How speedster Zachariah Branch made a fast impression at Georgia

NEW ORLEANS -- Georgia coach Kirby Smart wouldn't give his son, Andrew, credit for discovering receiver Zachariah Branch.

But Smart did acknowledge the then-12-year-old made sure Branch was on the Bulldogs' radar once the former USC receiver and his brother, Zion, entered the transfer portal in December 2024.

"He made me aware of him," Smart said. "He definitely didn't discover him, but he made me aware. He would bring the video to me and be like: 'Look at this guy, Dad. Look at this guy's punt return. Are we going to get this guy?'"

Zachariah Branch was Georgia's top priority in the transfer portal following the 2024 season, and he's a big reason why the No. 3 Bulldogs find themselves in the College Football Playoff for the fourth time in the past five years.

Heading into Thursday's CFP quarterfinal against No. 6 Ole Miss in the Allstate Sugar Bowl (8 p.m. ET, ESPN), Branch leads the SEC with 73 catches to go with 744 receiving yards and five touchdowns.

"Probably the thing that impressed me the most is his love for the game," Smart said. "I wouldn't say that I didn't think he had it, but some guys that are so highly touted, they don't really buy into the culture and the work ethic that we have. He's never flinched."

Once Georgia's coaches got to know the Branch brothers' parents, Shva and Renee, they began to understand why Zachariah and Zion, a safety, are wired the way they are.

"I love their parents," Georgia receivers coach James Coley said. "They're old school. If you don't do it right, it's push-ups and do it again. They're built the right way. What goes on back home, it's not typical. It's not, 'Why won't they give you a shot?' It's more like, 'Why aren't you doing better?'"

In the mid-1990s, Shva Branch played fullback at San Jos State, which is where he met his future wife. The family moved from California to Las Vegas when Zachariah and Zion were toddlers. Zion is about 17 months older than Zachariah.

Shva Branch became a strength and agility coach and worked out his sons once they were old enough. They were home-schooled in middle school to help them get stronger and faster.

"We used to get up at 5 a.m. and go to the gym at 6 a.m. every day just to get a workout in with my dad," Zachariah said. "I pretty much did two workouts every day: lift in the morning, rest, do my school online, and then I'd go to my track practice or football practice at the end of the day."

Branch's parents also made sure their sons were goal-oriented. Shva and Renee Branch created vision boards when the boys were young and painted their bedroom walls with chalk paint, so Zachariah and Zion could record their goals for the day, week, season -- and beyond.

Zachariah's goals were lofty: be ranked the No. 1 high school receiver in the country, a three-year starter in college, win a national championship, become a first-round pick in the NFL draft and join his great-uncle, former Raiders receiver Cliff Branch, in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

For a while, Zachariah wanted to run in the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. He had been timed at 10.33 seconds in the 100 meters and 4.4 in the 40-yard dash. Those times made him the second-fastest member in his extended family -- Cliff Branch ran the 100 meters in 10 seconds at an NCAA meet in 1972 while at Colorado. He died in 2019 at age 71.

"He was a fun person to be around, very motivational," Zachariah said. "He told us to keep our heads straight, giving us tips on how to approach certain things, along with my dad. He'd tell us certain things that we needed to do in order to get what we want. He won three Super Bowls, so he did everything we want to do."

In 2019, Zachariah became the first freshman to start at Bishop Gorman High in Las Vegas. As a senior, he was ranked the No. 1 receiver in the country and the top prospect in Nevada by ESPN Recruiting.

By then, Zachariah had already committed to join Zion at USC. It didn't take him long to make an impact with the Trojans. In his first game, against his parents' alma mater, Zachariah caught a 25-yard touchdown pass from Caleb Williams and returned a kickoff 96 yards for a score. He had 232 all-purpose yards in the Trojans' 56-28 victory over the Spartans.

Zachariah scored four touchdowns in his first three games at USC, including a 75-yard punt return in a 56-10 rout of Stanford. With his electric speed and playmaking ability, he was being compared to former USC Heisman Trophy winner Reggie Bush.

By the end of Zachariah's second season at USC, however, he decided he needed a change of scenery to reach his full potential. He had 47 catches for 503 yards with one touchdown as a sophomore after having 31 catches as a freshman.

"It was just a lot of little things, man," Zachariah said. "It was a great program over there. There were a lot of things that made me make that decision, but I'm glad I'm where I'm at right now. We're about to be in the playoffs now, so I've never got a chance to do that at the collegiate level."

Once the Branch brothers went into the portal, Georgia worked quickly to get them on campus. Coley had recruited Zachariah in high school as Jimbo Fisher's co-offensive coordinator at Texas A&M. Georgia defensive backs coach Donte Williams coached at USC for four seasons, and player connection coordinator David Hill had been a high school coach in Las Vegas.

Along with Georgia, the Branch brothers visited Arizona State and Miami. They were also heavily recruited by Alabama and Tennessee.

While other programs tried to caution Zachariah about incoming Georgia quarterback Gunner Stockton's throwing ability, Branch saw something else while watching Stockton play in the second half of the Bulldogs' 22-19 victory against Texas in the 2024 SEC championship game.

In overtime, Texas safety Andrew Mukuba hit Stockton so hard near the goal line that his helmet popped off. Stockton jumped right up.

"Just seeing that and how he carries himself as a leader, to be able to step in in such a crucial moment of that game versus Texas, and then take over and win the game was something that I was like, 'OK, this guy's a true competitor and a true winner,'" Zachariah said.

After the Branch brothers signed with Georgia, Zachariah made a big first impression on Stockton, too.

"We're throwing routes or whatever," Stockton said. "I remember seeing him after he caught the ball and making a juke move. I'm like, 'Holy cow, how is anybody gonna tackle this guy?'"

Smart said what impressed him most was Zachariah's eagerness to learn.

"He wouldn't leave the building," Smart said. "He was there every day. He's like, 'I don't want to go to my apartment. I don't want to go home. I want to be up here. Is there anything I can watch? What can I learn? Can we work out again? Can we throw?' The guy has just been a football junkie.

"You have a perception of what you might get. I told him, 'I had no idea that you would love football, work as hard as you do, practice as hard as you do.' And I appreciate that about him."

Zachariah needs only four catches to break the Bulldogs' single-season record of 76, set by Brice Hunter in 1993. He averages 8.1 yards after catch per reception.

"There's some in games where he's made people miss in small spaces, but it happens all the time in practice," Georgia offensive coordinator Mike Bobo said. "Nobody ever really gets a clean shot on the guy."

Ole Miss coach Pete Golding described Branch as an extension of Georgia's running game.

"A lot of the smokes and the bubbles and the screen game and all that," Golding said. "[He's] really elusive in space. [They] still use him in the priority pass, working the one-on-one concepts. They're trying to get that on a safety or a backer, depending on the coverage you're in. [They] move him around a lot to create it, and that's something we've got to be aware of. He's a special player."