The Branch Brothers are visiting Miami today

DMoney

Thursday at 8:05 AM 1 min read

The Holiday dead period is now over, and the Miami Hurricanes have some big-name visitors on campus. USC transfers WR Zachariah Branch and S Zion Branch are in Miami today.

The 5'10, 175-pound Zachariah is one of the most dynamic players in the country, with a 10.33 100M, 21.01 200M, 24-0 long jump and 46-4.25 triple jump. He was an All-American punt returner as a freshman with two TDs, and amassed 47 receptions, 503 yards and a TD this season as a receiver.

His brother Zion is a 6'2, 210-pound safety who made 15 tackles with 3 passes deflected and a sack in 2024. He missed 2022 with an injury from fall camp. He was also injured late in 2023, which ended that season.

The brothers were the first college football players to sign an NIL deal with Jordan Brand. They have NFL royalty in their family, as their great uncle is Raiders legend Cliff Branch. In their free time, the brothers created the Branch Out Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting youth initiatives including homelessness, after-school programs, health and wellness as well as other charitable causes.

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Odysseus

Friday at 4:26 PM

MikeyCanez said:
It is basically 5 pm EST and Maiava hasn't entered the portal and Dan Marino hasn't announced any extra year of eligibility.

My extra small tube sock is close at hand...

Get the socks ready

PIPO

Friday at 4:26 PM

flips said:
Hope Coach doesn't let the Branches visit Stanford.

@JamesQuall

Odysseus

Friday at 4:26 PM

Disappointed Let Down GIF by America's Funniest Home Videos

R
rascon

Friday at 4:27 PM

TheOriginalCane said:
I believe that his faith/trust in Dennis has outweighed Mario's perception of the damage Dennis has done.

For that, I give all of the blame to Mario. Not just because he trusts Dennis, but because in 3 years he has not managed to construct additional and/or parallel support for what Dennis does.

Now, on an overall basis, Dennis has to take more than 50% of the blame. His behavior, and how he handles job stress, is his problem to maintain and control. But if Mario thinks a few apologies to recruits and parents and NIL agents fixes all these problems, that's where HE has to take responsbility for his misreading of situations and impacts.

I understand that when you are only hiring 2 coordinators, and you have a reputation as a hard-charging/high-demanding boss, it might be harder to find older/experienced guys. I get that on an intellectual level. I understand WHY Mario might have a hard time hiring coordinators, even if I'm not happy with it.

But when it comes to support staff and scouting/recruiting types, given the sheer number of jobs we have, it should not be that hard to find a ton of hungry young hard-workers who are eager to make their mark and impress the boss. Those guys are not going to be with Mario as frequently as the coordinators are, so they should be able to learn and work and grow.

Why Mario can't seem to find 2 or 3 additional people to communicate with recruits and their families without, say, FREAKING THE **** OUT WHEN THEY FIND OUT THE PRICE OF THE NIL JUST WENT UP, I don't know.

Very good discussion point. One that I agree with a lot. Fix the infastructure and minimize DS’s influence. Also be nice to use analytics to close the deal better in the transfer portal. The saying “today’s price is not yesterday’s price” is basically describing the transfer portal.

Odysseus

Friday at 4:27 PM

flips said:
Hope Coach doesn't let the Branches visit Stanford.

They coming for you

PIPO

Friday at 4:28 PM

Derrick Griffin said:
I think they’d be barking up the wrong tree.

@JamesQuall

T
tr1ck

Friday at 4:28 PM

MikeyCanez said:
It is basically 5 pm EST and Maiava hasn't entered the portal and Dan Marino hasn't announced any extra year of eligibility.

My extra small tube sock is close at hand...

Technically west coast is 3 hrs behind

lol

TRick72

Friday at 4:37 PM

Samoan Souljah said:
The real question...is he cooking or getting cooked in this meme? Lmao

That’s debatable….in the meme

TRick72

Friday at 4:57 PM

PSU Cane said:
I thought only women had the power to make men so blind. Guess i was wrong...

BS85

Friday at 5:04 PM

TheOriginalCane said:
1. 8 million per year. Sadly, that is market price now. You can't act like a particular salary price-point guarantees a result. If dozens of coaches are making the same exact salary (or more), then not all will attain the same results. I'd have rather paid Butch Davis $8M per year in 2001, but we can't turn back time.

2. Unprecedented support from the University. Yeah, and that's the problem. "Unprecedented".

3. Very organized. Who says that he isn't? Unfortunately, he doesn't have enough guys who share his fanaticism and/or organization, and one of the few is an unreliable recovering...whatever...

4. Recruiting department. I can agree on this to a degree, although we need to differentiate between scouting and recruiting. I believe we need way more improvement on the scouting side. We were headed in the right direction before Mario clearly favored Smiff over Highsmiff. We don't need to revisit the Bartender vs. Rumph debates to realize that sometimes a less-qualified person wins the argument on "who to recruit". On the recruiting side, fortunately we will be (belatedly) sidelining Smiff, who has blown one too many recruitments in the late stages. Pun may or may not be intended.

And none of what you said addresses your repetitive use of the "asleep at the wheel" AI picture, which simply isn't accurate or true. There are definitely some problems to address, but how would "firing Guidry a couple weeks earlier" have resulted in us landing Mateer, for instance? People just conflate different issues and overgeneralize them.

Dennis Smith should absolutely be fired if that's known to Mario/the school. People can do what they want but if THIS many people know he's gotten way out of hand.

JamesQuall

Friday at 5:11 PM

flips said:
Hope Coach doesn't let the Branches visit Stanford.

Derrick Griffin said:
I think they’d be barking up the wrong tree.

Samoan Souljah

Friday at 5:15 PM

BS85 said:
Dennis Smith should absolutely be fired if that's known to Mario/the school. People can do what they want but if THIS many people know he's gotten way out of hand.

I agree. MC needs to get rid of these types of personalities if indeed DS has compromised more than one recruitment. Not that my son is experiencing the recruiting scene. We have definitely seen some of these Dennis types of personalities on various campuses. Sucks to know that certain coaches have no business in leading young men but here they are in the middle of it all. C'mon MC, if u gonna be a manager then open ur freakin eyes.