UNC Guard Jaydon Young Entering Transfer Portal

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — With the transfer portal opening Tuesday and North Carolina still searching for a head coach, Jaydon Young will explore opportunities elsewhere after one season in Chapel Hill. On3’s Pete Nakos confirmed on Monday that the Goldsboro, N.C. native plans to enter the transfer portal.

The 6-foot-4 guard appeared in 31 games, making four starts between late January and early February. He logged a season-high 20 minutes in UNC’s win over Wake Forest on Jan. 10, scoring a season-best 12 points.

“(Young’s) number was called the most, and he stepped up,” former UNC coach Hubert Davis said of Young’s performance against Wake Forest. “He knocked down threes, he took good shots. As I said, defensively, he can guard (against) physicality, he can take a bump and still stay in front of the man, and he stepped up and made a free throw for us, and just really happy for him.”

Young, the final addition to Davis’ transfer portal class, joined his childhood team after spending two seasons at Virginia Tech. Initially committed to High Point out of the portal, Young flipped his commitment to UNC in April.

“We used to come to ‘Late Night With Roy’ almost every year, unless my grades were bad or something like that,” Young described of his childhood UNC fandom in October. “I was a superfan, (I remember) having butterflies being at school whenever they played against Duke.”

Last season in Blacksburg, Young started 10 of 32 games, averaging 8.1 points in 22.4 minutes per game. He scored a season-high 27 points off the bench in Virginia Tech’s win over Miami and reached double figures in each of the Hokies’ final six games of the 2025 season.

A product of Greensboro Day School (N.C.), Young was a three-star prospect ranked No. 217 nationally before committing to Virginia Tech out of high school.