Zach Branch Has a Lot More to Show

‘I just love the energy.’ Electric Zachariah Branch brings infectious optimism to USC

Thuc Nhi Nguyen (LA Times —   Everyone focuses on the speed. Brent Browner watches Zachariah Branch for the opposite.

“When he starts slowing down,” Branch’s head coach at Las Vegas powerhouse Bishop Gorman said, “something’s going to happen.”

Combining patience, vision and yes, breakneck speed, Branch opened USC’s season with an electric, two-touchdown performance that had the freshman receiver turning heads and taking ankles.

Southern California wide receiver Zachariah Branch (1) runs toward the end zone.

Branch racked up 232 all-purpose yards, tied for the team lead with four receptions for 58 yards and one touchdown and scored off a 96-yard kickoff return. The Las Vegas native began the special teams highlight by slowing to a near stop while surveying the coverage, then accelerating into a cardinal and gold blur straight up the field. An aggressive cut toward the sideline left one opponent falling to the ground while grasping helplessly at Branch’s ankles. USC rush end Jamil Muhammad, who was blocking on the play, excitedly turned his head around to watch when his opponent realized there was no one who could catch Branch.

Yet even after getting burned by Branch once, San José State punted the ball back to him on the next drive. Fans at the Coliseum gasped when he shook another would-be tackler and wiggled upfield for 19 yards.

“I’m surprised anybody ever kicks him the ball,” Browner said with a hearty laugh. “I would never ever, ever, ever, ever, ever kick him the ball.”

USC Trojans wide receiver Zachariah Branch runs past the San José State players on the ground stretching out their arms

Zachariah Branch eludes San José State players after hauling in a pass Saturday at the Coliseum.  (Louis Lopez/AP)

Browner has already seen too many teams try and fail. Even when opponents hope to avoid disaster by forcing Branch to field a kick on a bounce, the former five-star prospect is dangerous.

The 93-yd punt return Branch took back for a touchdown in the 2021 state semifinal game between the top-ranked Gaels and second-ranked Liberty remains Branch’s top play in Browner’s mind. The receiver collected the punt off a high bounce, dipped his right shoulder and cut back to his left, leaving the first man toppling to the field. He outran Liberty’s coverage team to the sideline. One defender tripped and did a somersault. Another slipped and ended flat on his back.

As he ran into the end zone on the punt return, Branch blew a kiss toward the crowd.

With that play still fresh in Browner’s mind two years later, watching Branch approach the corner of the end zone with his arms outstretched soaking up the cheers from fans felt familiar to his former coach. The receiver has long been making the exceptional look routine, even when fans aren’t there to shower him with praise.

“We watched him for four straight years play, but also we watched him practice,” Browner said. “The way that he practices and the work ethic, it was going to be just something that’s just going to happen for him at that level too.”

The 19-year-old adjusted quickly to college as he enrolled early for spring practice. While he was susceptible to “freshman struggles,” as USC head coach Lincoln Riley said, Branch still wowed teammates with his competitiveness in practice. Even at 5-foot-10, 175 pounds, he made outjumping and wrestling the ball away from defenders into a routine.

Then there was the speed.

USC receiver Zachariah Branch holds onto the ball while crashing to the turf.

Zachariah Branch holds onto the ball while crashing to the turf during the Trojans’ win over San José State on Saturday at the Coliseum. (Keith Birmingham/Pasadena Star-News via Getty Images)

It runs in the family as Zachariah and his older brother Zion, a redshirt freshman safety at USC, are great nephews of former Oakland Raiders wide receiver and Pro Football Hall of Famer Cliff Branch. Their father Shéva Branch played fullback at San José State and is now a strength, agility and speed coach. Zachariah said after Saturday’s game that he clocked a 4.38-second 40-yard dash at an Under Armour camp as a senior. His 100-meter time of 10.33 seconds is still the Bishop Gorman record after he set it as a sophomore.

LOS ANGELES, CA - APRIL 15: Wide receiver Zachariah Branch #1 of the USC Trojans warms up.

