Two more big hits came Tuesday at wide receiver for the USC Trojans 2025 football squad Zechariah Branch and security Zion branch plan to enter the NCAA transfer portal.

On3’s Pete Nakos reported that Zachariah Branch plans to enter the portal. ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported that both brothers will participate and will likely choose their next destination together.

Zachariah Branch led the team in receptions during the 2024 regular season, catching 47 passes for 503 yards and a touchdown. In his two-year career, he caught 78 passes for 823 yards and three touchdowns and 11 rush attempts for 87 yards and a score.

Branch was the nation’s leading returner in 2023 with 16 punt returns for 332 yards and a touchdown and 24 kickoff returns for 442 yards and another score. But this season he took a step backwards in that area, losing his kick return spot to Makai Lemon over the course of the season and averaging just 5.7 punt return yards on 13 attempts.

Zion Branch battled two serious injuries in three years with the Trojans. He finished his career with 41 tackles, including three tackles for loss and one sack. He started the game against Rutgers that season and played nine more, although he only saw three snaps on defense in the season finale against Notre Dame and a total of 18 snaps in the final three games of the year.

This is another blow to a USC wide receiver room that lost veteran Kyron Hudson Duce Robinson already to the portal. The Trojans signed four standout wide receivers in the 2023 recruiting class, and all were expected to have big seasons in 2024. It’s been a year of ups and downs for all of them, and now both Robinson and Branch are in the transfer portal, leaving Lemon and Ja’Kobi Lane on the roster.