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NFL draft: Newest Cardinal Branch ready to prove himself
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Rio Rancho native Alan Branch entered NFL draft weekend with a chip on his shoulder.
The result of the draft left Branch, a Cibola High graduate, with as much to prove.
Arizona moved up five spots after a trade with Oakland to get the 6-foot-5, 334-pound Branch with the first pick of the second round, the 33rd overall. Some had projected Branch going in the top 15 picks, but he said he "couldn't be happier" to go to the Cardinals.
"I feel like I got some love from them," Branch told the Associated Press. "I feel like they really want me that badly to make the trade. I'm just going to try my hardest to make sure they didn't do it in vain."
Branch will compete for playing time along the defensive front with ex-Michigan teammate Gabe Watson, who played in 12 games, five as a starter, as a rookie for Arizona last season.
If rookie salaries are similar to last year, Branch went from a deal in the $16 million range to a contract in the $5 million range. The loss of stature and money likely will serve to fuel Branch's football passion in the NFL.
Branch said before the draft he was eager to prove his critics wrong and show New Mexico athletes can compete with the best football players in the world.
Albuquerque area football coaches, however, say Branch already has achieved his goal of helping New Mexico high school football.
"To have a young man from Albuquerque get so much draft attention and go so early in the draft definitely puts us on the map nationally," La Cueva football coach Fred Romero said. "It is huge for athletics and football in New Mexico, especially in Albuquerque."
Despite his slide into the second round, Branch remains the highest-drafted athlete who played high school football in the Albuquerque metro area since Jim Everett, an Eldorado grad and quarterback who was selected with the third pick by the Houston Oilers in the 1986 draft.
Cibola High coach Judge Chavez, who just took over the program last year and did not mentor Branch, already has used the school's highest-profile graduate as an example to motivate his team.
"I told these guys that if you go to class and work hard, you have a chance to do something like this, too," Chavez said. "It's great that football has developed around here so kids in high school can have these role models. Very few of them will play in college, much less the NFL. But thanks to guys like Alan Branch, they can dream. If no one from here was in the NFL, why even bother dreaming about making it yourself?"
Chavez said he saw Branch's impact on the school last week.
"He visited campus, and you heard all the kids start saying, `Oh my God, Alan Branch is here. Alan Branch is here,'" Chavez said. "That says a lot about how he has developed as a player and the success he worked hard to earn. He's already a star here and back in Michigan. Now he's going to become a star at the next level."
The Albuquerque area has churned out NFL draftees the past three years. Branch was the star this year. Fellow Cibola grad Ryan Cook was picked in the second round by the Minnesota Vikings last year and La Cueva product Nick Speegle was picked in the sixth round by the Cleveland Browns in 2005.
Romero and Schultz said University of New Mexico football coach Rocky Long has played a huge role in helping change the way Albuquerque area athletes are perceived nationally.
Romero expects the steady flow of Albuquerque area athletes to the NFL to continue.
La Cueva graduate Aaron Lewis, who will be a junior next year at Texas, and several UNM athletes from the Albuquerque area are bound to get drafted in the next few years.
"This was a special weekend for Albuquerque football, but it is just the beginning of a good thing," he said. "We can only get better from here."
Schultz said it was a joy to be at Branch's Rio Rancho home during the draft Saturday as his former player celebrated his NFL status.
Branch presented his father with a new pickup truck soon after he was drafted, rewarding his father for a lifetime of sacrifices.
"It's always wonderful to see your former players succeed after seeing them work so hard," Schultz said. "It says a lot about Alan and his family, but it also says a lot about our community that he is proud to say he is from New Mexico. He's a special young man who will continue to be successful and keep making all of us very proud."