Next to Branch on the dais after the game, linebacker Mason Cobb’s eyebrows shot up at the mention of the blazing track time.

“You don’t have to put [his speed] into words once you’re seeing it every day,” senior receiver Tahj Washington said with a shrug.

For several seasons in high school, the only person who could guard Zachariah in practice was Zion, Browner said. When Zion graduated, the one-on-one reps with Power 5-bound defensive backs Kodi Decambra (Oregon), Justyn Rhett (Georgia) and Jeremiah Hughs (Louisiana State) got so heated that onlookers would think that the teammates didn’t like each other at all.

Off the field, they were all best of friends.

“You have to be able to turn that switch on for practice,” Browner said. “It’s easy to have that for a game, it’s easy when you have all that crowd stuff, but at practice, nobody’s there but you and the other person. So if you can flip that switch for practice and you can practice at that level, you can make it.”

Fans may gawk at Branch’s highlight reels. The Pac-12 Networks cut together a special edition dedicated to his plays against San José State one day after the game. But “you haven’t seen anything close to what he’s able to do based on what we watched him do in practice,” Browner said.

Zach is like that for real,” Muhammad said. “It’s exciting watching him. … It’s going to be wild to see him grow and continue to get better, because he’s definitely going to get better.”

Although he’s a fierce competitor, Branch is “a whole different dude off the field,” Browner said. Teammates at USC love him for his ever-present smile and easy-going nature. Even after the breakout performance, Muhammad predicted Branch would likely just go home and play some video games. He’s been playing “FIFA” for a few months and it inspired the Cristiano Ronaldo celebration that marked his first touchdown.

Receivers Dorian Singer and Zachariah Branch jump in the air while celebrating Singer's touchdown against San José State

Dorian Singer (15) and Zachariah Branch leap in the air to celebrate Singer’s TD against San José State Saturday in the Coliseum. (Jae C. Hong/AP)

Branch’s light personality lifts the spirits of even grizzled veterans like senior offensive lineman Justin Dedich, who can’t help but soften when he hears Branch approaching to ask, “Dee-dee, you good?”

“I just love the energy every day, it brings a smile to my face,” the team captain said. “That’s just one of those things. It just shows on the field. It correlates, just his positive energy, his positive attitude and he plays like a beast.”

Teammates have debated for months whom Branch most resembles. Muhammad likens him to former Oregon star De’Anthony Thomas. Others think of Branch like a young Tavon Austin, the two-time All-American at West Virginia.

To the lofty comparisons, Branch just responds with a nonchalant laugh. He’s got more to show.

latimes.com

________

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HOF19
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August 30, 2023 3:12 pm

I wish we where playing say >>>>> Illinois ….. Duke ….. Boise ST ( All listed today as “also got votes” on the bottom of the current AP Top 25 ) instead of Nevada .

HOF19
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August 30, 2023 3:30 pm
Reply to  Allen Wallace

Allen I want to analyze the 2023 USC Team ….. Do not know how much ACCURATE analyzation I can do when we play a team like Nevada (Apologies to Nevada ) .

Golden Trojan
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August 30, 2023 5:24 pm
Reply to  Allen Wallace

This is “Cupcake Saturday”, FBS playing FCS;

Oregon – Portland St
Geo. St – Rhode Isl
Missouri – S Dakota
Tulsa – Ark Pine Bluff
UAB – Tenn A&T
Ariz. St – S. Utah

Golden Trojan
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August 30, 2023 5:30 pm
Reply to  Golden Trojan

I go on;
E. Mich – Howard
Ole Miss – Mercer
Notre Dame – Tenn St.
Georgia – Tenn. Martin
Kan. St – Southeast Missouri

ATL D.D.S.
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August 31, 2023 3:50 am
Reply to  Allen Wallace

I am glad SC is one of the few schools that has never played a Div 1-AA/FCS university in football. Having said that I can defend cupcake games form the cupcakes benefit. I can tell you via my son who played at Furman, that the FCS kids look forward to these 1-2 per year “paycheck games.” Furman’s experience I noted during my son’s career was that the injury rate was no higher than we played other Southern Conference schools. The athletic department of Furman greatly benefited financially from playing a D-1 school every season. When I look back on my… Read more »

