Brandon Cisse signed with NC State’s collective. A month later, he transferred. What happened?
The new era of college football involves what is essentially a wink-wink. It’s sort of like saying, “I’ve decided to wear a ring,” rather than fully committing to, “I just got married.”
These days, with college football players afforded the option of transferring as many times as they please, there’s a need for reassurance — for a player to indicate yes, I am coming back next year. But rare is the college football player who says those words, or anything along those lines.
And since it would be a bit odd to annually say, “Don’t worry, I’m not entering the transfer portal,” we have a wink-wink instead.
Let’s take quarterback LaNorris Sellers, for example. News that the status quo wasn’t changing came in the form of the Garnet Trust — South Carolina’s NIL collective — announcing that it had signed Sellers to a new deal. In a new-age way, that was Sellers telling everyone he wasn’t leaving.
Now let’s pivot to defensive back Brandon Cisse. After playing in 22 games in two seasons at N.C. State — recording 38 tackles and an interception — Cisse re-signed his NIL deal with N.C. State’s collective, Savage Wolves, for the 2025 season.
A month later, he was in the transfer portal. So what happened? And well, is that even allowed? What happens when you sign a contract and then break it within four weeks?
“It wasn’t a binding (contract) at all,” Cisse told The State on Wednesday. “I had signed with more intentions on coming back there at the moment.”
“I’ll clear this up now,” Cisse added. “I did not take any money from N.C. State when I signed with the collective to come back for another year. That was not what happened.”
Similar situations are rare, but they do happen. For instance, wide receiver Ahmari-Huggins Bruce transferred from Louisville to South Carolina, signed with the Garnet Trust, then transferred back to Louisville about eight months later — just before the 2024 season began.
That was a much more bizarre situation, but still, what actually happened with Cisse? Well, he signed with N.C. State’s collective in early December and, a few days later, the Wolfpack’s defensive coordinator, Tony Gibson, left to take the head coaching job at Marshall.
“That was someone I’ve been around since I’ve been a freshman,” Cisse said of Gibson. “He played me very early and things like that. So I just felt like the best decision for me was to weigh my other options.”
And one of those options was returning to N.C. State. Even after he entered the portal, Cisse said, there was still a chance he’d play 2025 in Raleigh, but that went out the window after co-defensive coordinator/nickels coach Freddie Aughtry-Lindsay left the program in early January.
Cisse, a Sumter native who played football at Lakewood High, was clear that no schools lured him into the portal, adding that there was “no tampering at all.”
Cisse began to think about the future and the fact that whether he returned to N.C. State or transferred elsewhere, he was going to be learning from new coaches in a new scheme. And at that point, why not go play in the best football conference — “which is the SEC,” he said — and return to his home state?
Plus, Cisse has a relationship with South Carolina defensive backs coach Torrian Gray. Though South Carolina never offered the three-star prospect, Gray was talking with Cisse and trying to persuade him to come to a USC camp. Cisse was already committed to N.C. State and, he said, was happy being comfortable with his pledge.
But he always had an affinity for South Carolina.
“My dad went here. This is something I’ve been around since I was a little kid. It’s kind of in my blood,” Cisse told reporters. “Obviously I wish I would have come (to USC) out of high school, but God had his plans for me and I came back around.
Cisse continued: “It’s great to be back home. (It’s) just an opportunity to compete in my home state and try to go win a national title here.”
If nothing else, Cisse has a chance to play right away for a South Carolina defense that lost seven starters from last season. Among them were cornerback O’Donnell Fortune and safety Nick Emmanwori.
So perhaps Cisse competes to take over Fortune’s starting cornerback spot. Or maybe South Carolina moves junior Jalon Kilgore to safety, opening up the nickel position for Cisse. In any case, the 6-foot, 190-pound defensive back should have a role for the Gamecocks in 2025.
“I can match up with the best and then I can fit in the run game as well,” he said. “I’m very good in space. I can come up and I can hit you, but I can also go out there and match up against your No. 1 (receiver).”
Before he can do any of that, though, he still has some business to attend to. Perhaps as another sign that his departure from N.C. State wasn’t preordained, Cisse never moved out of his apartment in Raleigh.
The plan is for him and his family to drive up during spring break next week, where they’ll pack up all his N.C. State gear and officially close the door on a chapter of his life.
This story was originally published March 5, 2025 at 8:11 PM.
