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Bama top recruit Lily Smith (5-star, #3 nation) flips to UGA: BREAKING: Five-Star Recruit Lily Smith Switches Commitment to Georgia https://collegegymnews.com/2022/06/07/breaking-five-star-recruit-lily-smith-switches-commitment-to-georgia/ Lily Smith, one of the top recruits in the class of 2023, announced on Tuesday that she has switched her commitment to Georgia. Smith was previously committed to Alabama. The announcement comes in the wake of former head coach Dana Duckworth’s departure from Alabama three weeks ago. Ryan Reynolds, Alabama’s bars coach under Duckworth, was recently hired at Georgia. It’s the latest in a series of high-profile recruiting moves and flips by beleaguered Georgia head coach Courtney Kupets-Carter, who led the Bulldogs to the team’s worst finish in decades this season. Ariel Posen (UCLA) and JaFree Scott (Florida) also chose Georgia over higher-ranked alternatives, while Kentucky star Josie Angeny will be taking her fifth year of eligibility at Georgia.

UPDATED POWER RANKINGS https://collegegymnews.com/2022/06/01/way-too-early-power-rankings-2-0/ The dramatic championship showdown between Oklahoma and Florida that has lingered in our minds throughout the first few months of the offseason was apparently a sign of things to come, as the past few weeks have seen quite a few dramatic headlines hit the news feeds to keep us entertained. With so many significant developments taking place, the landscape of the 2023 season is already changing, meaning it’s time to refresh the Way Too Early Power Rankings for next season. The early offseason has not only brought us expected news like COVID year announcements and coaching changes, but the new and still veiled transfer portal has yielded some unexpected roster modifications. That’s got Utah creeping up closer to the No. 1 spot, but for now Oklahoma maintains its position atop the rankings with its recruiting class putting on a strong showing at development program nationals, where the class of 2022 recruits recently wrapped up their level 10 careers. Natalie Wojcik and Derrian Gobourne have their programs on the rise as well, but news regarding a fifth-year decision from Trinity Thomas continues to evade us heading into the summer. As with every edition of this summer’s power rankings, all seniors who hadn’t confirmed an extra season by the time of publishing were counted as losses. Here’s an updated look at which teams should lead the way in 2023. No. 1: Oklahoma 2022 Finish: No. 1 Gymnasts Lost: Emma LaPinta, Karrie Thomas, Carly Woodard Postseason Routines Lost: 2 2022 Recruiting Class Rank: No. 14 With the COVID years for the senior class publicly announced prior to the end of the season, the Sooners have been enjoying a quiet offseason—one that national champions would expect. The only news surrounding Oklahoma has been good news, with incoming freshman Faith Torrez tying for the highest all-around total amongst all the development program national champions. Torrez can more than make up for what the Sooners lose from their championship team, making depth a bigger asset moving forward. No. 2: Utah 2022 Finish: No. 3 Gymnasts Lost: Alexia Burch, Cammy Hall, Adrienne Randall, Sydney Soloski Postseason Routines Lost: 3 2022 Recruiting Class Rank: No. 24 The Utes can claim one of the early offseason’s biggest surprises, using the portal to add Michigan transfer Abby Brenner to next season’s roster. The former national champion not only adds depth to Utah’s bars and floor lineups, but her Yurchenko one and a half is just the stabilizing vault that lineup has needed for years. With Brenner, a healthy Kara Eaker and five-star recruit Makenna Smith next year, the gap between the Utes and the Sooners is starting to close. No. 3: Florida 2022 Finish: No. 2 Gymnasts Lost: Alyssa Baumann, Sydney Johnson-Scharpf, Nya Reed, Savannah Schoenherr, Megan Skaggs, Trinity Thomas Postseason Routines Lost: 14 2022 Recruiting Class Rank: No. 25 The headline we’ve all been waiting for is the one we still haven’t gotten yet this offseason, with the fate of Trinity Thomas’ available COVID season still unknown. Her decision will significantly impact next season’s outlook, but Florida is looking like a championship contender either way. The Gators join the rest of the top teams in bolstering their depth for next season, supplementing their one-women signing class of Kayla DiCello with Georgia transfer and former elite Victoria Nguyen in their biggest development of the early offseason. No. 4: Auburn 2022 Finish: No. 4 Gymnasts Lost: Jada Glenn, Allie Riddle, Drew Watson Postseason Routines Lost: 2 2022 Recruiting Class Rank: No. 12 One of last season’s final four teams is once again looking like a contender with headliner Gobourne’s announcement that she’ll be back for another season. Now, the Tigers barely have any holes to fill from 2022’s lineups with five-star recruit Olivia Greaves incoming to give them an added boost. After perfectly managing adding a superstar to the roster and a dramatic rise to the top, Auburn has shown it has the edge a true title contender holds. No. 5: Michigan 2022 Finish: No. 8 Gymnasts Lost: Abby Brenner, Abby Heiskell Postseason Routines Lost: 6 2022 Recruiting Class Rank: No. 4 No longer needing to replace double-digit routines, the Wolverines jump back into the top five of the power rankings after Wojcik announced she will allow us to marvel at her gymnastics for another season. For a team embarking on a revenge tour next year, the prowess of a superstar super senior will be much appreciated. However, after a quiet end of the level 10 season for Michigan’s duo of five-star recruits, there’s still a few questions as to who will fill those lineup holes. A bonus season from Abby Heiskell would give the Wolverines a big boost. No. 6: LSU 2022 Finish: No. 18 Gymnasts Lost: Reagan Campbell, Rebecca D’Antonio, Bridget Dean, Christina Desiderio, Sami Durante, Sarah Edwards Postseason Routines Lost: 5 2022 Recruiting Class Rank: No. 7 It’s been an uneventful offseason thus far for the Tigers, with the only “news” being the inferred buyout clauses added to contracts to keep their staff intact during an already chaotic coaching carousel. Incoming four-star recruit Ashley Cowan’s bars win at development program nationals is a promising sign for LSU, who often had bars issues last season, but much of the burden of returning to title contending status falls on a fully healthy superstar duo of Kiya Johnson and Haleigh Bryant.

