This already promised to be a fraught offseason for Hubert Davis and the North Carolina Tar Heels. UNC barely snuck into the NCAA Tournament at all, and while a First Four romp over San Diego State hinted at a potential March run, the team's first-round loss to Ole Miss underscored that this was in fact the same old team fans had been watching all year.
Which meant that something drastic needed to change in order for Davis to save his job. That was going to be hard enough without program legend RJ Davis around. But now the hits have kept on coming: According to a report from On3's Pete Nakos, 2024 five-star Ian Jackson has decided to hit the transfer portal.
BREAKING: North Carolina 5-star freshman Ian Jackson has entered the NCAA Transfer Portal, @PeteNakos_ reports👀https://t.co/mzMe9lva6f pic.twitter.com/0g4nj7kJgV
— On3 (@On3sports) April 7, 2025
Jackson didn't quite take off the way fans hoped during his freshman season, but he flashed offensive serious potential, averaging nearly 12 points per game on 45.6 percent shooting (39.5 percent from 3). It was understandable that he faded a bit down the stretch; with a year of college experience under his belt, the sky appeared to be the limit.
Now, though, that potential could be headed elsewhere, leaving Davis to scramble for answers.
Projected UNC starting five if Ian Jackson leaves in the transfer portal
Position | Player |
|---|---|
Point guard | Seth Trimble |
Shooting guard | Isaiah Denis/Derek Dixon |
Small forward | Jonathan Powell |
Power forward | Caleb Wilson |
Center | Henri Veesaar |
Wilson is one of the most exciting recruits Chapel Hill has seen in recent memory, a top-10 player in his class with incredible athleticism and length in his 6-foot-9 frame. Veesaar gives the Heels an anchoring presence in the middle, a legitimate 7-footer who was dominant at times at Arizona.
From there, though, the question marks begin. Beyond Veesaar — who struggled to stay on the floor at times in Tucson — it's tough to identify anyone who might be an enforcer at the basket; as great as Wilson might be, he's still awfully wiry, and he figures to need some time before he can bang bodies at the Power 6 level. One more frontcourt player with some heft figures to be high on Davis' to-do list in the portal, because right now things would get awfully dicey if Veesaar were to get in foul trouble. (Ven-Allen Lubin and James Brown are solid pieces, but don't figure to fill that sort of void.)
But the biggest concern comes in the backcourt, where the losses of Jackson and Cadeau are acutely felt as things stand. Trimble has been a maddeningly mercurial player during his time with UNC, and now he finds himself as more or less the sole proven playmaker on this roster. Maybe one of the two four-star freshmen, Denis or Dixon, will hit the ground running, but that's a big ask that comes with a lot of risk.
Which just underscores how big a loss Jackson truly is. His combination of size and ability to create is exactly what this lineup is crying out for right now; maybe he'll come back to Carolina after all with a fatter NIL check, but if not, Hubert Davis better be willing to do whatever it takes to land RJ Luis.