Brandon Cisse is a cornerback and 2026 NFL Draft prospect who played his final season at South Carolina after two seasons at North Carolina State. A native of Sumter, South Carolina, Cisse was a three-star recruit in the 2023 class who chose NC State over Group of Five programs, then transferred to South Carolina as one of the top-rated corners in the portal that cycle. He appeared in all 13 games as a true freshman at NC State in 2023, collecting 10 tackles and an interception that sealed a win over Miami while primarily playing in the Wolfpack's dime package. In 2024 he started nine of 10 games played for the Wolfpack, recording 28 tackles and five pass breakups before entering the transfer portal. His lone season in Columbia was a breakout, as he started all 12 games for the Gamecocks, logged 27 tackles, five pass breakups, one interception and a forced fumble, and allowed just 18 completions on 38 targets while earning Newcomer of the Spring honors. He totaled 65 tackles and two interceptions across 34 career games before declaring for the draft.
Measured at 6-foot and 189 pounds with elite athleticism, Cisse is one of the most physically gifted cornerbacks in the 2026 class with his acceleration, hip fluidity and vertical speed drawing comparisons to some of the best cover men in recent draft cycles. He operates with a smooth, effortless technique that allows him to mirror receivers off the line and stay in phase at all three levels of the route. His closing burst to the catch point is genuine, and he attacks the football with the aggression of a former wide receiver. He allowed just a 47.4 completion percentage in his SEC season, showcasing the ability to change games against high-level competition. The concerns center on his slender 189-pound frame, which can be exploited by larger receivers in contested catch situations, underdeveloped zone awareness that limits him to man-coverage packages, tackling reliability in open space, and limited starting experience at only one full year as a starter. Most evaluations project him as a late first-round or early second-round selection with a long runway for development and genuine CB1 upside as his technique and functional strength mature at the NFL level.
