ATHENS — Even with strong high school prospects on the way, Georgia needs more depth.
Kirby Smart looked to the transfer portal, which closed Tuesday for Bulldogs players to enter, to fill areas of concern and add depth where injuries and turnover often strike.
At least 11 Bulldogs entered the transfer portal, including starting punt returner Anthony Evans, who entered the portal Sunday.
Shortly thereafter, Georgia filled the need for a punt returner landing USC transfer wide receiver Zachariah Branch, along with his brother, safety Zion Branch. Both players have two seasons of eligibility remaining.
Zachariah Branch is the splashier of the two players. He was a 5-star recruit out of Las Vegas in the 2023 recruiting cycle. He caught 47 passes for 503 yards and a touchdown this season at USC. As a freshman, he finished the season with 332 punt return yards and a touchdown. He also added 442 yards as a kick returner that season as well.
Georgia wide receivers coach James Coley is in the process of overhauling the wide receiver group. Arian Smith is off to the NFL, having accepted a Senior Bowl invite. Dominic Lovett is currently out of eligibility. Evans and Michael Jackson already hit the transfer portal.
Coley signed a star-studded recruiting class, landing five wide receivers. The most prominent of these is 5-star Talyn Taylor, who impressed during bowl practices.
Adding Branch to that haul gives Georgia a talent infusion at perhaps the position that needed it most. Georgia led the country in drops this season, with 36, and none of the three wide receivers it signed in the 2023 recruiting cycle are on the team at this point.
Zachariah Branch was one of the bigger names to enter the transfer portal, as ESPN rated him as the No. 9 overall player in its transfer portal rankings.
But the addition of his brother Zion shouldn’t be overlooked.
Zion is familiar with Georgia cornerbacks coach Donte Williams, who recruited Branch to USC. Georgia analyst David Hill also has strong ties to the Las Vegas area.
Safety also is a position of interest moving forward. Malaki Starks is likely to be a top pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. Dan Jackson, who exhausted eligibility, perhaps was Georgia’s most consistent defender on a down-by-down basis.
Georgia does bring back safety KJ Bolden. The freshman impressed in his first season at Georgia, validating the hype.
But who plays next to Bolden is a question. Joenel Aguero logged a lot of snaps at star this season, while junior JaCorey Thomas pitched in as well. Those appear to be the top two options to help out in the secondary.
The Bulldogs already have seen Jake Pope and Justyn Rhett enter the transfer portal, looking to finish their careers elsewhere. Georgia did sign five defensive backs in the 2025 recruiting cycle, but none expect to be instant contributors in the way Bolden was this past season.
That creates an opportunity for Branch to be something he wasn’t at USC: a starter. Branch was a situational defender for the Trojans, finishing with 19 tackles, 2.0 tackles for loss and a sack.
The Branch brothers are Georgia’s first two transfer additions. They are not likely to be the last for this cycle. Georgia had a successful season in 2024 but its goal is not to simply make the College Football Playoff, but to win it.
Notre Dame clearly outplayed Georgia, even if the Bulldogs were playing with a backup quarterback in Gunner Stockton. The Fighting Irish were missing key players as well, including two of its top three defenders. Ohio State clearly looks like a more loaded roster.
Georgia coach Kirby Smart knows his team has to get better. He said the 2024 team was not the most talented he coached. The transfer portal offers a way to make Georgia more talented, especially at obvious positions of need.
The Branch brothers were the first transfer additions, but they were not the only ones. At wide receiver, Georgia brought in 6-foot-6 Texas A&M transfer Noah Thomas. The Bulldogs also further fortified the safety position, adding Jaden Harris from Miami and Adrian Maddox of Alabama-Birmingham.
Wide receiver and safety classify as positions of need for the 2025 team. The arrival of the Branch brothers makes Georgia a better team for 2025.
But Georgia can’t be finished in the transfer portal. As Smart says, better never rests. And Georgia, even days after the conclusion of the 2024 season, can’t afford to wait around and hope to improve organically.
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