The day before the NFL Draft, I got the chance to sit down with Brian Branch, the top safety prospect from Alabama, to talk a variety of topics ahead of draft day.
As a Falcons fan myself, I had to ask him if he grew up a Falcons fan as well given that he grew up in the Atlanta area. His answer didn’t instill a lot of confidence in me that he was.
“I rooted for them growing up but I wouldn’t necessarily say… yeah I rooted for them,” Branch said.
Tough.
Branch is listed amongst a handful of Alabama players who are projected to go near the top of Thursday night’s NFL Draft. Alabama players being selected high and going on to have successful NFL careers has become commonplace over the past decade-plus. So, I asked him what made Alabama produce so much NFL talent.
“Just the standard,” he said. “Take it back to 2009 when Coach Saban got there. He’s the same head coach, same guy, he’s always talking about the standard and being the best. But, what it takes to be the best and we pride ourselves in that standard. We don’t worry about going to the league. We don’t worry about the league until after we win a National Championship. That’s our main focus.”
My follow up question was whether or not Coach Saban was intimidating in the locker room. The dominating safety from the Crimson Tide laughed as he answered.
“He’s not intimidating,” Branch said. “I think people get intimidated because of the telling he does, but honestly he’s a softie he’s a little soft on the inside.”
Be sure to watch the full interview above where he talks more about who he looks up to in the NFL, and whether he’d rather lay a big hit that forces a fumble or snag an interception.
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