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Corey Coley Jr. and Tamarcus Cooley: A friendship that stayed intact through the transfer portal

image_6483441 (3)by:Noah Fleischman•01/25/24•

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Tamarcus Cooley
(Graphic by Shawn Palmer/On3)

When Maryland defensive backs Corey Coley Jr. and Tamarcus Cooley were in the transfer portal, the latter was “begging” his former teammate to join him at NC State. 

Cooley originally committed to NC State out of Rolesville High, but flipped to Maryland before he signed his letter of intent. In the portal, however, he knew he was going to make his way to Raleigh. 

He just wanted his partner in crime in the secondary to join him in his hometown, and eventually it happened. 

“I didn’t believe it at first,” Cooley said inside NC State’s Murphy Center on Wednesday morning, sitting one table away from Coley. “He kept telling me that he was going to come. I had my mind made up, I was going to come back. He told me that he was going to come with me, so we did it.”

The pair of defensive backs arrived at NC State a few weeks ago, but their bond is similar to that of two brothers. Coley is the older one with one year of eligibility remaining, while Cooley has four years to play at the college level. 

At Maryland, the two spent a lot of time together on the practice field in the same position group. Coley was a rotational corner for the Terrapins with nine total tackles and two passes defended this season, while Cooley was a reserve corner and a special teams player with four total stops. 

Though the two competed for playing time together, their bond off the field led to the duo motivating one another on it. 

 “We compete in everything we do,” Coley said. “It’s just fun having somebody that came from where you came from, and just being able to compete. We learn and we’ve been able to see each other’s growth through the whole thing.”

Now that they’re both at NC State, Coley and Cooley have an opportunity to play significant snaps next to each other within defensive coordinator Tony Gibson’s secondary. There is a starting cornerback spot open after Shyheim Battle entered the NFL Draft, while the starting nickel spot was vacated after Robert Kennedy III’s final collegiate season came to a close. 

The two are expected to play in those roles — Coley at outside corner and Cooley at nickel — and they could not be more excited to do it in the system that gives defensive backs a lot of freedom to make a play. 

“It’s fun and exciting, especially because it’s a system that favors the DBs,” Coley said. “It allows DBs to make a lot of plays on the ball. I’m excited to see where playing in this system can take me.”

Coley, the more experienced player of the two, played 250 snaps at outside cornerback this season at Maryland. He has been a sounding board for Cooley, along with as a teacher on the field for the defensive back that logged 20 snaps at the position with the Terrapins. 

“Corey has taught me so much,” Cooley said. “I’m just so comfortable beside him. With me playing nickel and him playing corner, we’re going to be beside each other a lot. Him being that big brother figure helps me on the field.”

Both Coley and Cooley wore large smiles when they talked about one another, and the opportunity to play alongside their best friend for the entire 2024 campaign with the Wolfpack. 

The duo can not wait for the season opener against Western Carolina on Aug. 29 at Carter-Finley Stadium, but they will enjoy one more year of being together through the Wolfpack’s winter workouts and spring practice before the 2024 campaign begins. 

“He’s like my best friend,” Cooley said. “He’s a really good role model, so I look up to him a lot as a player and as a person.”

Coley echoed something similar. 

“That’s like my little brother, man,” Coley said. “I love him.”

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