re: Remove

Ferrer posted to social media that due to “personal reason” she will not be competing this season. Plans to compete next year. What is this about? I know it was mentioned she had pneumonia but is it so serious that she can’t compete or train for a long time? Or is more going on?

This is a big loss from a depth perspective on vault and bars.

She wasn't going to be in the bars lineup once Alyona gets healthy but she was at least a decent plug in. Our vaulting unit is my main concern right now. We desperately need Ryan and Kai to get healthy ASAP.

In gymnastics can you choose to Redshirt if it isn't a medical reason?

Unrelated to LSU gymnastics, but I had a chance to watch the Michigan quad meet today. Michigan is the real deal. They had a lot of mistakes (beam was a hot mess) but I can certainly see them in the Four on the Floor. Sierra Brooks is the real deal. Her bars routine was probably the best routine of the whole meet (scored 9.925). Her FTDLO dismount is actually better than Mollie Korth’s (and that’s saying a lot). They also put up five 10.0 vaults. Some had too much power. I saw a lot of potential in most of their routines. I’m excited to see how they progress as the season goes along.

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VT
- Worrying lack of depth here. The core 5 of Edney, Edwards, Harrold, Johnson and Rivers should suffice but that's only 4 10.0 SVs.
- I wonder if we can eke out a DTY from Rivers. She last competed it 2 years ago.
- Lexie Nibbs looks like the front-runner for that #6 spot. Nice power, just gotta control it.

UB
- I actually think Johnson has the best and cleanest UB routine in the lineup and should anchor. She's basically doing Kyla Ross's routine and can be counted on to stick her dismount.
- I'm surprised that Jay kept the 1/1 pirouette in Rivers' routine.
- Durante's dismount looks much improved. Hopefully she can replicate it in competition.
- Durante, Shchennikova, Rivers, Harrold, Edney, Johnson is a great lineup, but there's a huge drop-off in quality after these 6.

BB
- Johnson seems to be doing way too much difficulty. I'd have her do either the punch front or front aerial. Not both.
- Campbell's switch 1/2 is looking more and more like a switch side with 1/4 turn. I hope they're working on that with her because the rest of the routine is pristine.
- Overall, I feel we need better beam choreography. That's where UCLA and OK excel and it separates great from excellent.

FX
- Echoing my comments on BB, on first impression, the gymnasts deserve better choreography.
- Firstly, why are all of them performing to the same, interchangeable dated electro music?
- I don't get a sense of story or character from these routines, which again is what sets OK and UCLA apart. Even if the choreo is not great, choosing unique music can do so much heavy lifting in terms of presentation.
- Not sure if it's the best idea to have Gunther do a legacy routine.
- Tumbling-wise, I was pleasantly surprised! Esp with the DLO from Edwards and double arabian from Gunther. Johnson's full in was monstrous.

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I actually agree mostly with you.

Depth on vault is a concern pending the status of Kai (which I recently heard great news about). Losing Ferrer hurts the depth. One girl we did not see at 101 due to LSU being precautionary is Kamryn Ryan, who was top 4 at JO Nationals on vault. She is most likely filling in that last spot with Kai. Very good vaulter. The depth behind it is a concern though. LSU currently has Sami Durante and Desiderio moving over to vault to add more depth at. this time. Kai has a 10.0 vault but I doubt we see it early. I think the lineup with Ryan, Ruby, Kai, Edwards, Kiya and Edney is a very strong rotation but the girls behind them are a bit of a drop off at this time.

Bars is similar to vault where depth becomes a big issue once we get outside the scope of the top 6 bar workers. I am fine with Kiya going first as she does bare minimum difficulty (outside the double layout) and she is super clean. She will move towards the end of the lineup once she adds in a release move.She does not have the difficulty to be anchoring bars at this time. Kai's bars are going to be great but I wonder if they want to stay with that much difficulty early. Getting Alyona back is the game changer here. LSU misses the seniors the most on this event.

Beam is pretty strong but I still have issues with the amount of difficulty LSU is doing. We are going well and beyond what is required to just start at a 10. I will be honest, the front tuck scares the hell out of me. Its a skill that even elites have issues with at times. We may be pushing the envelope too much early with Kiya's. beam difficulty. Not that she can't do it, but there is an incredible amount of room for things to go wrong with the amount of difficulty she is going. I am hoping we see Kai and Alyona step up here as I get a bit concerned with Dean's constant form breaks and questionable leaps. D'Antonio has potential, I just saw mostly nerves on Friday which is to be expected. Beam choreography outside a select view is a bit stiff and robotic for my personal liking. Desiderio and Campbell have beautiful flow to their routines.

Floor, I am a bit disappointed with music choices and choreography. I feel like we got lazy and repetitive on this event with similar music and choreography. Recycling Ewing's routine was pure laziness. Gunter has a legit shot to break a floor lineup with how she is progressing and with Desiderio struggling a bit with her 2nd and 3rd passes in practice. They should have given her new material. Desiderio's floor music is god awful and I am not sure how that got approved. As for the tumbling itself, we are extremely deep on this event. Kai and Ryan are great floor workers and were with held along with Ruby. The E passes for everyone were superb. I think we can go 8 deep here with minimal drop off with a couple routines.

I didn’t like the choreo, and it’s growing old now. ACK should start studying something different. I would prefer Kiya’s JO routine to this one. I’ve never been a fan of being on all fours on floor. I cringed so hard when Boren did it last year. Also, we didn’t give Ewards a new routine to go with her beautiful new DLO? I know Campbell doesn’t bring the “E” pass, but at least routine is something different and has decent dance. Overall, I’m just disappointed in the floor routines.

Just an update, Leanne Wong may make a decision sooner than later.

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Is LSU presumed the favorite?

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If I were 247 and was handling crystal balls, not sure I would touch this. If I was forced to do one, probably Florida as she has been there a lot over the last year. Apparently the academic side is extremely important to her. She visited UCLA with her current teammate and UCLA commit Alexis Jeffrey.

Eaker choosing Utah kinda caught everyone off guard. Wong has been extremely discreet with her recruitment unlike other kids so its extremely difficult to predict. She has been to LSU multiple times and enjoyed her visits so you can't take LSU out the equation either.


Recruiting has been extremely fluid for LSU lately with a lot of surprises. Kiya Johnson was a last minute flip from Georgia. She had been in contact with the coaches a lot and made multiple trips to campus the last 3 months leading up to NSD. Alyona's recruitment was very discreet but there was smoke as she secretly came in for a visit during the spring and told the coaches months prior to her signing this summer that she was BR bound.

Lets see how things transpire moving forward. Jay has worked a lot of magic with his last minute flips/impressions with recruits.

On the 101 broadcast I kept seeing a young lady in the background on the floor with a pass hanging around her neck. You can see her real well when they were getting ready to go to bars and Bob was sitting in a chair and she was sitting a row behind him. They caught her a few times on camera. Anyone know who she is or was it Shilese Jones possibly?