Recruiting for Florida Football’s class of 2025 has taken a different approach this year. Unlike last year, when the Gators seemed to have their 2024 class secured by June only to see it fall apart, Florida is now adopting a more deliberate and steady strategy.
For this approach to be successful, the Gators need to secure two or three of their major targets. Fortunately for Billy Napier and his team, they appear to be leading the race for one of the top 100 prospects on their list.
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We’ve previously highlighted Ben Hanks Jr. a couple of times. When we profiled him back in April, he was ranked around 150th in the overall composite rankings. Since then, his stock has risen, and he is now a top 100 prospect in the On3 Industry Ranking.
Florida insider @On3Keith has logged an expert prediction for the Gators to land Top-100 CB Ben Hanks🐊
Intel: https://t.co/uNfDfTbgGf pic.twitter.com/M5YiF4Vu3g
— On3 Recruits (@On3Recruits) July 25, 2024
In our profile of Hanks Jr., we noted:
“On film, he tends to play deep off the ball, but he has such a good read of the game that he can explode and make interceptions. There are also instances where opponents try to exploit his alignment with a screen, only for Hanks to come downhill and still make the tackle behind the line of scrimmage.”
Given that Hanks Jr. is from Miami, attracting him away from Coral Gables has always been a challenge. However, similar to how the Gators had an edge with legacy prospect Vernell Brown III, Hanks Jr. is the son of former Gator great Ben Hanks Sr.
This legacy advantage seems to be paying off, as Keith Niebuhr of On3 has officially predicted that Hanks Jr. will follow in his father’s footsteps.
Hanks Jr. has not yet set a formal commitment date. According to 247Sports, Florida is currently ranked 15th out of 16 in the SEC for their class of 2025. However, landing Hanks Jr. alone would allow the Gators to surpass Ole Miss and Mississippi State, bringing them closer to the bulk of the SEC teams within reach.
