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re: LSU Gymnastics 2026 Recruiting and Beyond Thread
Posted on 1/11/26 at 8:59 am to Tigerbait357
Posted on 1/11/26 at 8:59 am to Tigerbait357
The scoring yesterday at sprouts was a total crapshoot. That includes the night session. A lot of it was too high or too low and none of it was consistent. Let’s all hope for better the rest of the season!
1
Posted on 1/12/26 at 3:37 pm to khill715
Posted on 1/12/26 at 9:05 pm to tlricks04
Thanks for posting this! No wonder he was so animated when talking with the judge. I would’ve been too! That doesn’t seem right at all.
Posted on 1/18/26 at 7:16 pm to LauraGB
Well, We have some coming from behind to do. Looks like we will probably drop to 4th in the standings. There were a lot of 197+(s) this weekend from SEC Teams.
This post was edited on 1/18/26 at 8:27 pm
Posted on 1/19/26 at 12:12 pm to Bayougallc
my way-too-early thoughts
we are gonna find out how good of coaches the McCools really are this year, or if they have just been benefactors of having talent that is best in the nation on their events. There is only so much we see, but it seems like they have yet to really see either of them develop a girl on their respective event into more than they were. to put it into perspective, Gnat really did a good job developing Sierra, heck even Jay with Cowan on bars. I am hopeful they are able to breakthrough with Drayton on both of their events they coach. Speaking of Drayton, her beam was fantastic btw
I am out of the loop, but any reason they are not using Nina or Mustari? I can stomach mistakes and 196's so long as it is there are freshman learning trial by fire, but last meet was not that.
That vault rotation was very questionable by Jay. I'd like to see Konnor back in the beam spot she had been in the last 2 years, with Chio as anchor. Not that impressed with the floor rotations thus far, either. I assume Coen is hurt, but I think her floor would juice up the entire rotantion and bring the energy and sass the rotation as a whole is severely lacking.
If Chio is this teams Haleigh, then who is her Finnegan? If it is Ulrich, we are in trouble. I like Ulrich so far she is a solid reliable all arounder with a high-floor but kinda low ceiling. She seems like the type that rarely gets you higher than a 9.925+, but she also will always give you a score worth keeping and mistake free, and you take those. Guess all Im saying is we need that second all arounder who can get huge scores, but does that girl exist on this roster as constructed?
It's early so most of the above is reactionary.
we are gonna find out how good of coaches the McCools really are this year, or if they have just been benefactors of having talent that is best in the nation on their events. There is only so much we see, but it seems like they have yet to really see either of them develop a girl on their respective event into more than they were. to put it into perspective, Gnat really did a good job developing Sierra, heck even Jay with Cowan on bars. I am hopeful they are able to breakthrough with Drayton on both of their events they coach. Speaking of Drayton, her beam was fantastic btw
I am out of the loop, but any reason they are not using Nina or Mustari? I can stomach mistakes and 196's so long as it is there are freshman learning trial by fire, but last meet was not that.
That vault rotation was very questionable by Jay. I'd like to see Konnor back in the beam spot she had been in the last 2 years, with Chio as anchor. Not that impressed with the floor rotations thus far, either. I assume Coen is hurt, but I think her floor would juice up the entire rotantion and bring the energy and sass the rotation as a whole is severely lacking.
If Chio is this teams Haleigh, then who is her Finnegan? If it is Ulrich, we are in trouble. I like Ulrich so far she is a solid reliable all arounder with a high-floor but kinda low ceiling. She seems like the type that rarely gets you higher than a 9.925+, but she also will always give you a score worth keeping and mistake free, and you take those. Guess all Im saying is we need that second all arounder who can get huge scores, but does that girl exist on this roster as constructed?
It's early so most of the above is reactionary.
This post was edited on 1/19/26 at 12:51 pm
Posted on 1/19/26 at 2:48 pm to Pippa
I agree with you on several points. My concern is the judges did not like the floor music and choreography. The scores with the exception of Konnor and Amari's falls were low in my view. Also, vault is giving me great concern. We need more controlled vaults. Lexi ,Kailin and Amari were the three that showed promise. Where was Molly and Courtney? I have heard Jay say they only do full routines a couple of days each week. That is a concern if you want to perfect movements and sticks. Konnor's confidence on beam has taken a hit. I hope they will move her back in the line up if that will help her. Some gymnasts feel too much pressure being the anchor. She was awesome on bars and I hope that will help her going forward.
Posted on 1/20/26 at 3:15 pm to Bayougallc
Posted on 1/21/26 at 5:07 am to Pippa
To be fair I think Courtney has done a good job with beam overall. We don't really have that many natural beamers imo. Coming into LSU, for example Coen's best event was bars. Vault I agree is more concerning with development. It is obvious to me that we aren't in the Bob Moore era where we really were developing girls on that event.
AA is a legit issue. Other than Chio the current two AAers that the coaches seem to favour are Ulrich and Zeiss. Both have the same issue of high floor but not that high ceiling, as it was put earlier. The coaches clearly like Zeiss, she is obviously very hardworking and dialed in, but she has form issues that hamper super high scores on nearly every event. I think bars is probably her cleanest.
