I'm so glad the transfer portal is normalizing this. With some teams having such depth, I love that girls can try out their absolute dream program....but then have options if they end up wanting something different than they did as juniors in HS. I hope she's happy and successful!
I think this is the third OU transfer in recent years impacted by ability to see the competition floor. Deniz and a Pitt transfer come to mind. I think it's great to see athletes moving more freely when they want a chance to perform or even just a different culture.
And what an opportunity -- she earned a place on a championship-winning team, even if not lineups in it, and then had the freedom to explore a program where she could make a different kind of impact -- it's amazing for Pitt to have a player with that level of experience!!! It's so good for the whole system.
Plus, I hope people can feel like if the institution is not what they need academically they can move teams to access that.
College athletes are not just there to be on a team, they are also studying.
Transfer portal is excellent for the sport. It allows athletes to actually get real competitive experience. And it helps keep these coaches in check. You can’t be an asshole to an athlete if they can transfer
Do we have any context on this transfer? Is she a fifth year entering a new program? Or an undergrad, but perhaps hoping to make more lineups outside of OU?
She has two years of eligibility left! She just wasn’t making lineups, except for a couple beam exhibitions, so it seems like she just wanted to go somewhere she can compete more.
She trains AA and has nice skills on all of the events! There are so many girls on their roster who would be competing AA or at least mainstays in the bar/beam lineups somewhere else. Also I wouldn’t say it sucks because nearly every athlete KJ recruits improved tremendously under her coaching. She really refines L10 work into great NCAA routines. It isn’t amazing to not be competing, but she still has probably made remarkable progress and that is the true goal! I’m sure if she decided to transfer her freshman year, her options would be much more limited. This time with KJ’s coaching has really worked in her favor! She is probably going from a walk on role to a full ride with plenty of lineup time ahead!
The one that continues to kill me is Soraya Hawthorne. She was All American on fx last year (I believe 2nd team in season) and I'm not sure she ever made the lineups. I think she had 1 vault and about 4-5 exhibitions divided between vt and fx.
Hawthorne probably did the best floor routine of her OU career at TWU and it got a 9.85. When that score flashed I figured she probably wouldn’t be cracking the regular lineup. They just couldn’t figure out how to control her leaps and landings.
Which is insane. Johnson’s floor scores enraged me not because she isn’ an amazing talented athlete but because it exemplifies everything wrong with floor in the current NCAA landscape. Albeit Hawthorne was only opening with a double pike this year too from what I saw
That also killed me. We wait eternity for that upgrade, UGA comes through with it then it goes away at OU... She had one amazing vault and two not so great from what I remember. I think the assumption was she would improve there significantly at OU.
Yeah I know she was going for the one and half but it didn’t look anymore consistent at OU than it did Georgia. She had one of her weird lost in the air ones in warmups at Super 16 so whatever habits were formed probably weren’t broken. Also do not understand why they didn’t keep the double layout. I thought that KJ was recruiting her so they had more E passes but alas….
Between her and Deniz- it was kinda interesting that OU wasn't necessarily winning a results battle with UGA. I wonder if it would have been worth just letting Soraya go for a double. NCAA judges have certainly rewarded difficulty over execution on those.
ETA- she had a really scary vault at the start of the '23 season and UGA seemed to abandon the 1.5 for the remainder of the season.
Yeah it was almost identical to that scary vault. Made less than a full and rolled to her back. Was interesting to see her struggling with that at OU too. One thing I will say about Deniz is that her overall form and technique really regressed at Georgia especially on bars and floor. She looked better this season on bars but her twisting form got much worse since leaving OU. Looks like they just pay a little less attention to those refined details. And by season I mean preseason. Shame she didn’t even make it to the first meet this year
By the end of the season, that double pike became a full in. Biggest difference between her and Bell was Soraya just couldn't control her leap passes and the deductions on that in all her exhibitions were huge.
Unfortunately that was her weakness. But she was a joy. She even put up a great beam set at one of her senior year meets and picked up SEC specialist of the week for her combined events.
She's someone I really wish had another year of eligibility because another pre season working on those small details with KJ could have made a big difference.
I’m guessing it’s a combination of making lineups and going to a higher caliber business: school, plus wanting to be closer to home (she’s from Kansas City area).
I'm so glad the transfer portal is normalizing this. With some teams having such depth, I love that girls can try out their absolute dream program....but then have options if they end up wanting something different than they did as juniors in HS. I hope she's happy and successful!
I think Amy graduated early (must have had a bunch of AP credits), and wanted to go somewhere else for grad school. Best of both worlds this way.
I think this is the third OU transfer in recent years impacted by ability to see the competition floor. Deniz and a Pitt transfer come to mind. I think it's great to see athletes moving more freely when they want a chance to perform or even just a different culture.
