FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — When Zachariah Branch bench-pressed 225 pounds 20 times at the NFL Combine in February, he was angry.It didn’t matter to him that it was the fourth-highest total of any wide receiver at the event. Or that he was the lightest player (177 pounds) there to hit that mark. Or that it was as many as multiple linebackers and at least two linemen.“I wanted to get around 24, 25,” he said. “Twenty was my minimum number.”Branch’s expectations for himself have been high for a long time — at least since seventh grade. It was then that his father, Sheva, pulled him and his brother, Zion Branch, out of public school and homeschooled them for two years so the boys could join him in a daily workout regimen that would have been intense at any age.“That’s when I really got locked in,” Branch said.The success — or failure — of Falcons' draft hinges on these two playersJosh KendallOn most days, the Branch boys were up at 5 a.m. and in the gym by 6 with Sheva, a former San Jose State football player who is now a real estate agent and part-time conditioning coach. (Zion is a senior safety at Georgia.)“Everybody knows if we’re going to train with my dad, it’s real work,” Zachariah said. “You better get your mind right. I definitely think it helped me out.”Sheva had Zachariah sign a contract agreeing to drink at least two protein shakes each day to make sure he gained weight. The punishment for failure was push-ups. The reward?“The reward was transforming my body,” the 22-year-old said.That work — and good genes, he’s the great-nephew of Hall of Fame wide receiver Cliff Branch — started Branch down a star-studded road that led to him becoming a third-round pick of the Atlanta Falcons this year and put him on the doorstep of a starting job as a rookie.The 5-foot-9 Branch has power-cleaned 300 pounds and squatted 500 pounds, numbers that would make much bigger men marvel. After two years of homeschooling, he enrolled at powerhouse Bishop Gorman High School in his native Las Vegas, where he was teammates with current Bears wide receiver Rome Odunze, was named the Gatorade track athlete of the year for Nevada and won two state titles in football.From there, he went to the University of Southern California, where he met current Falcons teammate and fellow Trojan Drake London during the recruiting process and played with current Bears quarterback Caleb Williams for one year.“I’m just excited for him,” London said of Branch. “The world is going to see.”After two years at USC, Branch spent one season at Georgia, where he caught an SEC-high 81 passes for 811 yards before entering the NFL Draft. Branch was the 12th wide receiver selected this spring, falling to the third round (despite a 4.35-second 40-yard dash) because of concerns about his height and the fact that he caught almost exclusively short and screen passes in his final year of college.If the Falcons had any concerns about Branch’s size or versatility, they were erased when Branch visited their facility before the draft.“Zachariah is wired the right way,” Falcons coach Kevin Stefanski said. “He’s somebody that really puts in the effort on a day-to-day basis. Really that’s no surprise because that’s what (Georgia head coach Kirby Smart) told me, that’s what all his coaches told me. You watch him in practice, and he goes and he goes and he goes. He’s got the right makeup for what we want to be.”Branch was a standout in Atlanta from the moment he stepped on the practice field for offseason workouts, and that has continued into training camp. He made a spectacular one-handed touchdown catch on a long pass during the team’s first fully padded practice Monday.“He’s going to be a really good football player in the NFL,” said quarterback Michael Penix Jr., who threw that pass. “You already know what he’s done in college, and it’s definitely carrying over. He can really play football.”Branch reminds Falcons quarterback Tua Tagovailoa of former Dolphins (now Broncos) receiver Jaylen Waddle — and for more reasons than the No. 17 jersey both players wear.“I mean, dude’s fast, very shifty,” Tagovailoa said. “Great kid, got a good head on his shoulders and he asks a lot of questions. I think that’s something very good that you like to see from rookies.”Waddle caught 305 passes for 4,290 yards and 26 touchdowns in games Tagovailoa started for Miami, where they were teammates from 2021 to 2025.“You find (Branch), he’s open,” Tagovailoa said. “He’s fast, and he can get away from guys. Great separation, great hands and great elusiveness when the ball is in his hands.”The Falcons plan to line up Branch at all three wide receiver spots, but his quickest path to playing time is probably the F (slot) position where veteran Olamide Zaccheaus is still taking most of the first-team snaps. Branch is looming, though, and everyone in Atlanta can see it.“He’s a little joystick man,” Zaccheaus said. “He has different movement than a lot of people in the league. There’s little things I can teach him, but he has a great understanding of how to run routes.”For now, Branch is focusing only on each day.“I like to get coached hard,” he said. “I am kind of a perfectionist. If I did make a mistake, I want to make sure that’s the last time I make that mistake and not be a repeat offender. My mindset is definitely just to keep getting 1 percent better every day.”