1. The original plan was to have The Run Down — Football Version come out Thursday, but having the secondary blow up, it’s good to have it today.
I don’t know if it was a coordinated late night news dump, but redshirt sophomore nickel Tamarcus Cooley, senior safeties Bishop Fitzgerald and Devan Boykin and sophomore cornerback Brandon Cisse all announced they wanted to enter the transfer portal. As of 2:30 p.m. Friday, none are currently in it.
Last year, NC State cornerback Aydan White entered the transfer portal, and then he returned to the team. Fitzgerald has stated he’ll still be considering the Wolfpack moving forward.
NC State offered former Temple cornerback Jamel Johnson on Friday, and he’ll be arriving Saturday for an official visit.
The 5-11, 195-pounder from Covington (Ga.) Alcovy High played his first two years at Charleston Southern.
Johnson had 47 tackles, nine passes broken up and two interceptions this season.
The portal deadline ended Dec. 28, but players in bowl games have five days following the game to enter. Graduate transfers can enter regardless.
Cisse is the one that is most surprising and will affect NC State on the field. We’ll start at the beginning with Cisse’s recruitment. Every regional Group of Five program wanted Cisse, and not one P4 program had offered him when he came to confirm his 40-yard dash time at camp. Needless to say, Cisse speed proved legit and NC State offered him.
Cisse became the rare true freshman cornerback to earn a nice in NC State secondary in 2023. He ended up with 142 plays in 13 games, with 10 tackles on the season.
Cisse’s 2024 campaign was off to a quality start, and then injuries hit. He essentially played a full game of defense against Western Carolina, Tennessee, Clemson, Northern Illinois and Georgia Tech.
He missed three straight games against Wake Forest, Syracuse and California, just two snaps against Louisiana Tech, and also exited from the Duke and North Carolina games. It was surprising that he didn’t play against East Carolina, but if he knew he was going to transfer before that game, he could have entered the portal after the UNC game.
What now looks odd is that NC State took his brother Cedric Cisse from Sumter (S.C.) Lakewood High. The younger Cisse now steps into a awkward situation, if he ends up coming.
What will prove frustrating with Cisse is that he was being hailed as the next great developmental talent for the Wolfpack. The classic three-star who has a chance to become a pro. He was the player the coaches entrusted when recruits needed a host on official visits.
The silver lining to his injuries this season is that he helped get his replacement ready. If the season started today, redshirt sophomore Jackson Vick and junior Devon Marshall would be the starting cornerbacks.
Marshall started four games this season and after a slow start, ended up playing at least 39 snaps in eight games. He’s ready to go.
Vick will be the player opposing teams will test due to his resume essentially is playing 49 snaps against North Carolina and 25 plays against ECU in the bowl game. He’s essentially where Cisse was after the 2023 season, with the same amount of snaps (145).
2. Tamarcus Cooley’s situation is more rooted in the last few years.
The last time Cooley went to the same school two years in a row was his freshman and sophomore years at Knightdale (N.C.) High. He had a huge basketball game for Knightdale against Rolesville High, and then made the move to the Rams the next week. At the time, he had an offer from Purdue and some mid-majors, and then NC State pulled the trigger.
At Rolesville, the offers started to flow in. The question at the time was how many were real or fake, but they flowed in. NC State, North Carolina, Louisville, Ole Miss, Vanderbilt, East Carolina, Appalachian State and Minnesota became his final grouping. Some of those schools dropped off after landing other players, and NC State became the odds-on favorite.
Cooley picked NC State after calling up Dave Doeren at 6 a.m. July 4, 2022. Eventually, things got weird. Cooley used the Carolinas Shrine Bowl week to create drama and he eventually flipped to Maryland before Signing Day. There were two trains of thought at the time — UMD must have paid him some good money or getting away from home was the best thing for Cooley.
The subplot during his recruitment was whether he’d get reunited with his older brother Trevion Cooley, a running back, who had gone to Louisville. The older Cooley also entered the transfer portal and the chance to play together was right there for the brothers, and yet they didn’t want to do it. Trevion Cooley transferred to Georgia Tech, partly due to his girlfriend going to nearby Clark University.
Cooley redshirted his freshman year at Maryland, and then he entered the transfer portal. Then the other dream he had often talked about came up to the surface — playing with wide receiver Noah Rogers at NC State.
