One of the top performers from Georgia football's 45-7 win against Austin Peay on Saturday was transfer wide receiver Zachariah Branch. Branch came to Georgia advertised as one of the most electric players in all of college football, and he more than lived up to that hype in the first game of his UGA career.
Branch may have only hauled in three receptions against Marshall on Saturday, but he was able to turn those three catches into 95 receiving yards and one touchdown.
It's pretty obvious that only scoring one touchdown and recording three receptions won't be good enough to set a program record at Georgia, but 95 receiving yards in the first game of his UGA career puts him on pace to set the single season receiving yards record.
Zachariah Branch could have record setting season
In the history of Georgia football, there has only been one player to eclipse 1,000 yards receiving in a single season. That player is Terrence Edwards who barely squeaked by with 1,004 yards in 2002. This is a total that Branch could surpass if he keeps the pace he set this past weekend against Marshall.
If Branch stays on this pace, he will smash Edwards' record by finishing the regular season with 1,140 receiving yards. This doesn't even account for the potential games Georgia could play beyond the regular season including the SEC Championship game and College Football Playoff.
Branch obviously has a lot of work to do if he is going to set this program record at Georgia, and it's going to be very challenging because of how much of an emphasis UGA's offense is putting on running the ball this season. But Branch has a chance to do something special this season, and his game against Marshall showed that he is more than capable of setting this record.