Longhorns in Line For Another 2022 Star?

Steve Sarkisian's momentum on the recruiting trail continues to increase, with a stud 2022 safety putting the Longhorns among his top schools

Matt Galatzan | Jan 17, 2021

The Texas Longhorns were already off to a hot start to the 2022 recruiting cycle heading into the weekend, but that momentum increased on Saturday when Bishop Gorman stud four-star safety Zion Branch listed the team among his top-11 schools heading into the spring.

The Las Vegas product made his announcement via his personal Twitter account on Saturday evening.

Outside of Texas, the sophomore has already fielded a myriad of impressive offers to choose from but named Alabama, Oregon, Clemson, LSU, Oklahoma, Washington, Ohio State, Arizona State, Stanford, and USC as his top choices.

Newly hired tight ends coach and special-teams coordinator, Jeff Banks, was Branch's main recruiter at Alabama, while incumbent defensive coordinator Chris Ash, and former cornerbacks coach Jay Valai were his main recruiters for Texas before Longhorns shook up their staff.

Standing 6-foot-2 and weighing 190 pounds, Branch still has plenty of room to grow into his body and is known as a physical safety with the versatility to play either safety position.

Branch also has good ball skills, impressive instincts, and a high motor, but sometimes struggles when forced to play in man coverage.

Texas has just one recruit at the position in the 2021 class in Kennedale High School's J.D. Coffee, who signed his letter of intent during the early signing period on December 16.

The Longhorns have no commitments at the position in the 2022 class but do have one defensive back commit in Jaylon Guilbeau of Port Arthur, Texas.

Published Jan 17, 2021

MATT GALATZAN

Matt Galatzan is the Managing Editor and Publisher of Texas Longhorns On SI and Texas A&M Aggies On SI and a long-time member of the Football Writer’s Association of America. He graduated from the University of Mississippi, where he studied integrated marketing communications, with minors in journalism and business administration. Galatzan started in the sports journalism industry in 2014 covering the Dallas Mavericks and SMU Mustangs with 247Sports. He then moved to Sports Illustrated's Fan Nation network in 2020, eventually being taking over as the Managing Editor and Publisher of the Longhorns and Aggies sites a year later. You can find Galatzan on all major social media channels, including Twitter on @MattGalatzan.