, here: Virginia Basketball Transfer Portal: Latest News and Updates