Florida Gators Basketball Guard to Redshirt for Rest of 2026 Season

After not appearing in a single game so far this season, a Florida Gators guard has now decided to redshirt.

The Florida Gators will now officially be without a transfer guard for the rest of the season. | Matt Pendleton-Imagn Images

GAINESVILLE, Fla.-- After not appearing in any games for the Florida Gators so far, transfer guard AJ Brown is now set to redshirt for the 2025-26 season, head coach Todd Golden announced on Friday. Brown is in his first season at Florida after transferring from Ohio.

He will have two years of eligibility remaining.

Brown missed a portion of the offseason after undergoing shoulder surgery prior to his transfer to Florida. While he has since recovered, Florida is using the time to let him continue developing with a plan for him to contribute next season. Golden, however, is not ruling out a return for this season in a worst-case scenario.

"It depends on how big of a disaster we're talking," Golden said, per 247 Sports' Graham Hall. "He's gonna be ready anyways. We train really hard every day. He's getting a lot of work in. So if that ever happened, we would figure it out at that point.

"But he's the type of guy that's mature enough and has the mentality of wanting to be ready and be in good shape, and not kind of just use this as a break where he's not working on his game."

AJ Brown will continue to practice with the Florida Gators despite redshirting. | UAA Communications

Brown transferred to Florida this offseason after three seasons at Ohio, where he averaged over 10 points a game as a true freshman before missing the bulk of his sophomore season due to injury. He received a medical redshirt as a result.

In his return to play as a redshirt sophomore, Brown started in all 29 games he played in, averaging a career-high 13.2 points per game with four 20-point games and 19 10-point games. He eventually committed to Florida on April 24, reuniting with his younger brother Isaiah, who is now a sophomore with Florida.

"I mean, it was always in the back of my mind if Florida was ever interested that, you know, of course I'll be interested in going there as well," Brown said heading into the season. "And then when they sent the offer, I was excited, and I looked into everything they had going on, and then everything on and off the court, and I was like, 'you know, this could be a great fit for me.'"

While he has not played in a game this season, Brown's impact as a good teammate and locker room motivator has been felt by the team.

"Everybody plays a role. I think part of the expectation of being in our program is that regardless of how much you're playing or what your role playing time is you have a good attitude and you put the team first," Golden said. "He's a great example of that."

With Brown now set to remain in his role as a redshirt reserve, Florida's guard rotation has been set with Boogie Fland and Xaivian Lee as the starters, Urban Klavzar and Isaiah Brown as the backups and freshman Alex Lloyd as the reserve.

The Gators, winners of their last three games, travel to No. 10 Vanderbilt on Saturday. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m. with television coverage on ESPN.