It’s NLI day!
To review:
NLI = National Letter of Intent
The National Letter of Intent is a document signed by future college athletes confirming their intent to attend and compete for a particular school. Signing the NLI signals the end of the recruiting process—all other schools must immediately cease recruiting that gymnast. The NLI is accompanied by the athletic aid (scholarship) agreement. Gymnasts can’t sign NLIs if they are not receiving athletic aid.
Wednesday marks the beginning of this year’s NLI period, during which schools will finally reveal to us which gymnasts have signed on to join their programs for the 2020 competitive season. The large majority will not be surprises since most of these gymnasts have been verbally committed to these schools since the womb, but there are always a few little pieces of interest (usually regarding who doesn’t sign rather than who does).
So, let’s see what we see.
Note: Many teams announce their classes one-by-one on social media, so if you’re desperate to know who has been signed by a particular school, keep an eye on that. I’ll note them here once the schools provide their official press release.
NLIs 2019-2020 |
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| UCLA | Jordan Chiles Frida Esparza Kalyany Steele |
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| UCLA did not issue a release but did announce the three expected signings on social media. We also learned that Brooklyn Moors will be attending UCLA, but not until the 2021 season. | ||
| OKLAHOMA | Vanessa Deniz Brooke Weins |
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| Oklahoma also has not issued an official release (the cool kids don’t even do releases anymore, you guys…) but did announce the signings of Vanessa Deniz and Brooke Weins on social media. This was also supposed to be the class of Ragan Smith, who has not yet signed. Nor has Kaitlin DeGuzman, originally a verbal for this year. | ||
| FLORIDA | Release | Payton Richards |
| Florida’s announcement was an anticipated one because this is also supposed to be the signing class with Morgan Hurd and Riley McCusker, neither of whom are in the initial announcement. We know they’re both going for the 2020 Olympics, but we have seen people in the past go the “sign and defer” or “sign and wait to see if I’m going pro” routes. | ||
| LSU | Release | Bailey Ferrer (2019) Kai Rivers Kiya Johnson Caitlin Smith |
| We now have the official announcement on Ferrer for 2019, an essential addition to a small incoming class. The news among the rest is Kiya Johnson coming a year early for 2020 instead of 2021, just like Desiderio did for 2018 and Ferrer for 2019. | ||
| UTAH | Release | Abby Paulson Jillian Hoffman Jaedyn Rucker |
| Paulson’s is the name you’ll know here after her successful senior elite season in 2017, but Jaedyn Rucker was also a gymternet sensation for her floor during the Nastia Cup this year. | ||
| NEBRASKA | Release | Kylie Piringer Katheryn Thaler |
| GEORGIA | Release | Haley de Jong Soraya Hawthorne |
| The Haley de Jong news hadn’t been reported previous to this week, so that’s another get for Georgia. | ||
| ALABAMA | Release 1 Release 2 Release 3 Release 4 |
Makarri Doggette Mati Waligora Emma DeSantis Kam Ryan |
| These latest two are new names, who hadn’t been previously announced as verbals to Alabama. | ||
| CAL | Release | Nevaeh De Souza Natalie Sadighi |
| ARKANSAS | ||
| WASHINGTON | Release | Morgan Bowles |
| KENTUCKY | Release | Raina Albores Shealyn Luksik Raena Worley |
| MICHIGAN | Release | Gabby Wilson |
| Of note, this was also supposed to the signing class with Alyona Shchennikova. | ||
| AUBURN | Release | Aria Brusch Addie Sabados Piper Smith Cassie Stevens |
| DENVER | Release | AK Subject Emma Brown Natalie Morton (2019) |
| Morton is a signing for the 2019 season, which expands Denver’s new class to four. | ||
| BOISE STATE |
Release | Erin Elkabchi Adriana Popp |
| BYU | ||
| OHIO STATE |
Release | Raina Malas Zoe Schweitzer |
| ILLINOIS | Release | Arayah Simons Mia Townes Grace Hester (2019) |
| MISSOURI | Release | Helen Hu Adalayna Hufendiek Grace Kaiding Anna McGee Hollyn Patrick Sienna Schreiber |
| NC STATE |
Release | Chloe Negrete Alexis Ortega Emily Shepard |
| MINNESOTA | Release | Maya Alberton Mallory LeNeave Halle Remlinger |
| ARIZONA STATE |
Release | Juliette Boyer Jordyn Jaslow Alina Miller Gracie Reeves Isabel Redmond Hannah Scharf |
| IOWA STATE |
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| GEORGE WASHINGTON |
Release | Hannah Munnelly Nora Houseman |
| MARYLAND | Release | Reese McClure Julianna Weil Aleka Tsiknias |
| OREGON STATE |
Release | Kayla Bird Jenna Domingo Jane Poniewaz |
