Tamarcus Cooley: "I Took Advantage Of My Opportunity"

NC State nickel Tamarcus Cooley met with the media to discuss his development, facing Wake Forest, and much more.

NOTE: Click the video above to watch the interview.

On playing more on Saturday...
I've been waiting for a minute, so I took advantage of my opportunity. 

You're playing for your home city school. What does it mean for you to suit up in the Wolfpack red and represent Raleigh when you take the field? 
It means a lot, man. Playing in front of my sisters and my mama, so just having them in my game, that means a lot to me, that makes me play harder. 

Do you have a lot of family at the game Saturday night? 
Not really, I just only get four tickets. I just give them to my mom, my sister and my little brother. But hopefully, my family will start buying tickets when they can.

What brought you back home? Why did you wanna come back? 
It's home. So eventually, I would have to come back. I wanted to come back because it's where I belong. 

What was last week like for you in practice? Coach Doeren, do you wanna talk about positions you were open to go and fight for them? What was that like to be able to?
Yeah, I just had a good practice, man. Yeah. 

There's a group of you that started somewhere and then have come back. Feels like there's a lot of folks like that on this NC State roster. Do any of you talk about that, about just kinda what led you away and then what brought you back to Raleigh?   
Me and Noah, we went to the same high school, so we were kinda best friends. Me and Noah used to talk about it, but now we don't really talk about it as much. It'll come up once in a while, but not as much.

When you do have those conversations, what are they like? 
It's really just laughing because why do we leave? We question, why do we leave? 

I mean, was there a sense when you were in high school and getting recruited, I'm gonna go away from home and make a name for myself or something like that? 
Yeah, I thought that, but it didn't go as planned. 

You guys are in game prep for Wake Forest. Just what are your thoughts on the Demon Deacons and what you're facing? 
They're pretty good, but they're not better than a Wolfpack, so.

What's it been like playing with DK at safety? He seems like he's been able to cause a lot of big plays. 
DK is like a big bro, so he's a good person on the field, he's a great person off the field. Just playing with him makes you better off the field. 

What does he do off the field to help you? 
He loves film, DK, he's taking us out to eat, he's a great person. 

I'm sure you'll think more about it during Georgia Tech week, but how much of an influence has your brother been? 
I'm sorry? 

How much of an influence has your brother been? 
I don't want to talk about that... we play him soon, so. I'm leaving with him until we beat him, so. Yeah, I don't want to talk to my brother like that. Nah, I'm just playing, we talk every day. When that week comes, we'll talk, we'll block him.