Zachariah Branch is progressing, status still uncertain, per Lincoln Riley

The Zachariah Branch injury is still largely a mystery, but on Thursday, Lincoln Riley did clear up the timeline for a return a little bit.

The freshman phenom burst onto the scene with a special teams touchdown and some electric highlight-reel plays early in the year but has now missed USC’s last two games with some sort of injury. But at least we know it is an injury sidelining Branch, he confirmed at Thursday media availability when asked by a student-journalist.

“Yep, he’s dealing with an injury and progressing,” responded Riley. “You know, still hasn’t been a full participant yet. I do think he’s making progress. We’ll kind of watch and see. He’s going to, you know, need to continue to make some jumps here to to be ready for us. So hopefully he can continue to progress over the next few days.”

The Trojan head coach added that his star freshman is noticeably improved from where he was last week, but the team needs to be patient and not force him back early.

“He’s in a better place than he was last week,”Riley said. “But he’s not, you know, not able to do everything yet. So he’s eager, but we obviously want to be smart and make sure that that we turn him loose at the right time.”

So, still no word on the kind of injury keeping Branch out, but it does sound like the young wideout is getting closer to a return. Based on Riley’s comments, though, USC fans should probably not expect him to be on the field this coming weekend vs. Notre Dame.

He had also said similar things Tuesday, which was a slightly more optimistic update.

“Getting better, he’s not a full participant yet, so we’ll see how it evolves throughout the week, but he’s definitely improved,” said Riley on Tuesday. “I think we’ll get him back sooner rather than later. We don’t think it’s long-term, but we’ve also got to be smart.”

Also on Tuesday, USC reporter Antonio Morales reported that Branch was dressed for practice that day even though he didn’t participate.

“Lincoln Riley said Zachariah Branch was not a full participant in practice today — though Branch was suited up for practice.”

Some encouraging signs for Branch getting back on the field at some point in the near future, though it’s unlikely he’ll be out there vs. Notre Dame.