Three Gators have been recognized as the Southeastern Conference announced its eighth annual men’s basketball coaches’ preseason All-SEC first and second teams on Wednesday. Senior guard Erving Walker (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and junior guard Kenny Boynton (Pompano Beach, Fla.) earned first-team honors and sophomore forward/center Patric Young (Jacksonville, Fla.) was named to the second team.

Florida is one of four schools to have a league-best three players on the preseason teams, along with Alabama, Kentucky and Vanderbilt. The first and second teams consist of a minimum of eight players on each squad as voted by SEC head men’s basketball coaches. No ties were broken for the All-SEC teams, and a predicted order of finish in the conference was not a part of the vote.

Walker and Boynton, who are Florida’s two returning starters, earned second-team All-SEC accolades in 2010-11 and were the Gators’ top two scorers last season. Both are members of UF’s 1,000-point club and will be part of Florida’s deep backcourt in 2011-12.

Young, who has also been named to the Wooden Award Preseason Top 50 and Naismith Award Watch List during the preseason, is coming off an SEC All-Freshman campaign in 2010-11, when he averaged 3.4 points and 3.8 rebounds coming off the bench. He will look to help UF replace its entire starting frontcourt, which consisted of three seniors a year ago.