{"id":110561,"date":"2025-06-07T06:43:08","date_gmt":"2025-06-07T06:43:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/110561\/"},"modified":"2025-06-07T06:43:08","modified_gmt":"2025-06-07T06:43:08","slug":"why-one-georgia-receiver-is-poised-to-rise-as-nfl-draft-prospect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/110561\/","title":{"rendered":"Why one Georgia receiver is ‘poised to rise’ as NFL draft prospect"},"content":{"rendered":"

Georgia Bulldogs<\/a> wide receiver Zachariah Branch<\/a>, a former five-star recruit and USC Trojans<\/a> transfer, has immense potential. Branch has excellent speed and shiftiness, but he was not as productive as he would have liked during his sophomore season in 2024 at USC.<\/p>\n

Last year, Branch post 47 receptions for 503 yards and one touchdown. He was only USC’s third-leading receiver. He also recorded two carries for 17 rushing yards, 13 punt returns for 74 yards and five kickoff returns for 105 yards.<\/p>\n

Georgia<\/a> offensive coordinator Mike Bobo will look to get both Branch and versatile wide receiver Dillon Bell the ball in a multitude of different ways.<\/p>\n

USA TODAY’s Michael Middlehurst-Schwartz<\/a> names Branch as a 2026 NFL draft prospect that is poised to rise. Branch is one of just 10 players to make the list.<\/p>\n

“The 5-10, 180-pounder will be called on to provide some easy wins in the passing game for expected new starting quarterback Gunner Stockton as part of a remade receiving corps,” said Middlehurst-Schwartz. “If he can re-establish his credentials as an electric playmaker by turning quick hits into long gains against the Southeastern Conference’s top competition, he’ll be firmly on NFL teams’ radar as a potential early pick.”<\/p>\n

Branch’s potential is similar to that of former Florida Gators star receiver Percy Harvin. Branch is difficult to tackle in the open field and should get a lot of opportunities in open space with this Georgia offense.<\/p>\n

There’s a long way to go before the 2026 draft, but Branch is certainly a candidate to enter the draft after his junior season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Georgia Bulldogs wide receiver Zachariah Branch, a former five-star recruit and USC Trojans transfer, has immense potential. Branch…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":110562,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[3689,630,19,3690,7,629,4844,3688,6,15,1602,1982,678,3691,1980],"class_list":{"0":"post-110561","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl-draft","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-bulldogs","10":"tag-draft","11":"tag-enabled","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-georgia","14":"tag-georgia-bulldogs-football","15":"tag-highlights","16":"tag-nfl","17":"tag-nfl-draft","18":"tag-smg","19":"tag-smg-timely","20":"tag-story","21":"tag-story-highlights-ai-enabled","22":"tag-timely"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114640729156903164","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110561","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110561"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110561\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/110562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}