Boise State lost three major contributors after last season in Mejia, Bennion, and Urquhart, accounting for about 7 best-lineup routines. There is still adequate depth remaining on the returning roster, but the Broncos will nonetheless be looking for at least those 7 routines from the freshman class of five to ensure that they can reach that top-team standard of putting up a 9.800 in every lineup spot.

Tatum Bruden

Bruden is probably the most all-aroundy of the BSU freshmen—having finished 13th AA in her group at JO nationals this year—but this looks to be more a class of two-event contributors who can occasionally add backup sets on the other pieces.

Acrobatic solidity is Bruden’s standout quality, evident in her Yurchenko 1/1 on vault and comfort with slamming down those double salto passes on floor.

We’ll see how the split positions come along on floor and beam. A tendency toward going for rather difficult dance elements makes that area of her gymnastics look deduction-heavy, which could just be a function of those harder skills or may be the case regardless of difficulty (so why not go for it?). That’s the main concern in an otherwise acrobatically confident beam set.

On bars, Bruden has the necessary composition with a Jaeger, bail, and double lay-ish dismount but likely would be looking at a few too many mushy knee and form position deductions (like the dismount) right now to be a ready-to-use routine. Continue reading 2018 Freshmen – Boise State →

Alabama lost a significant proportion of its routines after last season, and while the team’s previously established depth insulates a little against those losses, there’s still work to do. The Tide will be looking for 2-3 new (good) options on each event, many of which will need to come from the freshman class of four.

On the bright side, this class contains a major star and a wealth of potentially realistic routines. On the less bright side, we saw very few submissions from this group at the Halloween intrasquad (no vaults or floor routines from any of them). That’s a possible leg-health warning sign, but it’s still early.

Bailie Key

It’s obviously not about talent for Key, a gymnast whose skill level and execution have set her up to be a 9.9+ NCAA gymnast since she was about 11. Key’s gymnastics should translate to NCAA quite nicely, meaning the only real obstacle between her and NCAA stardom will be health. We’ve seen Key complete a season just once in the last four years, so the hope is that NCAA can be a new lease on health for a partially broken elite (see: Bridget Sloan).

Key’s most famous and best event, especially in her junior days, was beam, and that’s where she’s most comfortably poised to shine for Alabama. It also happened to be the only apparatus on which she showed a complete routine at Ghosts and Goblins.

https://twitter.com/laurennn_emily/status/923231718735261697?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fbalancebeamsituation.com%2F2017%2F10%2F27%2Fthings-are-happening-october-27-2017%2F

As an elite, Key’s beam routine deteriorated as she became not four years old anymore—and as TD insisted on keeping that whip-back-pike of a layout that would never get credit on this planet (not over it). Fortunately, NCAA composition allows for only Key’s best skills, like the superior switch 1/2, to be retained. This will be an anchor-level routine (though it would also be a good nominee for strategic mid-lineup placement).

On bars, Key has quite a large number of well-executed D elements to choose from, so it’s perhaps a bit of a letdown that Alabama is going the Shap-bail, no same-bar release route with her. In elite, the Jaeger and Pak were both among the best out there.

Still, with enough numbers, that routine will be easy for her to execute pristinely, depending on what the dismount ends up being. At G&G, Key warmed up a DLO 1/1 that didn’t look like the best option, so we’ll see what she shows up with in January. Continue reading 2018 Freshmen – Alabama →

It was an off year for Auburn in 2017, at least based on the standard of the previous few, with a 15th-place finish ultimately gilding a season that was spent predominately ranked in the 20s. Injury comebacks and increased contribution from upperclassmen will be as important as the freshmen in improving on that result in 2018, but multiple competition routines on each event will nonetheless be expected from this freshman class of six.

Meredith Sylvia

Sylvia’s is the most recognizable name in Auburn’s freshman class, a Parkette and toddler junior elite during the 2012 quad who went back to L10 full time beginning in 2014. She competed regularly in JO in 2014 and 2015 but has missed much of the last two seasons with injury.

Healthy, Sylvia should be a significant contributor on at least two events, ideally more. Let’s begin with beam because front aerial to Rulfova! I’ll take that.

That elite standard is evident in many of the skills on beam (I do worry about the jumps), as well as floor, where Sylvia competed a 3/1 and 2.5 + front tuck this past JO season. This year’s NCAA freshmen bring only the smallest handful of 3/1s, making Sylvia’s a memorable piece. Without a ton of standout content returning to Auburn’s floor lineup, this would be a welcome set.

Bars must become a competition-ready event for Sylvia in time because she is too competent at handstands for this routine to sit on the sidelines. Auburn will, however, have to resolve the dismount, a toe-on front tuck (C) in 2017, either by connecting into it with a turning skill or upgrading. Sylvia did previously perform a DLO, but it’s been a few years now.

I have the fewest expectations for vault because it has been since 2014 that Sylvia competed vault with any kind of frequency or success. We just don’t know what’s still there. She had a powerful if formy full in 2014, but if she can consistently provide the other three events, that would be a huge win.

Drew Watson

A L10 coming from Texas East, Watson is the current Texas state all-around champion in her age group and has placed in the top 10 at JO nationals each of the last two years. She’ll be a necessity on two or three events and will provide usable options in the all-around.

Watson’s most important piece is vault, where she brings a Y1.5. A major piece in the quest to become more competitive in the SEC again is having even the possibility of scoring with the other teams on vault. So…10.0 starts. Like this one.

A double Arabian on floor, along with a comfortable, traditional NCAA switch side + popa combination, should make Watson a solid nominee for the floor lineup in addition to vault. There’s some form, some cowboying, but not enough to jeopardize the routine.

I’d also like to see Watson get some real competition time on beam, where the acrobatic amplitude and relative comfort on leap elements mean that she should be among the best six choices Auburn has. Continue reading 2018 Freshmen – Auburn →

Missouri is another school not particularly desperate for new routines in the 2018 season. The thought process may be that as long as Morgan Porter is back, and with every competition set from last postseason returning, additions to the lineups are a bonus rather than a necessity.

Among the freshman class of four, I see only one or two “MUST GO IN THE LINEUP RIGHT NOW” routines, but there are nonetheless plenty of others that should contend for spots or provide realistic depth.

Belle Gottula

Gottula is the standout in this freshman class, and the most intriguing new routine to watch in the entire group will be her vault because she occasionally performs a 1.5. It’s not the most comfortable 1.5 in the world (2016 attempt below), but the possibility exists to give the team a powerful vault. In fact, Gottula struggled on some of her 2017 attempts at the full only because she completed the vault too early. Missouri can work with this.

On floor, expect to see Gottula make her way into the lineup with a fairly amplitudinous (definitely a word) full-in that she added to her routine in 2017 and that can push her ahead of the many of the D-pass options on the depth chart.

Bars and beam are tougher prospects, though still realistic. I enjoy Gottula’s loso series on beam quite a bit, but I worry about the leaps. That’s true for many in this class. It’s not a leaps class. They would rather eat a blanket of nails. On bars, everything might be a touch too deduction-heavy right now, but with a Gienger and a full-in dismount, it’s a worthwhile project to try to get this routine to lineup readiness. Continue reading 2018 Freshmen – Missouri →