Tamarcus Cooley flips from NC State, signs with Maryland
After confirming with On3 previously that he no longer considered himself an NC State commit last week, Tamarcus Cooley made his flip official and signed his letter of intent with Maryland Wednesday morning. He originally committed to the Wolfpack in July.
Maryland’s website included the three-star defensive back in their class of 2023 signees. Cooley took a visit to College Park in December and then named the Terrapins the new leaders in his recruitment.
“Nah, not really,” Cooley told On3 last week when asked if he still considers himself committed to the Wolfpack.
Cooley also shared that he visited Maryland recently and left impressed by the coaching staff.
“Maryland’s my number one right now,” Cooley said.
“I fell in love with Coach [Mike Locksley], the players, the campus. Really everything. It’s just perfect.”
He is NC State’s third decommit of the 2023 class after three-star offensive tackle Charlie Symonds ended up signing with Stanford and three-star running back Kyron Jones reopened his recruitment. The latter is trending heavily towards Georgia.
Four-star Hickory (NC) High edge rusher Rico Walker signed with the Terrapins Wednesday, which was another advantage for Maryland. The overall culture of the Maryland program stands out to Cooley.
“They’re real,” he said said. “They don’t shoot you know BS. We’ve got Rico [Walker], he committed there. So there’s a lot of good ’23 guys that’s coming up.”
Cooley, a 6-1, 185 pound athlete, is the On3 Consensus No. 27 recruit in North Carolina, the No. 87 safety and the No. 945 prospect in the nation. Prior to his NC State commitment on July 4, he took official visits to see the Wolfpack, UNC, Ole Miss and Minnesota.
NC State’s recruiting class now holds 17 high school commits and ranks No. 38 in the nation and No. 6 in the ACC. The Wolfpack also has 3 transfer portal prospects committed right now. As the flip rumors started to swirl around Cooley, NC State hosted three-star athlete and former Cincinnati commit Rohan Davy on an official visit.
Davy, an Under Armour All-American as a safety, committed to NC State Tuesday. The 5-foot-9, 200-pound athlete at St. John’s in Washington, D.C., is rated by the On3 Consensus as the No. 78 athlete in the country and the No. 8 recruit in the District of Columbia region.
The Pack holds commitments from five other defensive backs— four-star cornerback Brandon Cisse, four-star safety Daemon Fagan, three-star safety Zack Myers and three-star cornerback Terrente Hinton. Davy could also play linebacker at the next level, which means he would join a class of three-star prospects Kelvon McBride and Kamal Bonner, who both committed to the program in the past month.
NC State’s 2023 signing day is almost complete, as Fagan is the only commit who has not signed yet.
