How South Florida Connections Helped Gators CB Coach Brandon Harris Retain Ben Hanks, J'Vari Flowers

New to the Florida Gators after joining the program as the cornerbacks coach this offseason, Brandon Harris had plenty of names to learn and new faces to meet once landing on campus in Gainesville. Sophomores Ben Hanks III and J’Vari Flowers were not amongst that group.

With all three hailing from South Florida, Harris’ relationship’s with the young duo of Hanks and Flowers were long-standing, spanning as far back as the youth football camps he would host and the middle school games he would watch in his time down in Miami.

“Just being (In South Florida) when both of them were coming out of high school, obviously Ben went to my high school. J’vari went to a neighboring high school, but just knowing those guys from the time they were pups in youth league ball, and just watching them closely and watching them come up through the ranks… being the person that always hangs in their schools and talk to them and spend time with them,” Harris told Florida Gators on SI on his early relationship with the young defensive backs. “I’ve watched Ben grow up since he was five years old. I met J’Vari when he was in middle school, watched him running around. I used to run a youth seven-on-seven before I got into college coaching after I retired from the NFL, and all of those guys came up in my seven-on-seven circuit.”

Brandon Harris comes to Florida after stints at UCF, FAU, FIU and Florida State. | Jeff Romance / USA TODAY NETWORK

While both Hanks and Flowers would become highly touted players in high school, finishing as top-100 prospects in their class, and later join the Gators as an exciting duo and the possible future of a unit that Harris now takes over, the position coach knew much earlier the special talent both had.

“Certain players just got that ‘it’ about them. When their games are going on, certain guys people gravitate to see, certain guys people want to see play, and J Rock(J’vari) was one of those guys…Man, ‘I want to watch J Rock play. I’m here to watch Ben’s team play.’” Harris said. “When certain guys just have that aura and that ‘it’ about them, I knew they were gonna be pretty special, and they’re still on the way to doing some really good things.”

The two showed such special talent in year one with the program, flashing when on the field for Florida in a combined 446 first-year snaps. However, with potential comes potential suitors, as both would be amongst the many Gators heavily pursued during the transfer portal cycle, forcing Harris’ transition to Gainesville to be a quick one.

“When I got hired, the first thing I did was ‘okay cool, I got to get to all these guys’. It wasn’t about getting on the 2027 class, it wasn’t about seeing who we can make relationships with in high school recruiting, it was about ‘okay, I need to recruit these guys like they’re in the portal now,’” Harris said on his immediate focus on retention. “... They all knew me, they all had relationships with me but I told them get to know me as a coach, because I’ve never coached none of you guys…go do your research, take a couple of days, this is my resume, these are the places I’ve been, these are the guys that I’ve coached, go call them…After making a few phone calls, they talked to some of the right people, they were like ‘alright, we good’.”

Florida Gators cornerback J'Vari Flowers saw his role increase throughout the 2025 season as a result of injuries around him. | Matt Pendleton-Imagn Images

While Flowers and others in the room had time to make a decision, for the legacy Hanks III, his freedom of choice may have been a little more limited.

Hanks Jr.'s older brother, Devon Johnson, is Harris' best friend from the time they played Little League football at six years old. They played on the same teams until Harris was drafted in the second round of the 2011 NFL Draft by Houston.

Then there's Harris' mom.

“My mom is Ben's godmom, I'll just leave it at that,” Harris said.

With Hanks and Flowers now entering spring camp tasked with taking the next step for a somewhat unproven Gators positional group, the relationship with Harris will likely make the transition under a new coach easier for the South Florida prospects, hoping to continue on the path to greatness that the unit coach has watched them travel since they were kids.

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