Golden Trojan
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August 30, 2023 2:09 pm

Per Saturday Out West per Trojans Live: “Lincoln Riley expects lighter rotation for USC against Nevada” Against SJSU, Lincoln Riley and the coaching staff used 3 QBs, 12 wide receivers, 8 players had rushing attempts, 26 players on defense, for a total of 70 Trojans saw the field between offense, defense, and special teams. Riley acknowledged that the game may have been cleaner had they not rotated the lineup the way they did. “You’re also setting up for a long run here. This is a long season. You’re gonna need a lot of these guys,” Riley said. “We’ve got to… Read more »

Golden Trojan
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August 30, 2023 2:10 pm
Reply to  Golden Trojan

I think we will all feel better after this next game.

TrojanMPA90
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August 30, 2023 2:10 pm
Reply to  Allen Wallace

Utah will still win without him since it is in SLC.

BUS83
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August 30, 2023 4:32 pm
Reply to  TrojanMPA90

The big question is how long is Rising out? Then when he comes back, will he be as effective? I hope we see him on Oct. 21.

RialtoTrojan
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August 30, 2023 11:49 am

I just read an article about Domani Jackson working to get back up to speed. He is still recovering from a knee injury from a couple of years ago. I mention this because the article (SCNG) had a different feel. It wasn’t written by Adam Grosbard, who apparently has moved to the beat writing spot for the Rams.
Why am I always the last to know these things?

RialtoTrojan
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August 30, 2023 11:53 am
Reply to  Allen Wallace

I hope it’s just another Helton thing, where improvements never happened because Helton didn’t see the need. But I am ready to promote Grinch to the special teams guru (because it seems Riley wants him around) and find a defensive coordinator who knows defense.

Steveg
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August 30, 2023 1:19 pm
Reply to  RialtoTrojan

They have a good defensive coach on staff as an analyst. Wonder what he is thinking.

Rock2112
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August 30, 2023 5:01 pm
Reply to  RialtoTrojan

I just don’t understand everybody making their judgments about whether we have defensively improved based upon that first game. We were never really going to get that answer in a game like that. I guess if we had blanked SJS, we would feel that way, but what if we’d done that with the same level of rotation — then we wouldn’t have learned ANYTHING about what our defense needs to do to get ready for our tougher opponents. This first game was a good thing. We won. We got a lot of film on a lot of players. We stirred… Read more »

Rock2112
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August 30, 2023 6:02 pm
Reply to  Allen Wallace

I just can’t agree Allen. It’s not the game that hurts our recruiting, it is our whiny fan base treating a Game 1 — that saw 70 different players take the field — like something that defines who we are and who we would be if we played ND tomorrow. Recruits read the message boards. So overblowing a game like this — that obviously wasn’t coached with a central goal of blowing out an inferior opponent — is what does the damage. We may NOT be fine this season under Grinch. Grinch may turn out to be every bit the… Read more »

Golden Trojan
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August 30, 2023 10:48 am
Reply to  Allen Wallace

Any dollar values on these guys? My Duck fan brother was curious. I remember Nelson had a million dollar deal and a new Mercedes while still in high school.

Golden Trojan
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August 30, 2023 12:51 pm
Reply to  Golden Trojan

I’ll answer my own question.
#1. Bronny James $6.1 million
#2. Livvy Dunne $3.2 million
#3. Arch Manning $2.9 million
#4. Caleb Williams $2.6 million
#5. Bo Nix $1.7 million
#33. Malachi Nelson $865 K
#60. Zachariah Branch $673 K
#74. Isaiah Collier $594 K

Golden Trojan
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August 30, 2023 10:50 am
Reply to  Allen Wallace

How are these rated? By dollars? If so how much? Notice 4 Texas schools and no Alabama. Phil Knight/Nike pouring it in.

Golden Trojan
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August 30, 2023 10:56 am
Reply to  Golden Trojan

Who’s BBB?

