NLI Week 2015-2016

Ah, yes. NLI week. The time of year where schools can finally publicly acknowledge what they've known for the last 3-5 years and announce which gymnasts will be joining their teams for the 2015-2016 season. I'll be updating this post over the next week or so, beginning Wednesday, with the announced classes and links to the press releases from the major schools. Sometimes interesting things happen. Usually it's just the confirmation of verbals long since forgotten.

Just to review, NLI stands for National Letter of Intent, and it's what future student-athletes sign to signal an end to the recruiting process and a commitment to attend a particular institution, in most cases along with a scholarship agreement. Previously almost all of these gymnasts, especially the US ones, will have announced a verbal commitment to these schools, but verbal commitments are not official or binding. Once you sign the NLI, it's real.

It begins.

UTAH - Release
MyKayla Skinner, Shannon McNatt, MaKenna Merrell, and Erika Muhaw

The only question here is the Skinner deferral issue, and I expect she's planning on it. Also, if she makes the Worlds team next year, the lure of going pro may be strong in this one.

STANFORD - Release
Hailee Hoffman and Taryn Fitzgerald

WASHINGTON - Release
Kristyn Hoffa and Monica Riley

MICHIGAN - Release
Olivia Karas and Emma McLean

FLORIDA - Release
Peyton Ernst, Alicia Boren, Lacy Dagen

MICHIGAN STATE - Release
Brittini Chappell, Drew Hendershot, Jessica Ling, Roya Shirley

PENN STATE - Release
Sabrina Garcia, Mason Hosek, Jessica Jones

LSU - Release
Lexie Priessman, McKenna Kelley, Kaitlyn Szafranski, Julianna Cannamela

-The pressure will be on that LSU class majorly to make up for the losses of Hall, Courville, Jordan, and Ranzy. Basically, all of their potential has to pan out for LSU to retain its current strength.

-Sarah Finnegan has also confirmed LSU is her choice, so basically one crazy-talented class leaves to be replaced by another 

UCLA - Release
Simone Biles, Madison Kocian, Macy Toronjo

UCLA confirms that both Biles and Kocian are planning to defer and go for the Olympic team. That was obvious for Biles but never overtly stated for Kocian. Still, since she made Worlds this year, it makes sense. I wouldn't say it's likely for Kocian, but it's not just a pipe dream. The problem for UCLA here is that (as of now), they'll only have one new gymnast for 2015-2016 in Toronjo. They're losing only Sam Peszek and maybe Ellette Craddock (redshirt possibility?) after this year, so they're not dropping all that many routines, but those Sam Peszek shoes are big ones to fill.

ARKANSAS - Release
Makenzie Anderson

MISSOURI - Release
Allison Bower, Madeleine Huber, Brooke Kelly, Morgan Porter, Michaelee Turner

IOWA STATE - Release
Meaghan Sievers, Sydney Converse, Madeline Johnson

ILLINOIS - Release
Rebecca Cuppy, Haylee Roe

DENVER - Release
Claire Kern, Kaitlyn Schou

GEORGIA - Release
Gracie Cherrey, Jordyn Pedersen, Sydney Snead

Pedersen is also planning to defer until after the Olympics, at least for now.

OREGON STATE - Release
Sabrina Gill, Mariana Colussi-Pelaez, McKenna Singley

CAL - Release
Emily Howe

KENT STATE - Release
Carmen Joliff, Sarah Lippowitsch, Kennedy Plude

SAN JOSE STATE - Release
Ellie Pascoe-Long, Josalyn Ray

MARYLAND - Release
Shynelle Agaran, Megan McClelland, Macey Roberts

CENTRAL MICHIGAN - Release
Skyler Memmel, Kasey Janowicz, Abbie Zoeller, Kailey Miller, Gianna Plaksa

-The [original] headline is "'Special' Class for CMU Volleyball." Great work, everyone.

OHIO STATE - Release
Casey Carvalho, Jamie Stone

NORTH CAROLINA - Release
Mackenzie Austin, Kelsey Chan, Madison Hargrave

NEBRASKA - Release
Kami Amemiya-Shows, Sienna Crouse, Catelyn Orel, Megan Schweihofer

ARIZONA - Release
Brittany Robertson, Charle Dembo, Skyler Sheppard, Danielle Spencer

BOWLING GREEN - Release
Julia Beyer, Chelsea Eley, Lauren De Meno

PITTSBURGH - Release
Krista Collins, Kensleigh Owens, Brittany West

SOUTHERN UTAH - Release
Natalie Hoffmann, Kamryn Bayer

NC STATE - Release
Caitlyn Fillard, Mackenzie Itcush, Maggie Tamburro, Nicole Wild

UC DAVIS - Release
Kara Jones, Yasmine Yektaparast

OKLAHOMA - Release
Nicole Lehrmann, Megan Thompson (walk-on)

WEST VIRGINIA - Release
Kirah Koshinski, Sarah Moore, Jaquie Tun, Tiara Wright, Carly Galpin (walk-on)

MINNESOTA - Release
Rachel Cutler, Selena Ung

AUBURN - Release
Taylor Krippner, Samantha Cerio, Emma Engler, Emma Slappey

ARIZONA STATE - Release
 Corinne Belkoff, Eileen Imbus, Katelyn Lentz, Morgan Wilson

KENTUCKY - Release
Sidney Dukes, Alex Hyland, Aubree Rosa, Katie Stuart

.........

....78 millennia later......

.........

ALABAMA - Release
Jenna Bresette, Abby Armbrecht, Amanda Huang, Avery Rickett


-Note that a few teams are announcing people and posting signing pictures on twitter before they do a real release if you want to keep track of that.

-All the coaches are really eager to tell us how outstanding these classes are. I really wish someone would go, "This year's class is just OK" some time.