USC star WR Zachariah Branch to transfer for 2025 football season: report

USC appears to lose one of its principal offensive weapons as wide receiver Zachariah Branch intends to enter the college football transfer portal for the 2025 season, a report shows.

USC Trojans wideout Zachariah Branch intends to transfer ahead of the 2025 football season, according to a report. / Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images

USC wide receiver Zachariah Branch intends to enter the NCAA transfer portal and play elsewhere for the 2025 football season, according to On3 Sports.

That marks a very notable departure for the Trojans and head coach Lincoln Riley as they try to right the ship after a dismal 6-6 campaign in 2024.

And it marks the second Branch to leave the team this offseason, as USC also lost safety Zion Branch, the brother of the wide receiver, to the portal.

In the process, those exits mean that 9 of the 12 former Top 100 recruits that Riley signed to USC will have left the program through the portal.

Branch completed his second season with the program, catching 78 passes for 823 yards and scoring three touchdowns, rushing for another score off 87 additional yards.

As a return specialist, Branch handled 29 kicks with 547 return yards and a touchdown and scored once more off a punt, one of his 29 returns for another 406 yards.

Branch’s exit from the program follows that of junior Kyron Hudson and sophomore Duce Robinson, both of whom entered the football transfer portal for the 2025 cycle, as well.

Branch had 31 grabs for 320 yards and 2 touchdowns with another rushing score during the 2023 season, while adding two touchdowns as a return specialist with 774 combined yards on kickoff and punt returns.

The wide receiver was ranked No. 1 at his position and was a consensus five-star prospect in the 2023 class, according to an average of the national recruiting services.

-

How the college football transfer portal works

The NCAA Transfer Portal is a private database that includes the names of student-athletes in every sport at the Division I, II, and III levels. The full list of names is not available to the public.

A player can enter their name into the transfer portal through their school's compliance office.

Once a player gives written notification of their intent to transfer, the office puts the player's name into the database, and they officially become a transfer.

The compliance office has 48 hours to comply with the player's request and NCAA rules forbid anyone from refusing that request.

The database includes the player's name, contact information, info on whether the player was on scholarship, and if he is a graduate student.

Once a player's name appears in the transfer portal database, other schools are free to contact the player, who can change his mind at any point in the process and withdraw from the transfer portal.

Notably, once a player enters the portal, his school no longer has to honor the athletic scholarship it gave him.

And if that player decides to leave the portal and return to his original school, the school doesn't have to give him another scholarship.

-

More college football from SI: Top 25 Rankings | Schedule | Teams

Follow College Football HQ: Bookmark | Rankings | Picks