Yes, Olivia is a Suni recruit. However, 2023 commit Julianne Huff (4-star, #15 in the nation) could be an APJ recruit. Julianne is from Hoover, AL. SEC recruiting update: #6 prospect in the nation, 5-star Morgan Price just decommitted from Arkansas and is now committed to Fisk University.

Man, I don’t like this. She was very important (floor choreography and recruiting-wise, etc). We could even lose a highly ranked commit to Bama…

Yes, she "resigned" - some reddit rumors based on Twitter rumors: So Twitter is being cryptic and very "allegedly" today. Can someone speak to where these allegations come from and if they bear any credibility? https://twitter.com/StarskyGym/status/1528406717582688258 " “I can excuse racism but I draw the line at forgery and falsifications of documents.” - Bama AD probably " https://twitter.com/MariaLuciaBee/status/1528448760778465282 " Allegedly a transfer was mishandled to make room for a 5th year or unexpected 5 star."

Suni is everywhere!

Yes, most likely. However, most people expected her to take the Clemson job. I would hate to lose APJ to Bama, she is too important.

I think it’s ESPN…

-> New update: UT leads according to Shaw

It all depends on JP's current priorities -> $ now = UT or G league vs high-level development and some $ = AU. He could be the next Jabari Smith or the next BHH... UT desperately needs to land JP while we are in a great position, adding Westry, Yohan, and Broome is huge and we could still add another one. Bruce has a plan B for sure.

Many LSU gymnasts are former elites, so I am not surprised here. Butler also has a long history with injuries.. Shilese would be the big prize though.

Same source also reports that JP is leaning towards college and that Auburn currently has a slight lead over UT... but family wants to meet with G league again...

Actually they are extremely stacked with Olympians and World Champions (former World Champion and freshman Morgan Hurd is coming of an injury and expected back next season) and they have Olympic-alternate and 5-star Kayla DiCello coming in (+ they still have this year's freshmen Leanne Wong who is an Olympic alternate and Vice-World Champion and former 5-star elite Riley McCusker). Florida is also going after some top PAC12 and BIG10 transfers. There are two other elite 5-stars who are committed to Florida but did not sign with the Gators (similar to Jafree Scott): Sophia Butler and Shilese Jones who is extremely talented and could even make the Paris 2024 team. Maybe we can flip Sophia and/or Shilese from the Gators (Suni, Olivia Greaves, and Sophia Groth are extremely well-connected and friends with both).

UGA has serious issues, several top senior gymnasts about to transfer to other schools. They are not happy with the coaching situation. The current HC Courtney Kupets basically destroyed their elite recruiting pipelines and is also destroying the legendary UGA brand. The situation is somewhat comparable to UGA Basketball. Reddit post: I know recruiting fell apart (rumors that CKC pissed off Georgia Elite, and doesn't get [m]any recruits from there anymore.) but it is obviously more than that. The athletes don't look prepared. CKC looks bored and over it. Half of the time, she's nowhere near the competing athletes. However they still managed to flip two 5-stars (Ariel Posen from UCLA and JaFree Scott who never signed with Florida). On the other hand, UGA lost the overall #1 2023 prospect Elizabeth Gantner to Utah earlier this year. There is an interesting thread on reddit and also some comments on JaFree’s situation: CKC had good enough athletes, but her coaching was horrible. UGA got Jafree Scott but I saw somewhere else that she has had a lot of injuries and competed only a few times since 2019. I am not convinced that adding 9 plus new athletes is the answer. I guess since she broke half the team w/ injuries or their spirits ( several retired seniors not even thanking her). I surely hope placing higher than 30th and athletes at least leaving program feeling good about their experience.

UPDATE JaFree Scott signs with UGA

No update. I think it’s between UGA and Auburn based on several unofficial online rumors + she started following official UGA and Auburn IG accounts a few weeks ago (incl AU Football, Aubie the Tiger, our coaches, most AU gymnasts and even some of their parents. We probably don’t have many scholarships available now… it’s still a relatively young team + three incoming freshmen - maybe we are trying to work sth out…

AUbasketballGuru can’t appear anymore unless you mention his name three times in the same post…

Not sure about rivals and 247 but I found this On3 article: 5-star guard Chance Westry commits to Auburn https://www.on3.com/teams/auburn-tigers/news/5-star-guard-chance-westry-commits-to-auburn/

Yeah, doesn’t make sense unless Barnes blocked the deal but no updates on volnation. Guru should know that we monitor volnation 24/7 😄

IMO Chance should be a 5-star… no idea why the recruiting services decided to re-rate him.

Great news!

I guess we won’t really know for a while…because Suni really wants to return to Auburn but they have to figure out how to make this work… This article also has an update on Olivia Greaves.