Three Gators Named Preseason All-SEC

GAINESVILLE, Fla.-- Preseason All-SEC baseball teams were announced on Wednesday, and three Florida Gators made the cut. 

Cade Kurland, Colby Shelton and Luke Heyman were all among those named to All-SEC teams with . Kurland making the first team, while Shelton and Heyman being named to the second team. 

Kurland is coming off a rather down season, after having a stellar freshman campaign that saw him break the program record for most home runs by a second baseman in a single season and be named to the All-SEC freshman team. In 2024, he slashed .245/.346/..457, all of which were considerably worse than his previous season. 

However, he did play through a hand injury that hampered his hitting abilities through most of the season. 

Like Kurland, Shelton had a fantastic debut season in the college ranks with Alabama. He set their single-season freshman home run program record with 25 homers. 

But in the same style, he regressed as a sophomore. Although it started out great for the transfer - as he was hitting .333 and had nine homers going into conference - things began to spiral downwards as the season went along. He finished the 2024 season hitting .254, but did still manage 20 home runs. 

He’ll enter his junior season in Gainesville with some high hopes after being placed on the second team in the SEC, which will boast a ton of good shortstops this year. 

The last of the three is Heyman. The junior had a subpar sophomore season like the others, hitting .246 and 16 homers over 66 games. And in similar fashion to Kurland and Shelton, this was off the back of a All-SEC freshman team nomination where he finished with a .314 batting average and 12 home runs. 

The Gators' 2025 campaign begins on Feb. 14 with a three-game weekend series at home against Air Force.