Virginia offers state of North Carolina’s top prospect

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Virginia threw its hat in the ever-expanding ring for the state of North Carolina’s top recruit on Monday, presenting an official offer to Cole Cloer of Greensboro’s Caldwell Academy.

The 6-foot-8, 185-pound wing, who played in hometown Hillsborough before moving to Caldwell, is a 247Sports composite top-30 player nationally. He is also ranked the No. 13 wing in the country and No. 1 in the Tar Heel State.

Cloer’s recruiting has boiled over this spring as he gained offers or interest from practically every school in the ACC, plus several national programs outside the league.

Thus far, he has offers from UVA, North Carolina, NC State, Wake Forest, Miami, Louisville, Tennessee, Villanova, Alabama, UConn, Mississippi State, South Carolina, Iowa, Oklahoma State, Providence, VCU, Ohio State, Illinois and Georgetown.

“I’m still taking it day by day,” Cloer told The Charlotte Observer last week. “I definitely will narrow it down this summer. All the ACC schools — Wake, NC State, Carolina, Duke and Louisville for sure — and Alabama, Florida, Michigan and some others have been in touch.”

Those comments came before Virginia’s offer.

“I will take a couple of official visits in the spring and the rest in the fall,” Cloer said. “I haven’t set dates for them yet.”

Cloer had just turned in an impressive performance in the Phenom Hoops Grassroots Tip-Off Classic in Rock Hill, S.C., where Cloer’s Winston-Salem based CP3 AAU team hammered Drifty Elite, 98-80. Drifty boasted five of the state of North Carolina’s top 10 players in the 2025 class. Cloer’s team had four of the top 10 players in the 2026 class and won going away, as Cloer put up 20 points.

“Cole has gotten better and better every year,” said CP3 coach Jon Adams, a former Belmont Abbey College guard who has coached the program since 2006. “When you get that bullseye on your back, you’ve got to be ready every time you step on the court. He understands that and he keeps working.”

Ryan Odom offered three other Class of ‘26 players recently (see separate story elsewhere on this site).