| STANFORD | Release | Jade Chrobok Chloe Widner Addie Stonecipher |
| Chrobok is among the top tier of Canadian elites, making the senior Pan Am team this year to compete the all-around. | ||
| CENTRAL MICHIGAN |
Release | Hannah DeMers Brenna Hauser Taylor Pitchell Christie Tini Ashley Veglucci |
| PITTSBURGH | Release | Lauren Beckwith Reaia Floyd Christina Weiss |
| NEW HAMPSHIRE |
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| PENN STATE | Release 1 Release 2 Release 3 |
Amy Bladon Bella Romagnano Cassidy Rushlow |
| IOWA | Ariana Agrapides Jerquavia Henderson Elinor Rogers Madelyn Soloman |
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| KENT STATE | Release | Karlie Franz Olivia Amodei Rachel Decavitch Taylor Wentland Jackie Harker |
| SOUTHERN UTAH |
Release | Celine Barney Ruby Hernandez Kayla Horton Kaylee Kho Tiffani Stufflebeam |
| WEST VIRGINIA |
Release | Emily Holmes-Hacked Abbie Pierson Kianna Yancey |
| UTAH STATE |
Release | Sofi Sullivan Tori Loomis |
| ARIZONA | Release | Mackenzie Barile Zaza Brovedani Malia Hargrove Libby Orman Avery Stauffacher |
| NORTH CAROLINA |
Release | Elizabeth Culton Hallie Thompson McKenna Appleton |
| BOWLING GREEN |
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| NORTHERN ILLINOIS |
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| BALL STATE | Release | Megan Phillips Grace Evans |
| TOWSON | Release | Camille Vitoff Amy Stewart Lauren Bolen |
| UC DAVIS |
Release | Logan Clagg Addison Donis |
| WESTERN MICHIGAN |
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| EASTERN MICHIGAN |
Release | Hadyn Crossen Molly Parris Mickayla Stuckey |
| TEMPLE | Release | Madison Brooks Nichole Smith |
| MICHIGAN STATE |
Chloe Bellmore Ryanna Head Jori Jackard Nyah Smith Linda Zivat |
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| SAN JOSE STATE |
Release | Jada Mazury Shyan Phillips Alexa Solomon |
| SACRAMENTO STATE |
Release | Alyssa Resly Bella Lahmidi Anna LeRoy Kelly MacLeod |
| RUTGERS | Release | Jenna Ferguson Hannah Joyner |
| WILLIAM & MARY |
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| SEMO | Release | Mallory Desch Dahlia Solorzano-Caruso Jordan Jones |
| ILLINOIS STATE |
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| ALASKA |
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That Stanford class looks really solid. I predict that they’ll start to climb in the rankings next year (or maybe the year after, when the powerhouse class of ’21 are seniors and next year’s freshmen have a year of experience under their belt).
I love the Signing Day image so much.
I thought Stanford didnt do NLI signings & releases of their next year’s freshman class until the spring due to the school’s stringent academic requirements… am I wrong & they’ve always have people sign their NLI in the fall signing period?
My recollection is that Stanford does fall NLIs but what they don’t do is verbal commitments because of the academic standards. So sometimes when someone isn’t verbally committed anywhere, speculation is that they are trying to go to Stanford. Or sometimes someone will be verbally committed somewhere as a backup, but leave that if they get into Stanford.
Y’all better watch for Helen Hu next year, she has the best beam and floor routines.
haley de jong has been verballed for over a year, college gym news and college gym fans both had her and it was in her insta bio, it’s not new info haha
I remember Haley de Jong from a few years ago – she and her sister (I can’t remember if they were twins or just really close in age) were part of the Team B.C. squad and were the tiniest human beings ever.
Has her sister verbal anywhere?
Anyone know why Riley and Morgan didn’t sign? They were at UF for the visit, any insight?
they are definitely both deferring to try for tokyo
Yes, but as noted in the post, one can sign and defer which McCusker and Hurd chose not to do, so that’s why the above Anonymous is asking the question. 🙄
@viv, please correct me if I’m wrong but this is how I understand it: this signing period goes from now until 8/1/19, so August 1st of next year is the last day they could possibly sign. Signing an NLI means you are committing to being on campus within one year of your signing date, so the latest that could be is 8/1/20, right in the middle of the Olympics and/or its crazy aftermath. So they are probably waiting until next year. They are deferring a year but they can’t sign the actual piece of paper yet.
FYI – Canadian gymnast Brooklyn Moors was visiting UCLA this weekend. No signing yet, but an interesting development.
Brooklyn has just verbally committed to UCLA!
Yep saw that late last night. She’s deferring until after the 2020 Olympics.