Cooley played more than expected in the season opener against Western Carolina with 45 snaps, but then was relegated to playing 13-to-19 snaps the next three games. He got the start against Northern Illinois, and that caused a chain reaction. Senior Ja’Had Carter didn’t accept losing his job to a freshman and quit the team, but he then returned, and then quit again.
Cooley’s play on the field showed he was everything that was expected during his senior year at Rolesville. Teams picked on him in the passing game, but he held up well in the run game. Cooley had his best game by far against ECU with nine tackles and two interceptions.
One source believes Oregon and Texas have been sniffing around Cooley, which seems hard to believe. What will help him is that he has three years of eligibility left. What will hurt him is that he hasn’t proven stability.
Nickels coach Freddie Aughtry-Lindsay, who is now also coaching the safeties, could mean that Cooley’s role might be different next year under defensive coordinator D.J. Eliot, but he’d have the same coach coaching him.
3. The safety position has been in flux pretty much since Devan Boykin injured his knee during bowl practices in Dec. 2023.
Boykin has played both safety positions and nickel, and pre-ACL tear, playing him at nickel this season made a lot of sense.
Boykin has played in 45 games with 19 starts and has 117 career tackles, four interceptions and seven passes broken up.
Boykin and Jakeen Harris’ careers seem to have been intertwined, but Boykin was a little ahead Harris. They both had some injuries and now they both will end up at a new school for their last year of college. In Harris’ case, he played at North Carolina this season.
Boykin, if he really wanted to leave NC State, not entering four weeks ago doesn’t make sense.
Fitzgerald and NC State were ready to move on up until Dec. 23. If he ends up not returning, the plans were already in place to help replace him.
What will be fascinating to see unfold is who among former safeties coach Joe DeForest top recruits will live up to their prep billing. Injuries have stalled Zack Myers and Daemon Fagan, though Myers got healthy and joined the depth chart later in the season.
True freshman Ronnie Royal and Brody Barnhardt were both accomplished prep players, but haven’t proven themselves on the college level yet.
Free safety candidates could included Isaiah Crowell, Terrente Hinton and Asaad Brown. Getting a strong safety thumper type seems to be a must in the transfer portal.
A third cornerback is also needed in the portal as a bridge to freshman such as Cam Strong, Caden Gordon and Gerritt Kemp.
I don’t know if it was a coordinated late night news dump, but redshirt sophomore nickel Tamarcus Cooley, senior safeties Bishop Fitzgerald and Devan Boykin and sophomore cornerback Brandon Cisse all announced they wanted to enter the transfer portal. As of 2:30 p.m. Friday, none are currently in it.
Last year, NC State cornerback Aydan White entered the transfer portal, and then he returned to the team. Fitzgerald has stated he’ll still be considering the Wolfpack moving forward.
NC State offered former Temple cornerback Jamel Johnson on Friday, and he’ll be arriving Saturday for an official visit.
The 5-11, 195-pounder from Covington (Ga.) Alcovy High played his first two years at Charleston Southern.
Johnson had 47 tackles, nine passes broken up and two interceptions this season.
The portal deadline ended Dec. 28, but players in bowl games have five days following the game to enter. Graduate transfers can enter regardless.
Cisse is the one that is most surprising and will affect NC State on the field. We’ll start at the beginning with Cisse’s recruitment. Every regional Group of Five program wanted Cisse, and not one P4 program had offered him when he came to confirm his 40-yard dash time at camp. Needless to say, Cisse speed proved legit and NC State offered him.
Cisse became the rare true freshman cornerback to earn a nice in NC State secondary in 2023. He ended up with 142 plays in 13 games, with 10 tackles on the season.
Cisse’s 2024 campaign was off to a quality start, and then injuries hit. He essentially played a full game of defense against Western Carolina, Tennessee, Clemson, Northern Illinois and Georgia Tech.
He missed three straight games against Wake Forest, Syracuse and California, just two snaps against Louisiana Tech, and also exited from the Duke and North Carolina games. It was surprising that he didn’t play against East Carolina, but if he knew he was going to transfer before that game, he could have entered the portal after the UNC game.
What now looks odd is that NC State took his brother Cedric Cisse from Sumter (S.C.) Lakewood High. The younger Cisse now steps into a awkward situation, if he ends up coming.
What will prove frustrating with Cisse is that he was being hailed as the next great developmental talent for the Wolfpack. The classic three-star who has a chance to become a pro. He was the player the coaches entrusted when recruits needed a host on official visits.
