Five-star WR Zachariah Branch sets Texas A&M official visit

2023 Las Vegas (Nev.) Bishop Gorman five-star wide receiver Zachariah Branch has been committed to USC since Christmas Eve 2021. Still, schools like Alabama, Florida and Texas A&M have not given up on the Trojan commit, who ranks as the No. 1 wide receiver in the country.

The five-star remains locked in to his commitment and was back at USC earlier this month to drop his brother Zion Branch, a four-star safety prospect in the 2022 class, to begin his career as a Trojan. With his brother off to begin his career, Branch is considering taking other visits, to experience the recruiting process himself.

“In the past, Zach was visiting schools with Zion, so he has never really gotten the opportunity to do it himself,” Branch’s father, Shevá recently told On3’s Chad Simmons. “I think he would like to experience a little bit of his own….”

Texas A&M’s staff has been maintaining consistent communication with the five-star recently and Branch has been at least somewhat interested in the Aggies due to his participation in the Under Armour Future 50 event last summer, where the five-star met numerous players that ended up signing with Texas A&M in the 2022 cycle.

Now, Branch is set to make an official visit to Texas A&M June 24-26th, his first ever visit to College Station. He’s considering visits to Alabama and Florida as well, but the Aggies will get the first chance to make an impression, and potentially flip, the five-star USC commit.

“All three schools are still doing a good job recruiting Zach,” his father said. “He talks to coaches from each school on a regular basis and he is still thinking about taking a visit or two. He has some type of connection or relationship with someone at each of the schools, so we will see.”

Branch stated to Simmons that they are “very happy” with Lincoln Riley and the staff at USC and with the aforementioned Zion already on campus, a developing relationship with key members of the Trojans’ 2023 class like five-star quarterback Malachi Nelson and the trust the family his in Riley and the staff, it will take a lot for a school like Texas A&M to flip the five-star away.

Still, getting Branch on campus is a good start and given the momentum the Aggies have on the recruiting trail right now, anything is possible.

Branch ranks as the No. 9 prospect and No. 1 wide reciever in the country, per the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. The five-star has an On3 NIL Valuation of $302K. The On3 NIL Valuation is an index that looks to set the standard market value for both high school and college-level athletes. The NIL valuation does not act as a tracker of the value of NIL deals an athlete has completed to date. It rather signifies an athlete’s value at a certain moment in time.