Zachariah Branch shares wholesome reasoning behind why he chose Georgia Bulldogs in the transfer portal

The Georgia Bulldogs hit the jackpot when they landed former USC five-star wide receiver Zacharian Branch in the NCAA transfer portal in January. 

As a highly sought-after transfer, Branch certainly had options, but he chose to be a Dawg. 

While speaking to reporters for the first time since coming to Athens, Branch revealed exactly what made him pick Georgia. 

"A lot of things that impacted me to come to University of Georgia, first and foremost, I would say the culture that coach Kirby smart, the coaching staff and I feel like it's a real brotherhood," And you know, it's not just words, you know, some people just say, 'Okay, we have to have the bond and the things like that to be a great team.' But I really do truly believe that, you know, they built that into this program, and they have consistently done it year after year. And just to be surrounded by a lot of like-minded players as well, all trying to get towards the same goal is something that is really important to me as well. And once I got into that portal, it was pretty easy to make my decision from there, going off the back of that."

Branch had some connections at Georgia, including running Nate Frazier who he has known since they were kids. 

"It's crazy. I've known Nate Frazier since I was, like, eight, nine years old," Branchs said. "Me and Nate, we were running track against each other since we were little. So it was actually crazy. When I was taking my visit, Nate came to dinner and we were just joking about that, like, 'Hey, remember, we was running the 200 in Arizona. We were nine or 10, so we've been knowing each other for pretty much, pretty much awhile. So it's pretty, cool to have those moments come full circle."

Branch has also known offensive lineman Earnest Green III for a long time and Georgia player connection coordinator and fellow West Coast native David Hill. 

Knowing he would be joining familiar and welcoming faces made it that much easier to pick Georgia, but it also helped when wide receiver Dillion Bell reached out to him. 

“It definitely was big, you know, to have that team camaraderie, like I said, that brotherhood to know that somebody else in that room wants me to be in there with them to help the team and to, you know, get each other better as well,” Branch said. “Because, you know, we’re always learning from everybody. You can always take a nugget from somebody.”

Branch comes to Georgia after reeling in 78 catches for 823 yards and three touchdowns over his first two seasons at USC.

His brother and former USC safety, Zion Branch, also transferred to Georgia with him.