Freshman Zachariah Branch detonates in USC first-game win over San Jose State

LOS ANGELES — The freshman had shown flash, had drawn murmurs, sure, but he was buried.

Third on the list, ZACHARIAH BRANCH neat in black ink at wide receiver on USC’s first depth chart entering Week 0 against San Jose State. And what else could’ve been expected? Mario Williams existed, and Tahj Washington hadn’t gone anywhere, and Dorian Singer was in from Arizona. This room, outside wide receivers coach Dennis Simmons said, had better be the best in the nation. So there seemed little place for a freshman, even one as dynamically talented as top 2023 recruit Branch, even one who’d drawn praise from Simmons like so:

“From a talent standpoint, he’s different.”

But when USC’s offense took the field at the Coliseum for the first time in a new season Saturday, a season brimming with hope and promise and prideful expectation to restore tradition, there was the slender Branch’s no. 1 lining up at slot receiver. It was but a small moment, one that simply suggested the freshman had earned the coaches’ — and Heisman winner Caleb Williams’ — trust.

Hours later, a small moment exploded as Branch detonated in the third quarter of a 56-28 USC blowout win, nabbing a pass from USC quarterback Williams and darting into the end zone for his first Trojans touchdown. It was momentous, the first dynamite connection of a combination that could soon become one of the most exciting duos in college football.

It was nothing compared to what’d come next.

At the end of the third quarter, after San Jose State receiver Nick Nash made a ridiculous one-handed bobbling touchdown grab to set up a kickoff, Branch caught a return a few yards out from the end zone and…slowed. Jogged. Surveyed, blockers lining up in front of him, ambling about for a few yards like a cheetah luring a deer into a false sense of security.

And then he just downshifted. Jets, in a split second, seemed to roar from Branch’s feet as he burst up the middle, juking to his left to make two Spartans crash into each other, bursting down the left sideline before cutting back to the middle for a victory lap of a 96-yard touchdown return.

He dropped the ball as the Coliseum rocked and held his arms outstretched, palms up, as he neared the stands.

Truly, it’s downright impossible to overshadow Williams, who picked right back up where he left off with a magic-casting 2022 season in the second quarter, recovering a fumble on a snap miscommunication and in the same motion flinging a long dart to Washington for a 76-yard touchdown. And the USC quarterback laid little mercy on San Jose State’s defense in the inaugural game of a chase for another Heisman throwing for 278 yards and four touchdowns.

But Branch left the most invigorating impression, stands of over 63,000 building into a roar every time he touched the ball, taking a punt on the next return after his 96-yard-streak and weaving his way through a sea of Trojans. No longer buried. A star had arrived.

It was scintillating — and nearly enough to distract from an ugly start. Publicly, defensive coordinator Alex Grinch has the Trojans’ complete faith despite his unit’s late-season collapse last year, advocates pointing to a proven record of orchestrating defensive turnarounds from Washington State to Oklahoma. And Riley placed bold trust in Grinch this fall, telling the Southern California News Group his onetime hire at Oklahoma was “going to do it again.”

But in the first half Saturday, outside of some legitimately solid stretches of play — strong pressure from Oklahoma State transfer linebacker and now-captain Mason Cobb and some eye-popping bursts off the line from Georgia State transfer Jamil Muhammad — the line looked limp and secondary seemed splintered against a quick-hitting San Jose State attack. A 28-yard run on a 3rd-and-22 from Cordeiro led to a second-quarter touchdown, and a complete breakdown led to a wide-open touchdown grab from Nash to end the half.

USC’s offense shone as a whole, senior Austin Jones running for a pair of scores and four different Trojans receivers hauling in a touchdown. But that was never the question for the Trojans this year. And the bad taste from last year’s defense still lingers.

More to come on this story