There's a 2023 player that Tennessee should already be thinking about trying to land in transfer portal next year
There's a 2023 recruit who has already signed with USC that the Tennessee Vols should be thinking about landing in the transfer portal next offseason. 2023 five-star wide receiver Zachariah Branch, the No. 1 wide receiver in the 2023 recruiting class, signed with the Trojans last month. But that doesn't mean he'll finish his career […]
There's a 2023 recruit who has already signed with USC that the Tennessee Vols should be thinking about landing in the transfer portal next offseason.
2023 five-star wide receiver Zachariah Branch, the No. 1 wide receiver in the 2023 recruiting class, signed with the Trojans last month.
But that doesn't mean he'll finish his career in Los Angeles.
Branch is a big play waiting to happen. In fact, Rivals.com's Woody Wommack compared him to NFL superstar Tyreek Hill this week.
Branch is one of the most dynamic players I've seen during my time at Rivals and he showed it once again during the week of practice and in the game on Friday night. I'm not the first to compare Branch to Tyreek Hill in terms of their on-field skillsets and he during the game he had a nice touchdown catch that made it look like he was toying with opposing defenders. Branch will be fun to watching catching passes from Caleb Williams next year at USC.
That sounds like a player that was born to play in Josh Heupel's offense at Tennessee.
Brach will play with quarterback Caleb Williams, this season's Heisman Trophy winner, at USC in 2023. Williams, however, will likely be heading to the NFL after next season. I'm sure the Trojans will have another stud quarterback ready to go, but his best option could be to transfer to UT and play with Nico Iamaleava in 2024.
Nico will almost certainly be the Vols' starting quarterback in 2024. And he already has a relationship and connection with Branch, as they showed this week at the Polynesian Bowl in Hawaii.
Branch also has another unique connection to Tennessee. He played at Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas, the same high school as Vols wide receiver Cedric Tillman.
Just because a player signs with another program, doesn't mean much these days. Because of the transfer portal, it's basically like every player is on a one-year contract.
The Vols will need to replace wide receivers Bru McCoy and Ramel Keyton after next season. And possibly Dont'e Thornton, too (depending on how big an impact he makes in 2023). Tennessee has some talent already on the roster, but they've shown under Heupel that they'll take a look at available options in the portal.
And Branch is obviously the type of player that any program would love to have.
Who knows if this will be a scenario that will be plausible for Tennessee. Predicting what a 19/20-year-old kid will do usually isn't wise. But I think it's a scenario that the Vols should at least be thinking about as they start to iron out how their roster will look in the coming seasons.
Featured image via Caitie McMekin/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK
