Florida Football Coach Brings South Florida to Gainesville
The Gators football coaching staff has brought professional hands-on experience to restore the South Florida recruiting pipeline.
Florida appointed former NFL player Brandon Harris as its cornerback coach for the 2026 season. As the University of Central Florida’s defensive backs coach last season, Harris landed the Knights inside the top-25 nationally in passing yards allowed per game (185.1).
Along with UCF, Harris developed seven NFL draft picks in his seven years of coaching at Florida State, Florida Atlantic and Florida International.
The South Florida native played defensive back for the University of Miami from 2008 to 2010 and earned All-ACC First Team honors his sophomore year. Harris looked up to former Gators Marquand Manuel and Ben Hanks as a kid because of the personal connection they shared growing up in the same area.
“We watched them in high school, and then we watched them go on and have great careers here,” Harris said. “That kind of introduced us to Gainesville.”
Harris sees an opportunity to represent South Florida through his defensive back room in the same way he was influenced by Manuel and Hanks growing up.
“I know every DB we’re recruiting from down there wants to talk to Ben Hanks and J’Vari Flowers because they watched them in high school, they watched them in little league and they’re here,” Harris said.
This trend continues because of how deeply rooted the football culture is in Miami-Dade county.
“It definitely starts young,” Harris said. “Most kids that age, they play football at four years old. Those kids learn at a young age about competition and about responding to adversity.”
It is part of the reason why this connection is so important in college football.
“It’s a reason why every school in the country goes down there, and they try to get as many players as they can,” Harris said.
Harris made the 2026 American Football Coaches Association “35-Under-35” list because of his in-state history as both a player and a coach. He welcomes the task to rebuild the recruitment funnel from where he was raised.
“I take a lot of pride in it,” Harris said. “Those relationships have to be strong, and they have to be genuine, so I look forward to helping us recruit guys here that want to be Gators from down that way.”
Florida is the fifth school Harris has coached for in the state, but he has already found something new and unique to Gainesville.
“The cool thing that stood out to me is about the love for the program that the community has,” Harris said. “When I’m moving around, when I’m going to different restaurants, everybody here were Gators. I’m not used to that, just everywhere you go in the area is about the University of Florida.”
Category: College Football, Gators Football
