Illinois Fighting Illini

Illinois Football: Recruiting Profile of Dallas Branch

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

share

facebookxredditlink

foxsports

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.

illinois fighting illini

Writing Illini 7hIllinois Football: Time, Injury Report, Predictions Against Nebraska

More headlines around FanSided:

14h - Two Nebraska Football Players Ruled Out Against Illinois1 d - Illinois Football: Preview of the Nebraska Cornhuskers Defense2d - Husker Tailgate: Week 5 against the Fighting Illini3d - Big Ten: Football Power Rankings After Week Four3d - Illinois Football: What Ra'Von Bonner Brings to the IlliniMore News at Writing Illini

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.

More from Writing Illini

This article originally appeared on

share

Get more from Illinois Fighting Illini Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more

in this topic

Illinois Fighting Illini