The silver lining to his injuries this season is that he helped get his replacement ready. If the season started today, redshirt sophomore Jackson Vick and junior Devon Marshall would be the starting cornerbacks.
Marshall started four games this season and after a slow start, ended up playing at least 39 snaps in eight games. He’s ready to go.
Vick will be the player opposing teams will test due to his resume essentially is playing 49 snaps against North Carolina and 25 plays against ECU in the bowl game. He’s essentially where Cisse was after the 2023 season, with the same amount of snaps (145).
2. Tamarcus Cooley’s situation is more rooted in the last few years.
The last time Cooley went to the same school two years in a row was his freshman and sophomore years at Knightdale (N.C.) High. He had a huge basketball game for Knightdale against Rolesville High, and then made the move to the Rams the next week. At the time, he had an offer from Purdue and some mid-majors, and then NC State pulled the trigger.
At Rolesville, the offers started to flow in. The question at the time was how many were real or fake, but they flowed in. NC State, North Carolina, Louisville, Ole Miss, Vanderbilt, East Carolina, Appalachian State and Minnesota became his final grouping. Some of those schools dropped off after landing other players, and NC State became the odds-on favorite.
Cooley picked NC State after calling up Dave Doeren at 6 a.m. July 4, 2022. Eventually, things got weird. Cooley used the Carolinas Shrine Bowl week to create drama and he eventually flipped to Maryland before Signing Day. There were two trains of thought at the time — UMD must have paid him some good money or getting away from home was the best thing for Cooley.
The subplot during his recruitment was whether he’d get reunited with his older brother Trevion Cooley, a running back, who had gone to Louisville. The older Cooley also entered the transfer portal and the chance to play together was right there for the brothers, and yet they didn’t want to do it. Trevion Cooley transferred to Georgia Tech, partly due to his girlfriend going to nearby Clark University.
Cooley redshirted his freshman year at Maryland, and then he entered the transfer portal. Then the other dream he had often talked about came up to the surface — playing with wide receiver Noah Rogers at NC State.
Cooley played more than expected in the season opener against Western Carolina with 45 snaps, but then was relegated to playing 13-to-19 snaps the next three games. He got the start against Northern Illinois, and that caused a chain reaction. Senior Ja’Had Carter didn’t accept losing his job to a freshman and quit the team, but he then returned, and then quit again.
Cooley’s play on the field showed he was everything that was expected during his senior year at Rolesville. Teams picked on him in the passing game, but he held up well in the run game. Cooley had his best game by far against ECU with nine tackles and two interceptions.
One source believes Oregon and Texas have been sniffing around Cooley, which seems hard to believe. What will help him is that he has three years of eligibility left. What will hurt him is that he hasn’t proven stability.
Nickels coach Freddie Aughtry-Lindsay, who is now also coaching the safeties, could mean that Cooley’s role might be different next year under defensive coordinator D.J. Eliot, but he’d have the same coach coaching him.
3. The safety position has been in flux pretty much since Devan Boykin injured his knee during bowl practices in Dec. 2023.
Boykin has played both safety positions and nickel, and pre-ACL tear, playing him at nickel this season made a lot of sense.
Boykin has played in 45 games with 19 starts and has 117 career tackles, four interceptions and seven passes broken up.
Boykin and Jakeen Harris’ careers seem to have been intertwined, but Boykin was a little ahead Harris. They both had some injuries and now they both will end up at a new school for their last year of college. In Harris’ case, he played at North Carolina this season.
Boykin, if he really wanted to leave NC State, not entering four weeks ago doesn’t make sense.
Fitzgerald and NC State were ready to move on up until Dec. 23. If he ends up not returning, the plans were already in place to help replace him.
What will be fascinating to see unfold is who among former safeties coach Joe DeForest top recruits will live up to their prep billing. Injuries have stalled Zack Myers and Daemon Fagan, though Myers got healthy and joined the depth chart later in the season.
True freshman Ronnie Royal and Brody Barnhardt were both accomplished prep players, but haven’t proven themselves on the college level yet.
Free safety candidates could included Isaiah Crowell, Terrente Hinton and Asaad Brown. Getting a strong safety thumper type seems to be a must in the transfer portal.
A third cornerback is also needed in the portal as a bridge to freshman such as Cam Strong, Caden Gordon and Gerritt Kemp.
