Are NC State & UCONN the Teams to Beat for 4-Star SF Cole Cloer?

Four-star 2026 small forward Cole Cloer (6’8″/195) took an official visit to NC State the weekend of August 28. Wolfpack head coach Will Wade and general manager Andrew Slater visited him at IMG Academy in Florida on September 8.

Cloer included NC State in his Top 8 back in early July, along with Alabama, UVA, UConn, Indiana, UNC, Louisville, and Florida.

After visiting Raleigh, Cloer has taken official visits to Florida (9/5) and UConn (9/12). He was scheduled to begin an official visit with Kentucky today (despite them not being in his Top 8), but he canceled that trip. As a result, Cloer moved up his official visit that was originally scheduled for October 18 to this week.

The only other two official visits Cloer has scheduled are to Arkansas (10/2–10/4) and UNC (10/10).
Sleepers Media believes this recruitment is now a two-horse race between the Wolfpack and the Huskies.

Mark Zanetto, who has sources within UCONN, tends to agree.

Prior to transferring to IMG Academy for his senior season, Cole Cloer played for Caldwell Academy in Greensboro, and before that, he played just down the road at Orange County High School.

Cloer is a consensus four-star prospect in the 2026 recruiting class, with ESPN ranking him as the No. 25 overall player nationally and the No. 10 small forward. Before his move to IMG Academy, Cloer was the No. 1 ranked player in the state of North Carolina. He now holds the No. 5 ranking in the state of Florida.

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