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Illinois Football: Recruiting Profile of Dallas Branch
Recruiting continues for the Illinois football team as Lovie Smith attempts to rebuild the program.
In this recruiting profile, we will take a look at Dallas Branch.
Details
Average Star Rating: 2-star
Position: Cornerback
Scholarship Offers: 3 (Illinois, Ball State, Hawaii)
Strength
Vision – Branch can see where the ball is going before it is passed in short intermediate routes. This is a great asset for pass defending. He has the ability to be in the right position and make a play on the ball at the right time.
Defending – When Branch does get to the wide receiver, whether on short or long passes, he has a great ability to knock it out of the wide receivers hands.
Illinois sort of worked on this with the Peanut Punch, but Branch can already do that when the ball gets to the receiver. He can break up plays and that is a huge asset as well.
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Weakness
Turning Around – An issue that Branch has is he doesn’t turn around and see the ball when it is coming his way. He face guards the wide receiver and this will inevitably cause penalties in college and in the NFL.
I believe a lot of his problems with face guarding have to do with technique and speed, both of which can be fixed with an NFL coaching staff at Illinois.
Speed – Branch isn’t slow by any means. He is clocked at running a 4.51-second 40-yard dash. But, if you look around the league, cornerbacks are running sub 4.5 40-yard dashes.
To keep up with top college football wide receivers this probably has to improve slightly. This isn’t a huge issue but it could mean the difference between him having time to turn around and intercept a ball or getting a penalty because the ball is underthrown and he is still running after the wide receiver.
Recruiting
So far, Branch has three scholarship offers on the table and Illinois is by far the best offer. The other two scholarships are from Ball State and Hawaii.
Branch hasn’t had a chance to meet up with the coaches, so he doesn’t know if he likes them or not. He needs to still take a visit and he says that will be coming soon.
There have been reports of Branch playing cornerback or wide receiver, but he has mentioned that he wants to play cornerback at the next level.
Right now, Branch is looking for a place that makes him feel at home. He wants that good relationship with the coaches and a school with nice facilities as well.
Every need that Branch has expressed, Illinois can fulfill. I only hope the Illini can snag this talented cornerback and continue building depth for the future.
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