The Florida Gators' 2025 recruiting haul featured one of the nation's best finishes around the New Year, ascending to the top 10 nationally with big flips and a hot close on the trail in general.
On Monday evening, it got the icing on the cake in form of No. 5 cornerback recruit J'Vari Flowers announcing his intentions to join the class in the coming months.
The Miami (Fla.) Northwestern star defensive back, who reclassified from the 2026 class ahead of an ambitious official visit schedule throughout the SEC and ACC, ultimately landed on UF over top contenders Notre Dame and Miami in the end.
An Under Armour All-American who was a dual state champion in football and on the track in 2024, Flowers joins a secondary haul among the best nationally in the class -- including fellow Miami native and cornerback projection Ben Hanks Jr. -- despite coaching changes on Billy Napier's defensive staff.
CLASS OF 2025 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | Team | Position | State
CLASS OF 2026 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | Team | Position | State
CLASS OF 2027 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | Team | Position | State
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The Recruitment
Twists and turns were an understatement with Flowers' recruitment. Before the reclass move, programs like Penn State, Syracuse, Illinois and Miami were among the top contenders looking to make a move for the speedster. After, as programs looked for a legitimate blue-chipper to cap their 2025 classes, the field expanded in short order.
The buzz about the move up a class came alongside somewhat of a push from Florida State, per sources, with Florida expected to contend alongside Miami and others shortly thereafter. Georgia got the first visit from his camp and then there would be a reshuffle of contenders and visits, with Auburn, Notre Dame and North Carolina making the strongest pushes among out-of-state programs.
Somewhat surprisingly, FSU and even local Miami would fade among contenders as confidence grew most at Auburn, North Carolina and the in-state Gators.
Miami would get the final official visit, kicking off one week ago, but despite the camp reporting a good time with the program it was most familiar with -- the gap with others was not so easy to close.
In the end, it appeared as if Florida built up too strong presentation on all fronts -- and there was even some mid-March commitment buzz for the Gators -- and it ahead of Notre Dame, UNC and The U in the end.
The Impact
Flowers is one of the most explosive football players in the 2025 class, regardless of position. What makes his ceiling extra fascinating is his football speed and instincts as a return man, where he showed off as both a punt return and kick return talent in 2024 to the tune of four return scores during Northwestern's state title run. He also made some plays on offense as a ball carrier, touching pay dirt twice more. Chunk plays became synonymous with Flowers' name when the football was in his hands.
The three-phase talent could maximize his early career impact in college with that 10.43-second speed in the 100 meter dash, but it shines even brighter in the secondary. Flowers is a compact player who can blend physicality and technique on the outside, making it tough for varied styles of wide receiver to create separation against him. It shows up constantly on Friday nights, throughout the 7-on-7 circuit and perhaps most impressively -- throughout Under Armour All-American Game week.
Flowers can win at the line of scrimmage with his pound-for-pound strength and that blazing makeup speed allows for him to take more chances earlier in the route. He may be even more effective in off coverage, playing patient through the stem of the route for quick breaks while working his cushion and transitions with fluidity on second and third level breaks. Great ball tracking skills pair even better with snap finishing ability at the catch point, allowing for pass break ups to compile on his watch.
The overall athletic profile is among the best nationally from secondary recruits, part of the reason the Rivals staff had been considering Flowers for five-star status in his original class just before he announced his reclassification. Even still, he cracked the top-five in the loaded cornerback group set to kick off their college careers this spring and fall. Some technical seasoning and additional experience in varied zone schemes will do Flowers plenty of good early in his collegiate career, but there is serious high-floor juice within his game to the point it would be a slight surprise if he didn't make an impact as an underclassman at the next level.
