NC State’s 2025 Secondary was Gutted in a Matter of Hours Last Night

NC State knew they would be without 2-time All-ACC starting Cornerback Aydan White in 2025, because he used his last year of eligibility this year, but there was massive reason for optimism regarding the Wolfpack’s secondary in 2025. Savage Wolves had already re-signed Sophomore Brandon Cisse, who started on the other side of White this year. Redshirt Freshman Tamarcus Cooley had re-seigned with Savage Wolves, and he was NC State’s starting Nickel this season. Senior Bishop Fitzgerald was a starter at Safety for the Wolfpack this season, and after the new JUCO ruling giving former JUCO players who ran out of eligibility this year an extra year of eligibility in 2025, it was reported that he was returning to Raleigh. Senior Safety Devan Boykin also had re-signed with Savage Wolves. Boykin missed this entire season recovering from ACL surgery, but he was a starter in 2023, and was expected to slide back into a starting role in 2025. Junior Cornerback Devon Marshall, who transferred in from Villanova last offseason, also had re-signed. Marshall was expected to fill the void left by White, and start alongside Cisse.

So here is what the Wolfpack’s projected 2025 Starting Secondary was prior to last night:

CB: Brandon Cisse
CB: Devon Marshall
Nickel: Tamarcus Cooley
Safety: Devan Boykin
Safety: Bishop Fitzgerald

Last night, roughly between the hours of 9pm and Midnight, news broke that Cisse, Cooley, Boykin and Fitzgerald were all entering the Transfer Portal. For context, Midnight was the deadline for NC State players to enter the Transfer Portal this session, because it marked the end of 5 days after their Bowl Game.

So here is what the Wolfpack’s projected 2025 Starting Secondary after last night:

CB:
CB: Devon Marshall
Nickel:
Safety:
Safety:

I’m not going to make the argument that NC State lost 4 All-ACC players in a couple of hours, but I don’t want to undersell it either. Fitzgerald earned All-ACC Honorable Mention this year (3rd highest PFF grade). Cooley was the 2nd highest graded player on the Wolfpack’s defense (80.8), behind Davin Vann. Boykin was the 5th highest graded player on NC State’s defense in 2023, and Cisse was the 5th highest this year.

You are losing 4 guys with starting experience. All 4 are Top-5 on NC State’s defense according to PFF.

I have an immense amount of respect and appreciation for the work that Savage Wolves does, but this put things into perspective when news breaks that a player has re-signed. The Collective is committing to pay these players if they do certain things laid out in their contract. The player is agreeing to get paid that amount for doing whatever is laid out in the contract. As a result, the collective is signing something binding, while the player is not. The player can leave at any time, and simply not get paid for what they didn’t do. This is my understanding of the process, and I obviously could be lacking insight.

I could try to fill out the projected starting lineup around Marshall for next season, but the exercise would be futile. Sure, there are players already on the roster that will try to prove they are ready for the responsibility, but NC State will instantly start recruiting defensive backs in the Transfer Portal.

Cooley and Marshall were additions from the Portal, and NC State picked up Fitzgerald from the JUCO ranks.

While the Portal is technically closed (Dec 28), there are exceptions. Any player that is in a Bowl Game after that date, has 5 days following the game to submit their paperwork. Also, if a head coach leaves, a player has an additional 30 days to enter. This means that players from teams in the postseason are going to continue trickling into the Portal until January 25.

The next Portal window officially opens on April 16th.

There are a lot of ways to dissect what happened last night. I’ll let Joe Giglio handle that for me.