In some ways, Brandon Harris’ path to UCF has been years in the making.

The Knights’ new defensive backs coach has long been familiar with the program. His older brother, Tim Harris Jr., served on Gus Malzahn's staff in three of the last four seasons, most recently as offensive coordinator.

His connections go back even further. Back in 2008, as a highly touted high school recruit, Harris strongly considered UCF before ultimately signing with Miami.

Now after seven years in the NFL and CFL and coaching stints at FIU and FAU, Harris is excited to rep the Black & Gold on Scott Frost's coaching staff.

Upon sitting down Harris, I asked him to reflect on his official visit to UCF in January 2008. As a four-star prospect and one of the top players in the state, it was a pretty big deal at the time.

"Man, I remember everything about that," Harris said. "It was my last official visit, and I'll never forget—it was the last weekend of January. I was set to visit UCF, and two days before my visit, Oregon came in trying to get me to bump UCF for them. I was like, "Nope, we're going to UCF."

"The weekend was phenomenal. I might have been one of the only guys on an official visit that weekend, but I remember the basketball game. The crowd was into it, chanting my name. That ride back home to Miami was tough—lots of deep conversations with my family about my decision."

I asked Harris if he remembered how big of a deal his visit was from the UCF side.

"Yeah, everywhere I went that weekend, there were fans waiting. We checked into a hotel—fans were there. Campus tour—fans were waiting. The student body was so energetic and excited to have me there. It was my best visit by far, and I visited some pretty nice schools."