Zion Branch was one of the first big defensive recruits for this coaching staff as a top-100 safety out of Las Vegas in the 2022 recruiting class who committed to USC just weeks after Lincoln Riley and defensive coordinator Alex Grinch arrived.
The anticipation for his impact was delayed when he sustained a torn ACL in his knee during summer workouts prior to his first official practice with the Trojans. That cost him his freshman season in full.
After inconsistent playing time to start this season, Branch had started to emerge in the wake of an injury to veteran safety Max Williams, logging a season-high 40 defensive snaps two games ago against Utah and making the start last weekend at Cal.
Again, though, the Trojans will have to wait to see Branch's full potential manifest for a defense that badly needs playmakers.
Branch spent most of the game Saturday on the sideline with crutches after an unspecified injury, and USC head coach Lincoln Riley confirmed Tuesday that the safety will miss the rest of the season.
"Yeah, he’s going to be out for the season. Had a procedure done this morning. Hate it for him, it was his first start, ugh, just terrible luck, but I mean that kid is so – he’s so headstrong and so positive and so driven, he’ll come back way stronger from it," Riley said.
Riley declined to specify the nature of the injury.
"Yeah, it’s related [to the previous one], but I don’t like to get too far with the guys for personal reasons.," he said.
Riley did expound, though, on Branch's impact and the excitement the coaches had to see him continue to develop over the rest of this season. He had 9 tackles over the last game and a half and, per PFF, has not had a missed tackle all season.
"To come in here and earn the free safety job as a freshman, I’d say, is pretty unique so we were – pleased is probably not the right word – but his progress that he made throughout the year, coming back from obviously the injury his first year, handled it great, just earned more and more opportunities as we went on and played very well in his time," Riley said. "So it’ll sting for this team to lose him and [we'll] have to uplift him. But he’s a strong cat."
While Williams' injury against Notre Dame three games ago looked severe, Riley has not indicated it would be season-ending, but the Trojans' depth at safety is definitely thinned as long as he is out on top of losing Branch.
Veterans Calen Bullock and Bryson Shaw will start for the Trojans at the two safety spots, while Alabama transfer Tre'Quon Fegans played 5 snaps (his season-high) Saturday, true freshman safety Christian Pierce has been limited to special teams work since the third game, ditto for Anthony Beavers.
USC also worked cornerback Christian Roland-Wallace at safety and nickel in fall camp, but he's settled in as a full-time starter on the outside for the defense.
"Depth-wise, obviously not ideal, but that’s just part of it with the season, you're going to have these things," Riley said. "We’ve trained a lot of different guys in the secondary and hopeful that some of these guys that are rehabbing and haven’t been able to be on the field with us the last few weeks could also potentially come back and make an impact as well. But want to see how the week goes. We’ve got to be ready to proceed without all of them and we’ve got a plan together that we feel confident about that we can play well Saturday."
Branch's brother, freshman receiver/return specialist Zachariah Branch, talked with reporters after practice but understandably wasn't eager to say much about his brother's situation.
"It's always a bummer to see people go down, especially your close brother, your sibling, but he's doing good, in great spirits," Zachariah Branch said. "Just stay tuned -- he got something in store, for sure."
