As Florida coaching search is under way, players seek to prove their worth

The curtain call looms.

With Florida State visiting Saturday, a school equally spinning in the mud, Florida fans will part ways with their misery — no matter the result. Not that the result matters, anyway, as the Gators are playing for pride. Or maybe, more precisely, the opportunity to stay on their incoming coach’s roster.

Several South Florida natives have recently seized opportunities to prove themselves. As all five starting defensive backs have missed time, younger players have stepped up in Florida’s secondary.

Cornerback Ben Hanks III, a Booker T. Washington High School grad, was Florida’s second-highest rated recruit in the 2025 class, per 247Sports. Despite preseason expectations that he wouldn’t see many in-game opportunities of meaning this season, Hanks stepped in during a 23-21 win against Mississippi State on Oct. 18, recording five tackles. He added another against Tennessee last week.

Fellow freshman cornerback J’Vari Flowers has stepped up beside him, with Florida regularly playing the pair over the past five weeks. Florida hasn’t played a pair of true freshman defensive backs as consistently since at least 2014, though the logic this season is clear. The former Miami Northwestern High School star, Flowers, hasn’t had a game since Napier’s firing in which he didn’t have at least a pair of tackles, and on the MSU night that sealed Napier’s fate, he notched two passes defended.

“[Our] playbook is something serious. So, for you to come late and not even have the spring or anything like that to get better. Like, as soon as you come here, and you’re playing — that tells you a lot,” safety Jordan Castell said. Flowers’ work ethic has been the focus of team praise, but the freshman duo’s quick integration has hinged on veteran leadership.

Senior Alphonzo Allen Jr., a Miami Central High School grad, and redshirt sophomore Brayden Slade, Monarch High School, each stepped in at safety against Tennessee as starter Bryce Thornton missed his first game. While Slade finished with only one tackle, Allen has grown into a contributing role, totaling seven tackles in all three games that he’s gotten starters’ reps.

These fading weeks of Florida’s season, though, don’t have the same meaning to the older duo. With Florida amid a coaching search of such grandeur that frat banners mention Lane Kiffin more than the school’s opponent each week, younger players need to prove their worth now more than ever.

As programs reset, those with less experience — less to show for themselves — are frequently found on the roster cutting board, separated from the school they committed to and in need of a new home. With an adjustment to NCAA rules this fall, the transfer portal will open for Florida’s players five days after it hires its new coach, and make no mistake, he’ll know who he wants in and who he wants out.

So for a number of players, including those like Hanks, Flowers and other South Florida boys who’ve shifted into Florida’s lineup this season, this has all been about proving their worth. They’ve done their part.

“​​I think the future is going to be bright,” Allen said. “The rest of the guys stepped up and played and grew up honestly, I think it was good for them to just get their feet wet.”

The coming weeks will tell how much value it provided, but Florida State will be one last opportunity, as Florida’s maligned with injuries, for some new faces to take the field. Not that the Gators’ minds rest on those laurels.

“It’s about being in the present right now, being in today,” interim coach Billy Gonzales said. “The season success rate that we wanted, obviously, is nowhere near where we need to be. … So our whole objective is to continue to keep grinding, and continue to work and get better each day.”

With one game remaining, and limited lineup adjustments expected, here’s how UF’s body of South Florida players performed this season:

Tyreak Sapp (St. Thomas Aquinas High School, Defensive end): 33 tackles, one sack

J’Vari Flowers (Miami Northwestern, Cornerback): 13 tackles, three passes defended

Ben Hanks III (Booker T. Washington, Cornerback): Six tackles

Alfonzo Allen Jr. (Miami Central, Safety): 29 tackles

Naeshaun Montgomery (Miami Central, Receiver): Three receptions, 26 yards

Anthony Rubio (Belen Jesuit Preparatory School, Running back): Five carries, 27 yards

Brayden Slade (Monarch, Defensive back): One tackle

Ty Jackson (Seminole Ridge Community High School, Linebacker): One tackle

Byron Louis (American Heritage School, Running back): Two carries, -2 yards

Sebastian Scott (Cardinal Newman High School, Defensive lineman): Three snaps

Evan Jackson (Seminole Ridge, Defensive back): Made debut on special teams

Daniel Pierre Louis (Seminole Ridge, Offensive lineman): DNP

Brandan Rabasco (South Broward High School, Kicker): DNP

Cahron Rackley (Miami Palmetto Senior High School, Safety): DNP