Stanford receiver Ismael Cisse excited to show the world what he can do

Dylan Grausz | Sep 5, 2024

Aug 30, 2024; Stanford, California, USA; Stanford Cardinal wide receiver Ismael Cisse (84) celebrates after scoring a touchdown during the second quarter against the TCU Horned Frogs at Stanford Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Sergio Estrada-Imagn Images / Sergio Estrada-Imagn Images

It is a new era of Stanford football and while a very similar roster from last season has returned to take the field and help guide the Cardinal through their first season in the ACC, some players will look to take on bigger roles and cement their place as big-time playmakers. One of those players, Ismael Cisse, returns from last year but after getting limited playing time as a true freshman, he is ready to be a big part of the offense this season.

Playing in only two games in 2023 and getting only one target that came in the final game of the campaign, Cisse’s strong camp earned him a spot as one of the team’s slot receivers, sharing starting duties with Tiger Bachmeier. In his first game as a regular member of the squad in week one, he caught his first career touchdown.

“Coach Taylor called a good play on the goal line [and] we knew we had to convert going against a good team,” Cisse said. “So we know that we gotta take advantage of our opportunities that we get on offense so he called a good play, I saw the way the defense was lined up, ran my route and J-Lam [Justin Lamson] threw a great ball for the touchdown.”

Originally coming from Denver, Colorado, Cisse played high school football at Cherry Creek High, where he was coached by former NFL player Dave Logan and won four straight state championships. In getting to play for such a successful high school program as a prep athlete, Cisse was able to learn a lot of lessons that have helped him as he has navigated the transition into becoming a college football player.

“What I took from there is really just being competitive and knowing what it takes to go long durations during the season,” Cisse said. “In college, it might be a little longer but, just knowing what it takes to go through a whole season, playoffs and championships, the competitive aspect and the mentality and hunger to know that we can be beat so don’t go and underestimate anybody, but be the best that you could be and don’t play down to anybody’s level.”

Despite being unable to see the same success so far during his early days at Stanford, Cisse sees the talent that is flooded within the team and while he acknowledges the struggles, he is extremely confident with where the Cardinal are at and sees nothing but positive improvements in store for the rest of the season.

“This year, we’re definitely better than we were last year,” Cisse said. “We’re more competitive, we want it more and we’re more hungry. So again, we might not have had a good season last year, but it was the first game we just had against TCU, you could see the growth and that was when we felt as a team we didn’t have our best game. So stay tuned for the rest of the season, we’re gonna definitely wake people up.”

Cisse is one of many talented receivers on the Cardinal’s roster, including Bachmeier, Elic Ayomanor, Jackson Harris and Emmett Mosley and while he may have to share catches with those guys, he is grateful to be in the same receiver room as all those other guys, alluding to the fact that because Stanford has so much talent at the receiver position, it makes his job a lot less stressful.

“Definitely makes it easier,” Cisse said. “When you have one good guy on the field, if you have a good corner you could guard him, but when you have six or seven like we do in our receiver room, when you have that many good guys on the field, you can’t guard everybody. I don’t believe that [teams] have the four best corners in the country that can guard any four of our receivers that are out there, including our tight end, so it definitely brings more confidence to us and less worry because we know that if one person is not eating, then the next person will be eating. It’s not relying on one person to make plays, we know everybody can make plays and teams are gonna have to respect that.”