'Football junkie' Brandon Cisse emerges as key piece in South Carolina secondary this spring
South Carolina may not have an official depth chart yet, but it’s a safe bet that transfer defensive back Brandon Cisse would be somewhere in the two-deep.
The former North Carolina State standout and Sumter, S.C. native joined the Gamecocks program in January as one of the school’s highest-ranked transfers and immediately put together a strong winter workout season and spring practice.
Head coach Shane Beamer praised Cisse at the end of the spring for the mindset he brought to the room when he transferred in.
“He’s just a really good football player,” Beamer said. “He loves the game. He’s a football junkie. He really is. He just loves the game. And I’m always getting text messages from him about the best DBs I’ve been around, or tell me about this DB that you coached, what made him great. Or I’ll get a text message early in the morning that he’s watching some NFL DB and asking questions about him.
“He just loves the game, and he’s passionate about being great.”
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Cisse, ranked the No. 9 cornerback in the transfer portal by On3, spent the last two seasons at N.C. State, playing in 22 games during that span and taking over as a starter last season.
In nine games played last year, the 6-foot, 182-pounder collected 28 tackles with five pass breakups.
In addition to his mindset, Cisse also brings versatility to the Carolina roster. While he primarily played cornerback this spring with Jalon Kilgore still manning the nickelback spot, Cisse’s experience and skillset allows the staff to potentially move him around.
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“The addition of Brandon Cisse kind of gives a little bit more versatility, because he played nickel up the road. And then he’s obviously showing us that he can do it here,” defensive coordinator Clayton White said. “That really does help us. And I think some other guys are just emerging as players, guys who are now playing safety that played nickel before.
“So obviously that’s the main position that gives you flexibility, and how you want to rotate. Do you want to have a cover nickel? Do you want to have a big nickel, like Kilgore, who can really do all of that stuff? But it’s nice to have other guys that we can play with.”
Regardless of the position he’s at, it seems Cisse is trending towards being on the field a lot for the Gamecocks in 2025.
“He can run; he’s one of the fastest players on our team,” Beamer said. “He’s really attacked the weight room and gotten stronger in his time here. He’s got position flexibility right now; he’s a corner, but he could play nickel if we needed him to. He’s got a burst, he’s physical, he’s good on special teams. He’s just a mature guy. He’s kind of got a pro mentality in everything that he does.”
