Florida forced to burn Blake Brookins' redshirt after Justin Nadeau, Luke Heyman injuries vs. Alabama

After Luke Heyman and Justin Nadeau left Thursday’s game against Alabama, Florida was forced to burn Blake Brookins’ redshirt. He took over in left field after Nadeau’s departure while Blake Cyr headed to second base.

Nadeau went to field a ground ball and turn a double play when he got hit in the hand. The game went into a lengthy delay as Florida weighed is next steps, especially after Heyman got hit by a pitch and also left the game as a result.

The Gators didn’t have any players left to put in the game. As a result, Kevin O’Sullivan called on Brookins, who made his first appearance of the season and can no longer take a redshirt this year. Cyr also moved from left field to second base to replace Nadeau.

Florida has no other players to put in after Nadeau's exit.

So Blake Brookins will burn his redshirt and take over in left.

Left fielder Blake Cyr will move to 2nd base.

— Nick Marcinko (@marcinko_nick) May 15, 2025

Brookins appeared in seven games as a freshman a year ago, all of which were pinch-hit appearances off the bench. The plan this year was for him to sit and take the redshirt, but that’s no longer the case as Florida’s injuries continue to mount.

Nadeau and Heyman are the latest in a long line of injuries for the Gators. Pitchers Pierce Coppola and Frank Menendez went down with injuries, and uF has been down both Kyle Jones and Cade Kurland, as well.

Despite the injury woes, Florida has put together a hot stretch through SEC play after a rough start to the conference schedule. The Gators had a 1-11 record out of the gate in league action, but entered Thursday’s game at 13-14 against SEC opponents heading into the final series of the regular season.

That includes a series win against Texas last weekend in Austin, capped by a 4-1 win on Sunday. O’Sullivan said the coaching staff remained steadfast Florida would get things on track, and the Gators have done just that heading into the Alabama series.

“That’s the one thing that’s been consistent with our coaching staff and our players that we were going to turn this thing around. And we dug ourselves in a hole obviously starting out 1-11 in the league, but they continued to battle. They continue to work hard. They continue to improve,” O’Sullivan said. “Nobody lost confidence in themselves and it’s a great lesson for everybody to learn. So, obviously, we’ve got one more series left with Alabama next week before we go to Hoover, but it was a great weekend for us.”