Against that background I would like to see more of Nina. She's certainly got the JO chops as an AAer. Amari and Konnor should be in 3/4 events as they have a higher ceiling, with that elite polish and very good form in leaps and acro. I don't know where Mustari is either but imo even in our very strong lineup of bars workers, she would've been in my top 6.
Brinkman doesn't seem in the convo for vault which I can only imagine must be an injury issue as I thought that's why we recruited her.
AA is a legit issue. Other than Chio the current two AAers that the coaches seem to favour are Ulrich and Zeiss. Both have the same issue of high floor but not that high ceiling, as it was put earlier. The coaches clearly like Zeiss, she is obviously very hardworking and dialed in, but she has form issues that hamper super high scores on nearly every event. I think bars is probably her cleanest.
Against that background I would like to see more of Nina. She's certainly got the JO chops as an AAer. Amari and Konnor should be in 3/4 events as they have a higher ceiling, with that elite polish and very good form in leaps and acro. I don't know where Mustari is either but imo even in our very strong lineup of bars workers, she would've been in my top 6.
Brinkman doesn't seem in the convo for vault which I can only imagine must be an injury issue as I thought that's why we recruited her.
Posted on 1/21/26 at 7:00 am to Tigerbait357
I'm assuming this 27 class has got to be on of the all time great classes.
Posted on 1/21/26 at 1:30 pm to russiangym
If you haven’t already, I highly recommend you listen to the press conference from this week recapping last weekend’s meet and looking ahead to the rest of the season because Jay answers most of your concerns and questions in the press conference including what’s going on with Nina, Haley, why he’s using Zeiss so much and why others haven’t seen lineups thus far (like Konnor on Vault). Amari has been pressing to try to be better than she was last year hence her struggles, in the same way Aleah was on floor. We’re beating a dead horse here with that conversation with our vets IMO.
Bottom line is they’re struggling with consistency in practice and Jay doesn’t want to put someone in meet lineups who hasn’t proven themselves to be consistent in practice yet which is where developing them on vault is coming from. For me personally, that’s one area of his coaching mantra that Jay has that I respect more than the DD/Bob era of the program where they used to just throw girls into the lineup because we needed a score to see how they do when they were still struggling in practice to begin with. As a coach, I can tell you that throwing an athlete into a big meet scenario to test them out and help them be developed doesn’t fix the underlying consistency issues they’re having in practice, it just makes everything else even worse
Bottom line is they’re struggling with consistency in practice and Jay doesn’t want to put someone in meet lineups who hasn’t proven themselves to be consistent in practice yet which is where developing them on vault is coming from. For me personally, that’s one area of his coaching mantra that Jay has that I respect more than the DD/Bob era of the program where they used to just throw girls into the lineup because we needed a score to see how they do when they were still struggling in practice to begin with. As a coach, I can tell you that throwing an athlete into a big meet scenario to test them out and help them be developed doesn’t fix the underlying consistency issues they’re having in practice, it just makes everything else even worse
Posted on 1/22/26 at 3:31 am to lsugymfann
I have watched the video, yes. It's good to hear about other people being brought in especially to the vault lineup.
TBH I'm not 100% sure about this logic that all these people need to find more consistency in the gym. I understand it in general but but some people compete better than they train. Again my worry is that we get stuck into the 9.8s with OK and perfectly servicable reliable routines but 9.8s don't win you championships.
TBH I'm not 100% sure about this logic that all these people need to find more consistency in the gym. I understand it in general but but some people compete better than they train. Again my worry is that we get stuck into the 9.8s with OK and perfectly servicable reliable routines but 9.8s don't win you championships.
Posted on 1/22/26 at 8:50 pm to russiangym
quote:
TBH I'm not 100% sure about this logic that all these people need to find more consistency in the gym. I understand it in general but but some people compete better than they train. Again my worry is that we get stuck into the 9.8s with OK and perfectly servicable reliable routines but 9.8s don't win you championships.
I respect that you have the opinion that you have in the matter but as a former nationally ranked athlete who now coaches nationally and internationally ranked athletes (in track and field so a different environment but same way of thinking) for the last 10 years, one of the things that’s consistently drilled into our athletes heads is “practice the way you want to compete”, regardless of if they’re someone who competes better than they train or not. It’s one of the many reasons why teams like OU and coaches like KJ have been so successful with their program: it’s not the athletes they recruit but the way she coaches them and expects them to show up at practice better than they do on meet day, because you have more opportunities in practice to get it right but only one chance on meet day. Rarely do we see her give second chances to girls in meet lineups and spends practice time developing them not the meets (for example Jordan Bowers on beam her freshman year only competed 2 or 3 times because she kept struggling and look at the way her career ended). It’s the same way that track coaches like myself will put the most consistent athletes on a relay, even if they aren’t the fastest 4 runners, because what matters most at the end of the day is getting the baton around the track cleanly and quickly. Speed only gets you so far if you can’t do a hand off correctly. You need speed, cleanliness and consistency.
