LSU Adds 16th Portal Player In No. 2 Safety Tamarcus Cooley Of North Carolina State

GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor

Call it a Kelly’s Dozen.

After originally saying he would acquire 12 players from the NCAA Transfer Portal, LSU football coach Brian Kelly added his 16th on Monday with North Carolina State redshirt freshman Tamarcus Cooley.

Cooley (6-foot-1, 185 pounds) is ranked as the No. 71 overall transfer and No. 2 safety by On3.com. He intercepted three passes, recovered two fumbles, broke up nine passes and made 30 tackles for the Wolfpack (6-7, 3-5 ACC) last season. The three-star prep prospect from Rolesville High in Rolesville, North Carolina, also visited Ole Miss and Kentucky recently before choosing LSU.

He played at Maryland in only two games in 2023 before redshirting, then entering the portal. He is LSU’s second portal addition since Saturday.

LSU TRANSFER PORTAL ADDITIONS (16) WITH 247SPORTS.COM RANKINGS AND FORMER SCHOOL

-No. 2 Overall and No. 1 Edge Patrick Payton, Florida State.

-No. 10 Overall and No. 5 WR Nic Anderson, Oklahoma.

-No. 18 Overall and No. 8 WR-RET Barion Brown, Kentucky.

-No. 36 Overall and No. 2 CB Mansoor Delane, Virginia Tech.

-No. 43 Overall and No. 6 DE Jake Pyburn, Florida.

-No. 53 Overall and No. 4 Interior OL Braelin Moore, Virginia Tech.

-No. 66 Overall and No. 6 Interior OL Josh Thompson, Northwestern.

-No. 71 Overall and No. 8 CB Ja’Keem Jackson, Florida.

-No. 71 Overall and No. 2 S Tamarcus Cooley, North Carolina State*

-No. 92 Overall and No. 13 QB Michael Van Buren, Mississippi State.

-No. 125 Overall and No. 14 DE Jimari Butler, Nebraska.

-No. 128 Overall and No. 8 TE Bauer Sharp, Oklahoma.

-No. 307 Overall and No. 25 DT Sydir Mitchell, Texas.

-Unranked WR Destyn Hill, Florida State.

-Unranked P Grant Chadwick, Middle Tennessee State.

-Unranked TE Donovan Green, Texas A&M.

*Ranked by On3.com