Golden Trojan
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August 30, 2023 12:53 pm
Reply to  Allen Wallace

These guys list USC as the 3rd best O Line and 10th best D Line.

Golden Trojan
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August 30, 2023 1:52 pm
Reply to  Allen Wallace

👍

volunteerTrojan
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August 30, 2023 2:32 pm
Reply to  Allen Wallace

No wonder Nick Saban and Jim Harbaugh are trying to get revenue sharing going, they have fallen behind in the NIL race.

volunteerTrojan
Major Genius
August 30, 2023 4:26 pm
Reply to  Allen Wallace

Nope. The average tenure for coaches following Bear Bryant until Saban was about 3 years. And the previous 4 had even shorter tenures. Following a legend is a losing proposition.

volunteerTrojan
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August 30, 2023 7:47 pm
Reply to  Allen Wallace

I actually kind of like Kiffin due to his willingness to coach under tough conditions. Yes, he was a bit immature, but all in all, we could have done a lot worse, which is exactly what we did after his tarmacking. I like his brashness. I thought he was a great hire for TN and he sure shook up the other coaches in that league with his talk and backing it up with some near wins in his first and only year. Anybody who comes in and stirs things up with Saban and Meyer in that conference has some moxie.… Read more »

USC1988
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August 30, 2023 8:23 pm

Kiffy’s been around now for what 15 years … and when not mooching off someone else talent, hasn’t won a thing. Him and Suck are the biggest frauds in coaching. The two idiots will get fired AGAIN shortly.

volunteerTrojan
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August 30, 2023 8:30 pm
Reply to  USC1988

That’s ok by me, he has high entertainment value. Nice to have an occasional colorful character out there…there sure are enough stuffy shirts that do nothing but spew coach speak, who haven’t won anything either.

Now that Coach Leach is no longer holding his pirate courts, it’s nice to still have a few others out there.

TrojanRon
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August 31, 2023 5:50 am
Reply to  Allen Wallace

Haden was truly inexperienced and woeful. So was Swann. I’ll never forget what Haden did at a Stanford game in Palo Alto when Cutty Sark was SC’s HC. There was a horrible call by a ref against SC, so Haden ran down from the pressbox and on to the sidelines of the field to argue with the referee. As a two-time SC Alum who was a student at USC when Haden was the QB, I was appalled and embarrassed. I felt bad for Sark as he just stood there and let his boss rant. Haden also set up a phony… Read more »

USC1988
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August 31, 2023 9:05 pm
Reply to  TrojanRon

stupid fat lazy Suckisian actually called papa Pat from the sideline … that Suckisian hire may go down as the worst hire ever

USC1988
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August 31, 2023 9:07 pm
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Piece of work is right … been fired how many times now, 4 times. With another one coming. The creep is a cancer.

USC1988
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August 31, 2023 9:01 pm

Nothing colorful about a cocky entitled creep that tried to be Mr.Big time coach, failed miserably … so started to act like a teenager on social media to get his attention.
Nothing entertaining about that F ing loser.

USC1988
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August 31, 2023 9:10 pm
Reply to  Allen Wallace

Kiffy did us no favors … taking his ‘dream job’ Once the last of Pete’s studs left. Goatboy fell flat on his face.

ATL D.D.S.
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August 30, 2023 10:21 am
Reply to  Allen Wallace

Oh, praise sweet Jesus. May the words “on the PAC-12 Network” and “USC” never be mentioned ever again! F U Larry Scott.

ATL D.D.S.
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August 30, 2023 10:22 am
Reply to  ATL D.D.S.

Edit tool still not working

Steveg
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August 30, 2023 1:27 pm
Reply to  ATL D.D.S.

I second that. I get the thing about posting comments to fast when I have only made one and need to edit it.

Golden Trojan
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August 30, 2023 10:47 am
Reply to  Allen Wallace

I have always had the Pac12 Network. The reason I still have Dish Network is to have access to all of the networks USC might end up on. The Pac12 Network broadcasts were good. There were/are 2 annoying things though. First was when they schedule games every 3 hours and of course the next game coverage didn’t start till the 2nd quarter. The other is the extremely late starts even on the west coast. I have the BIG Network on Dish and hoping scheduling and start times will get better.

