GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The Florida Gators had three players named to the Southeastern Conference’s Preseason All-SEC Teams, as announced by the league office on Wednesday morning.

Voted on by the SEC’s 16 head coaches, second baseman Cade Kurland was Florida’s lone First Team selection. He was joined by a pair of Second Team honorees in catcher Luke Heyman and shortstop Colby Shelton.

The Gators were also picked to finish fifth overall in the new-look SEC, highlighted by one vote to win the conference outright. Five different schools received first-place votes to win the SEC.

Representing Florida on the First Team, Kurland enters his junior campaign as a two-year starter at second base. Helping lead the Gators to back-to-back College World Series trips, the Tampa, Fla. native earned 2023 First Team All-SEC honors as a freshman by hitting .297/.404/.555 with 17 homers in 67 starts. Although his offensive production took a step back as a sophomore, he gutted through injuries to finish with a gaudy .804 OPS across 62 games. He owns a .272/.376/.508 career slash line accompanied by 31 home runs and 25 doubles in 130 games.

Similar to Kurland, Heyman’s Second Team nod comes on the heels of two consecutive seasons serving as an everyday starter. After playing primarily as a designated hitter in his 2023 Freshman All-SEC campaign, the Longwood, Fla. product became UF’s starting catcher last year and batted .246/.342/.481 backed by 16 homers, 14 doubles and 52 RBI. Overall, Heyman wields a .275/.352/.512 career batting line with 28 big flies, 20 two-baggers and 91 runs driven in. Defensively, he has committed just four errors over 700 chances for a pristine .995 fielding percentage.

Back for year two in Orange & Blue, Shelton batted .254/.374/.551 with 20 homers, 14 doubles and 56 RBI in his debut season in Gainesville. Making a successful transition into one of the SEC’s premier defensive shortstops, the Lexington, S.C. native boasts 45 career homers (fourth most in SEC) to go along with a .275 batting average and .630 slugging percentage. Shelton’s 20 home runs last season were the most of any returning Division I shortstop while his 56 RBI rank seventh.

Gators picked to finish 5th in SEC 

2025 SEC Baseball Preseason Coaches Poll
1. Texas A&M (10) – 228
2. Tennessee (1) – 215
3. Arkansas (3) – 214
4. LSU (1) – 204
5. Florida (1) – 183
6. Georgia – 165
7. Vanderbilt – 156
8. Texas – 146
9. Mississippi State – 112
10. Kentucky – 102
11. Oklahoma – 101
12. Auburn – 100
13. Alabama – 98
14. South Carolina – 61
15. Ole Miss – 60
16. Missouri – 31