Derek Branch will be playing in Memorial Stadium one final time when the Nebraska football team welcomes Iowa into town on Friday.
The fifth-year senior defensive back and special teams contributor began his Husker career as a walk-on but is playing a bigger role in 2025. He’s played in all 11 games, with three tackles on kickoff returns and one tackle for loss on a punt return.
Now, he will be putting on the Nebraska N in front of the Big Red’s home crowd for the last time, while focusing on the task at hand.
“You try to treat it like any other game,” Branch said. “It’s truly like any other game — try to prepare the same way we’ve been preparing the whole season. I think at this point if you were to do more, then you probably weren’t doing enough to begin with. So, just try to keep doing our process, and hopefully that shows on Friday.”
Branch is a Nebraska native, attending Lincoln Southeast High School where he played as a wide receiver and defensive back. He joined the Huskers as a walk-on in 2021.
The senior hasn’t had an easy path to get to where he’s at now, only playing in one game his first three years before earning a bigger role in 2024.
“I’d be lying if I said they were all good times,” Branch said. “There were definitely moments where I was just questioning it. Questioning if I was good enough to be here, questioning if it was all going to be worth it at the end of the day. But I think if I had a crystal ball and you would have told me at the start this is how it was going to play out, I would have said, ‘Sign me up.’”
Branch credits Nebraska defensive coordinator John Butler for helping him get on the field.
“I think in a lot of ways, he unlocked me as a player,” Branch said. “I think that was sort of like the camp where I kind of cracked the two-deep and started to be able to contribute after that. Just his teaching style was one that resonated with me, and I was able to take his coaching and apply it.”
Nebraska football runs in the Branch family, with Derek’s father Troy playing for the Huskers as an inside linebacker from 1990 to 1993. Despite having to pay his own way initially, Branch chose to follow in his father’s footsteps.
With Branch taking on a bigger role this season, his coaches and teammates have noticed, including head coach Matt Rhule. On Monday, Rhule said that he had Branch address the team about their upcoming game. Branch said that this opportunity was great.
“My relationship with Coach Rhule has grown quite a bit since he first got here,” Branch said. “I don’t know if he mentioned, but he asked me to speak to the team yesterday. So, that was a big moment. There were times early in my career here where I was literally sitting on the floor, in the back of the team meeting room. I didn’t have a seat, and now I’m getting asked to speak at the front. So, it’s pretty cool to be recognized in that way.”
Senior corner Ceyair Wright has noticed as well. Wright joined the Huskers last season after transferring from USC, with the two forming a fast friendship.
“Derek Branch is probably one of the most impactful people on me since I’ve been here at Nebraska,” Wright said. “When I first got here, my first day, Coach Rhule sent him to pick me up from my apartment. He picked me up, took me around; he was the first person I met. He’s my hotel roommate, and hearing his story, just how he was in the team meeting room with nowhere to sit, or in a separate locker room when he first got here, to being a player that’s impacting the game in a huge way on special teams, and a player that’s leading the team, and a player that’s keeping people in line, is awesome. His younger self is for sure proud of him. So, it was really cool getting to see him get up there and talk.”
Another teammate that’s noticed Branch’s growth is senior linebacker and fellow special teams player Michael Booker III. Branch and Booker have been together since the start of their Husker careers, both joining the team as walk-ons in 2021. Now, they will be playing their last home game together come Friday.
“Derek Branch, that’s my guy,” Booker said. “I love Derek Branch with a passion… For me to see everything that he’s been through — personally, as a player, as a person — it means the world for me to see the strides he’s taken to get to where he’s at now, because it’s something that I don’t think anybody else deserves the position that he’s getting. I think that he’s the most deserving person for that. I can talk about it for hours. He’s probably one of the best people I know.”
Nebraska will welcome the Hawkeyes into Memorial Stadium on Friday. Kickoff is set for 11 a.m. CT with CBS carrying the broadcast.
“I told the team, it’s a buckle your chin strap game,” Branch said. “It’s smashmouth, it’s going to come down to the fourth quarter, it’s going to come down to making a few plays at the end of the fourth quarter. That’s what we’ve been trying to pride ourselves on this year, so I think it’s sort of a culture versus culture game.”
For now, Branch will continue to prepare for the game while soaking up every moment with his teammates.
“It went by very quick,” Branch said. “I actually just sent my mom a picture from move in day yesterday, so it feels like yesterday.”
