With Ben Hanks Jr. commitment to Florida Football, Gators are rising up the rankings

Heading into the summer, the narrative surrounding the recruiting efforts for Florida Football wasn't one of positivity. The Gators were one of the few Power Four schools with less than ten commits and were ranked next to last in the SEC for their class of 2025.

There is still work to be done, but with the commitment of top 100 overall prospect Ben Hanks Jr. to Florida, the Gators are on the verge of starting to make significant moves up the recruiting team rankings.

Florida Football: In The Family

Hanks is a top 100 overall prospect out of Miami. His father, Ben Hanks Sr., was first-team All-SEC with the Gators in the 90s. The younger Hanks didn't seem like he had Florida in the picture at first, but the Gators were able to gain momentum and secure his verbal commitment on Friday.

When we originally profiled the defensive back we said:

"On film he tends to play deep off the ball, but he has such a good read of the game that he is able to explode and make interceptions. There are also cases where opponents will try and take advantage of his alignment and dial up a screen, only for Hanks to come downhill and still make the tackle behind the line of scrimmage.

He has some legit track speed as well. This season he has run 22.18 seconds in the 200 and 49.28 seconds in the 400. The latter has him ranked 32nd in all of Florida for the 400."

The glass half empty side of where Florida's 2025 recruiting class is at is they are still mired in the bottom of the SEC. Even with Hanks they are still behind Miami and FSU and aren't even close to the big boys of Georgia, Ohio State, Alabama, and Oregon. In the past, Florida had a smaller class, but the average player rating was above almost everyone. Their average player rating right now is still 18th nationally in the On3 Industry Rankings.

But the glass half full side will point out that slowly but surely, the Gators are climbing and are into the top 20 of On3's rankings. The general vibe surrounding the Gators is that several recruits are in a wait-and-see mode with Florida. If the Gators have a solid 2024 campaign, they should be in position to land a few more top tier guys and could easily find themselves in the top ten when all is said and done.

There is still work to be done with this class, but slowly there might just be a light at the end of the tunnel.