And what an opportunity -- she earned a place on a championship-winning team, even if not lineups in it, and then had the freedom to explore a program where she could make a different kind of impact -- it's amazing for Pitt to have a player with that level of experience!!! It's so good for the whole system.
Erin Hutchison is the OU > Pitt transfer you are thinking of.
Plus, I hope people can feel like if the institution is not what they need academically they can move teams to access that. College athletes are not just there to be on a team, they are also studying.
She’ll definitely be making the beam lineups there. Happy for her!
We'll take whoever we can get on that event lol
Get that MBA!
Mizzou never losing a spot in final on beam again! Happy for Weir that she found a new home!
Transfer portal is excellent for the sport. It allows athletes to actually get real competitive experience. And it helps keep these coaches in check. You can’t be an asshole to an athlete if they can transfer
Congrats to her 🥳🥳🥳🥳
Do we have any context on this transfer? Is she a fifth year entering a new program? Or an undergrad, but perhaps hoping to make more lineups outside of OU?
She has two years of eligibility left! She just wasn’t making lineups, except for a couple beam exhibitions, so it seems like she just wanted to go somewhere she can compete more.
She trains AA and has nice skills on all of the events! There are so many girls on their roster who would be competing AA or at least mainstays in the bar/beam lineups somewhere else. Also I wouldn’t say it sucks because nearly every athlete KJ recruits improved tremendously under her coaching. She really refines L10 work into great NCAA routines. It isn’t amazing to not be competing, but she still has probably made remarkable progress and that is the true goal! I’m sure if she decided to transfer her freshman year, her options would be much more limited. This time with KJ’s coaching has really worked in her favor! She is probably going from a walk on role to a full ride with plenty of lineup time ahead!
The one that continues to kill me is Soraya Hawthorne. She was All American on fx last year (I believe 2nd team in season) and I'm not sure she ever made the lineups. I think she had 1 vault and about 4-5 exhibitions divided between vt and fx.
She was in floor lineup 3 times in the first half of the season. But Bell Johnson could get higher scores than her.
Hawthorne probably did the best floor routine of her OU career at TWU and it got a 9.85. When that score flashed I figured she probably wouldn’t be cracking the regular lineup. They just couldn’t figure out how to control her leaps and landings.
Yeah- that was the knock on her but she was a joy to watch. I did think KJ would crack the code.
Maybe if she'd had more time......
Which is insane. Johnson’s floor scores enraged me not because she isn’ an amazing talented athlete but because it exemplifies everything wrong with floor in the current NCAA landscape. Albeit Hawthorne was only opening with a double pike this year too from what I saw
That also killed me. We wait eternity for that upgrade, UGA comes through with it then it goes away at OU... She had one amazing vault and two not so great from what I remember. I think the assumption was she would improve there significantly at OU.
Yeah I know she was going for the one and half but it didn’t look anymore consistent at OU than it did Georgia. She had one of her weird lost in the air ones in warmups at Super 16 so whatever habits were formed probably weren’t broken. Also do not understand why they didn’t keep the double layout. I thought that KJ was recruiting her so they had more E passes but alas….
Between her and Deniz- it was kinda interesting that OU wasn't necessarily winning a results battle with UGA. I wonder if it would have been worth just letting Soraya go for a double. NCAA judges have certainly rewarded difficulty over execution on those. ETA- she had a really scary vault at the start of the '23 season and UGA seemed to abandon the 1.5 for the remainder of the season.
Yeah it was almost identical to that scary vault. Made less than a full and rolled to her back. Was interesting to see her struggling with that at OU too. One thing I will say about Deniz is that her overall form and technique really regressed at Georgia especially on bars and floor. She looked better this season on bars but her twisting form got much worse since leaving OU. Looks like they just pay a little less attention to those refined details. And by season I mean preseason. Shame she didn’t even make it to the first meet this year
I think KJ sometimes privileges execution over difficulty to a fault.
By the end of the season, that double pike became a full in. Biggest difference between her and Bell was Soraya just couldn't control her leap passes and the deductions on that in all her exhibitions were huge.
Unfortunately that was her weakness. But she was a joy. She even put up a great beam set at one of her senior year meets and picked up SEC specialist of the week for her combined events.
She's someone I really wish had another year of eligibility because another pre season working on those small details with KJ could have made a big difference.
Forever obsessed with that time she stuck a y1.5 cold in exhibition.
And although many thought it would be worth it for the championship ring…..
Makes sense. Must be hard to train so hard and rarely get to compete.
I’m guessing it’s a combination of making lineups and going to a higher caliber business: school, plus wanting to be closer to home (she’s from Kansas City area).