Signing day usually isn’t full of huge breaking news in gymnastics: Most verbally committed gymnasts have been so for some time. The surprises we do get, though, are always fascinating. This year we had a flurry of late commitment switches and one big-name announcement on signing day itself.
With the recent elimination of the NLI and the move away from head-count scholarships in gymnastics, this signing day has been different than in past years. There’s no longer a clear distinction between scholarship and walk-on athletes based on the type of paperwork an athlete signed or based on the use of the word “signed” in a press release. Different schools seem to be navigating these changes in different ways, but the overall trend appears to be that more gymnasts are able to make their commitment official on signing day than in the past.
Big Names Unsigned
A few rated recruits, most of whom announced they would be receiving a scholarship, have not yet signed. Alabama commit Azaraya Ra-Akbar and Stanford commit Jennifer Williams are part of that group, but there’s no reason to panic: Both train outside of the U.S., and it’s not uncommon for international athletes to sign a little later. Abigail Ryssman, who recently switched her commitment from Denver to…
