NC State’s Brandon Cisse is Embracing the Competition for the Starting Job

With Shyheim Battle headed to the NFL Draft, there is a starting Cornerback position open in NC State’s defense.

Sophomore Brandon Cisse believes competition brings out the best in everyone, and he recognizes it’s his time to step up.

“This year I have a lot more confidence. I trust my skillset a lot more. Stepping into a bigger role. Competing for the starting job,” said Cisse. “Everyday knowing my talent. This year, the biggest step is football IQ, knowing everyone’s job, and not just mine. I think that’s the biggest strength of my game.”

Earlier this week, Wolfpack Defensive Coordinator Tony Gibson said there is competition for starting roles all across the NC State defense, and one of those spots is at Cornerback across from Aydan White.

On Tuesday, when the media was allowed to view the first hour of practice, Cisse was running with the 1’s opposite of White. Now, who is running with the 1’s on the opening day of Spring Practice isn’t necessarily an accurate projection of who the staff thinks will start come September. I would expect that Maryland transfer Corey Coley is competing hard with Cisse for the job, but he just recently arrived on campus, and is new to the Wolfpacks defensive scheme.

With that being said, Gibson also mentioned that Cisse had 2 picks in 1-on-1’s one day this week.

“The good thing with Brandon (Cisse), is he’s very very smart. He played in our Dime package a year ago. He transitioned to Nickel sometimes midweek during practice. We felt good if we needed to use him in a game there,” said Gibson. “He’s very smart. He’s football savvy. He can play Corner. He can play Nickel. He can do a lot of things for us. The first two days watching him, he had a couple of picks in 1-on-1’s yesterday. Expecting big things out of him.”

As a prominent feature of the Wolfpack’s Dime package in 2023, Cisse played 148 snaps as a True Freshman, which speaks of how highly the coaches thought of him.

When asked this week if he was ever nervous about possibly being the next man up last season, from his perspective, he wouldn’t have flinched.

“I was never nervous. I was ready to step into that role,” said Cisse. “I was learning from those guys, but it wasn’t going to be a big change if I had to go in. I was confident in my game. I knew what I was capable of.”

Cisse knows he is in a competition for the starting job, but he is embracing the competition.

“Competition brings the best out of everybody. Everyday you don’t want to come in and have a bad day,” said Cisse. “Everyday you want to come and put your best play on tape. If you don’t want to play Coach Gibson’s brand of football, then you don’t want to play here.”