Steveg
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August 30, 2023 1:25 pm
Reply to  Golden Trojan

Me also Golden, and I think the B1G pretty much has it all dialed in for good game broadcasts.

Steveg
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August 30, 2023 1:24 pm
Reply to  Allen Wallace

Alway great to stream in the Trojan pregame show.

TrojanRJJ
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August 30, 2023 7:43 am

I found several interesting notes from practices this week. First, Rayleek Brown has been placed on the scout team. First step to the transfer portal. LR said it was a coaches decision. Kid cannot play RB at elite D1 (or in the pros). Cannot block and cannot break tackles. The two true frosh RBs are both significant better RBs. And, he is not going to get much PT at slot this year. Not with the arrival of Zech Branch. Kid thought he was going to be the next Reggie. Did not work out. Second, when the media watched, Gentry was… Read more »

Trojan96
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August 29, 2023 10:09 pm

The good news is we have a couple more warmup games to figure out the starters. I’m excited for this season. I can’t remember when we were this deep with offensive weapons. And the defense personnel has definitely improved. Grinch needs to simplify the coverage and stop being so cute and aggressive. He has the players that can make plays. He needs to keep it simple and let them loose.

Steveg
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August 30, 2023 1:22 pm
Reply to  Allen Wallace

Hey Allen, I wonder if he has figured it out yet or if he is planning more schemes for the next game. Just what we need.

RialtoTrojan
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August 29, 2023 7:55 pm

Does Branch go both ways? He might be able to cover a receiver without hanging on to a jersey. Who teaches jersey grabbing? I am asking for a friend

Chris
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August 29, 2023 8:11 pm
Reply to  RialtoTrojan

The answer is every single DB coach in college and NFL teaches to put your hands on the receiver. You have to get your head around toward football and feel receiver at same time. You also force small spaces by riding receivers toward sidelines with a hand on a hip. Sometimes DB’s get an accidental hold of a Jersey, arm, or hand. Sometimes they get beat and do it on purpose.

RialtoTrojan
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August 30, 2023 11:37 am
Reply to  Chris

I’m talking about the DB being a full step or more behind and the jersey being stretched between them. (Besides my usual silly comment)

ATL D.D.S.
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August 29, 2023 6:57 pm

Please, let’s get our defense at least serviceable so we can enjoy how this team can score points. Can we accept 7 points a quarter? After the SJS game, I think our O-line will be more of a work in progress than I thought it would. Therefore, I think we need to keep opposing teams down around 21 points a game. Or we will not be at 12-0 or 11-1 at season’s end….

Trojan96
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August 29, 2023 10:01 pm
Reply to  Allen Wallace

It’s hard to really judge the OLine with the heavy rotation happening. I think the OLine will be fine so long as our center stays healthy.

Steveg
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August 29, 2023 10:01 pm
Reply to  ATL D.D.S.

Lets wait and see who the #1 O line is and how they do. Kind of the same for the defense, lets see who wins out the starting jobs.

ATL D.D.S.
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August 30, 2023 6:02 am
Reply to  Steveg

Allen, T96 and Steveg; thanks for talking me off the ledge. It isn’t even September yet….

TrojanRJJ
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August 30, 2023 7:46 am
Reply to  Allen Wallace

I have decided to ignore him. My take right now is SC will never realistically be dominant on D with him as DC, no matter the personnel. Simply the way it is. LR will figure it out. So, he made a bad call on bringing him back. LR has made so may good calls, I am delighted to see where SC football is at.

TrojanRJJ
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August 30, 2023 7:49 am
Reply to  ATL D.D.S.

ATL, We cannot change it. Let’s enjoy this team for the special team that it is. Grinch is NOT an elite collegiate DC. He simply is not. LR will figure that out and move on. Until then, the O will have to win games and hope the D makes a couple of stops a game.