4-star prospect Cole Cloer transfers to Alex Karaban, Jonathan Issac's alma mater amid UNC links

Class of 2026 recruit Cole Cloer will play his senior year of basketball at IMG Academy after he confirmed transferring from Caldwell Academy.

The 6-foot-7 small forward shared the news on X (formerly Twitter) on Saturday.

"Excited to announce I will be attending IMG Academy for my senior year of high school!!" he posted.

It means Cloer will play for UConn Huskies forward Alex Karaban and Orlando Magic forward Jonathan Isaac's alma mater.

Cole Cloer is ranked 26th nationally, 11th in the small forward position and fifth in Florida. In his last season at Caldwell Academy, Cloer averaged 18.9 points on 51.0% shooting, including 41.0% from behind the arc. He also grabbed 7.2 rebounds, dished out 3.8 assists, stole the ball once and recorded 1.2 blocks per game in 35 contests.

One of his best performances came against Davidson Day, when he dropped a season-high 31 points, and he has scored in single digits only twice.

He led the school to a 26-9 record and an 8-2 record in the North Carolina Section NCISAA Piedmont Basketball League, where they finished second, below Greensboro Day School.

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Which program leads the race to sign Cole Cloer?

With plenty of offers from top programs across the nation, the small forward shortlisted eight programs. These included Alabama, Florida, Indiana, Louisville, NC State, North Carolina, UConn and Virginia.

However, there's tough competition between the North Carolina Tar Heels and the UConn Huskies. Cloer spoke about the Huskies coach, Dan Hurley, in a conversation with On3.

“They’ve been the best program in college basketball over the past four or five years. They won back-to-back championships. Coach (Dan) Hurley is a maniac, and that is exactly what you want. You want a coach who loves basketball; you don’t want anything else other than that.

He also talked about UNC coach Hubert Davis.

“I’ve grown to know them a lot over the past couple of years. I’ve gone over there a lot. I mean, it’s North Carolina basketball, so it doesn’t get much better than that. It’s close to home, I love Coach (Hubert) Davis, Coach (Jeff) Lebo and Coach (Sean) May.”

On3's recruitment prediction machine has given UNC an 86.3% chance to land Cloer, followed by Alabama and NC State with a 5.1% and a 3.3% chance, respectively.

Cole Cloer still has another year of high school basketball before he decides on his collegiate career.