If we don’t start taking that approach and having that mentality within our program with our girls, they will continue to dominate us and leave us in the dust. I’d rather lose a national championship because we put a senior (with more experience and consistency in practice and competition who caps out at a 9.875) in our lineups than our freshman (who’s a better competitor than she is at being consistent at practice) and left the freshman on the bench because that sets the standard and a precedent for future seasons for the freshman that they can do just enough at practice and don’t need to do anything more to make a lineup when everyone else is working their arse off (essentially turning it into a Selena Harris at UCLA situation). Hard work ALWAYS beats talent when talent fails to work hard.
Posted on 1/23/26 at 8:28 am to lsugymfann
I have always believed that Jay could improve the "practice schedule" and methods of perfecting sticks and leaps for the Tigers. I can see some improvement in a few of our gymnasts.
KJ is demanding and her athletes do not appear to resent the standard that she sets for the team. Her formula works and she will continue to be a successful until she decides to bow out. I know their routines can look robotic but the judges do not seem to ever hold that against them. The Tigers will have plenty of competition within the SEC. Alabama, Florida, Georgia and Oklahoma are looking good this year. It will be a challenge for all teams to make the night session at SEC Championships with all 9 teams in the mix. Nothing is a "given" in this conference.
KJ is demanding and her athletes do not appear to resent the standard that she sets for the team. Her formula works and she will continue to be a successful until she decides to bow out. I know their routines can look robotic but the judges do not seem to ever hold that against them. The Tigers will have plenty of competition within the SEC. Alabama, Florida, Georgia and Oklahoma are looking good this year. It will be a challenge for all teams to make the night session at SEC Championships with all 9 teams in the mix. Nothing is a "given" in this conference.
Posted on 1/23/26 at 3:43 pm to Bayougallc
quote:
I know their routines can look robotic but the judges do not seem to ever hold that against them
They need to. Theres no variety in their routines and it shows up in the scoring and the fact that they’re ALWAYS scored over a full point higher than they should’ve been, including tonight
Posted on 1/23/26 at 6:20 pm to lsugymfann
Lineups are out for tonight. There are a few changes to them:
Vault: Nina and Konnor’s LSU debut, Kaliya’s season debut. No Ulrich, No Blackson, no Roberts
Bars: same lineup as always
Beam: Chio anchoring, Konnor fifth. Otherwise the same as last week
Floor (where the most changes are happening: Innes, Ballou, COEN, Amari, Chio, Lincoln
Vault: Nina and Konnor’s LSU debut, Kaliya’s season debut. No Ulrich, No Blackson, no Roberts
Bars: same lineup as always
Beam: Chio anchoring, Konnor fifth. Otherwise the same as last week
Floor (where the most changes are happening: Innes, Ballou, COEN, Amari, Chio, Lincoln
Posted on 1/23/26 at 10:37 pm to Bayougallc
LSU looked good tonite. A few things to clean up but the landings were MUCH better.
The Florida scores were a little high. With the 3 9.3s in a row I didn't think there was a chance in hell Auburn wouldn't win much less Florida would score 197 counting 2 falls.
The Florida scores were a little high. With the 3 9.3s in a row I didn't think there was a chance in hell Auburn wouldn't win much less Florida would score 197 counting 2 falls.
Posted on 1/24/26 at 3:31 pm to SLIPSHITE
quote:
LSU looked good tonite. A few things to clean up but the landings were MUCH better.
They really just gotta figure out vault
Right now they are only getting consistent decent scoring vaults from Zeiss and Chio.Drayton has a good vault but it’s been off so far early this year
The other spots are a bit up in the air. Lincoln should be able to provide a solid vault here as she gets into a flow here
Last two spots gonna need some to step up. Depth doesn’t seem quite as deep as previous years. I know Brinkman was known for her vault at JO level but it seems she may not be fully healthy or ready for vault, haven’t see her there yet. Thought Innes had a decent fill at Washington but haven’t seen it yet. Robert’s vault is developing but still working on landing it. They may go back to Ulrich in middle of the lineup.
I feel fairly comfortable with every other event. Beam which has so many new faces is actually a strength for the team this year. Courtney has done a nice job
This post was edited on 1/24/26 at 3:35 pm
Posted on 1/24/26 at 6:05 pm to Tigerbait357
Konnor, Kaliya and Amari all had good double Yuro vaults. These three have a lot of power so I have to wonder if they would control their power better competing their former elite vaults.
Posted on 1/24/26 at 6:37 pm to Tigerbait357
I really think they should try switching Cowan out for Alexis or Haley and just see how it goes. Cowan hasn’t looked as sharped for a few meets now.
I feel like vault may just be what it is this year and we may need to count on bars and beam this postseason (never thought I would type that!).
I feel like vault may just be what it is this year and we may need to count on bars and beam this postseason (never thought I would type that!).
Posted on 1/24/26 at 8:15 pm to khill715
Brinkman won a national title on vault at JO so idk if she has a wrist or shoulder issue holding her back. Would help significantly to get her on vault
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