Brian Branch (born October 22, 2001) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wit ...

safety Safety is the state of being "safe", the condition of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings There are two slightly di ...

for the

Alabama Crimson Tide The Alabama Crimson Tide refers to the intercollegiate athletic varsity teams that represent the University of Alabama, located in Tuscaloosa. The Crimson Tide teams compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I as a m ...

Early life and high school career

Branch grew up in

Fayetteville, Georgia Fayetteville is a city in and the county seat of Fayette County, Georgia, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 18,957, up from 15,945 at the 2010 census. Fayetteville is located south of downtown Atlanta. In 2015 ...

, and attended Sandy Creek High School. He was named the Georgia 5A Ironman of the Year as a senior. Branch was rated a four-star recruit and committed to play college football at Alabama over offers from

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

, Oklahoma, and

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to ...

College career

Branch played in 12 games during his freshman season at Alabama and made 27 tackles with seven passes defended and two interceptions. As a sophomore he made 55 tackles with five tackles for loss, one sack, and nine passes defended. Branch led the Crimson Tide with eight tackles and broke up two passes in Alabama's 27-6 win over

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state lin ...

in the

2021 Cotton Bowl Classic The 2021 Cotton Bowl Classic was a college football bowl game played on December 31, 2021, at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The 86th edition of the Cotton Bowl Classic and the first of two College Football Playoff semifinal games, the game f ...

. Branch entered his junior season as one of the top safety prospects for the 2023 NFL Draft.

Professional career

References

External links

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Alabama Crimson Tide bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Branch, Brian 2001 births Living people Alabama Crimson Tide football players Players of American football from Georgia (U.S. state) American football safeties American football cornerbacks