Inside Gymnastics Magazine | All Eyes On Avery Neff – Inside The Recruiting Journey of a Top Recruit

05 Jun All Eyes On Avery Neff – Inside The Recruiting Journey of a Top Recruit

Posted at 15:46h in News & Features by Ashlee Buhler 0 Comments

From the outside, when Avery Neff walks the halls of Bingham High School she appears as your average high school student. She enjoys hanging out with friends, taking Mandarin Chinese classes (fun fact: Neff started learning Chinese in 1st grade and speaks the language fluently), and getting dolled up for prom just like everyone else. But when the bell rings and the school day is done, Neff lives a life that is anything but average.

She’s widely considered to be the top level 10 gymnast in the country, taking just about every major title there is from the coveted Nastia Cup crown in 2023 to winning seven national titles (two of which were All-Around titles) over the last three years. Yet she’s as humble as can be – not one to share too much about her accomplishments.

“A lot of my friends know that I won Nationals and the Nastia Cup, but I don’t think they know the extent of it,” Neff said. “I was hanging out with them yesterday and we were doing trivia questions and I was asking them all these questions and they didn’t know anything!”

Just one look at her social media pages is enough to paint the picture of just how big of a deal Neff is. With an Instagram account dedicated solely to her gymnastics career that amasses more than 55 thousand followers, Neff is already primed to be one of the next big stars in college athletics – a world where NIL has quickly changed the game for athletes with large followings to capitalize on their name, image and likeness through brand deals and partnerships.Yet Neff likes to maintain some normalcy in her life too, which is why she has a personal account for close family and friends.

“I get kinda embarrassed for them to see it, so I like to try to keep my personal life and my gymnastics separate,” Neff admits. “I post every day and I’m like, ‘You don’t have to follow me!’ It’s just purely for gymnastics!’ But they follow it anyway, so it’s fine!”

The Pressure Of Being Number One

It’s no secret that winning comes with pressure to live up to expectations. However, that’s something Neff has learned to manage as she has grown in the sport. Her key to success in competition is focusing on anything but gymnastics, whether that’s shopping before the meet or playing a quick game of “Would You Rather” on her phone before mounting the beam.

“Beam used to be the event I struggled the most with,” Neff said. “I would do my routine consistently in the gym but I never carried it over to meets. I found that in meets I would redo skills on the floor and my mind wouldn’t stop – but in the gym I’m not like that. I stop and talk a lot and then I’m like, ‘Oh I need to go, it’s my turn!’ So I started to do that at meets because that’s what I do in practice and it’s helped me ten times more!”

It’s a strategy that has proven to work so far, particularly on an event as nerve wracking as the balance beam. This year at the Development Program National Championships, she won the first national beam title of her career. When she stuck her dismount, she knew it was the best routine she had ever done.

“Me and my coach looked at each other and we were like, ‘Oh my gosh that was the routine that I needed! That felt like a National Champion routine right there!’ I was really proud of myself that I carried that from practice over to competition.”

However, there are some types of pressure that are much tougher to prepare for. When you are one of the top gymnasts in the nation every NCAA program in the country knows your name. Then there are the fans who are following your every move, eagerly (and sometimes impatiently) waiting to see where you will end up.

All Eyes On Avery

June 15th. It’s the date saved on every aspiring college gymnast’s calendar. For Neff, it was undoubtedly the busiest day of her life and just the beginning of a five month-long recruiting journey. As soon as college coaches could start calling, they did. One after another after another. Neff isn’t exactly sure how many coaches she talked to – it was far too many to count – but she received calls from schools of all calibers, even schools with tumbling and acro teams like Baylor University.

Neff missed practice on June 15th in order to speak to as many college coaches as possible. She politely declined the schools she wasn’t interested in and set up calls with the ones she might consider. The initial call with each coach was somewhat of a “get to know each other” call.

“I would get off a 30 minute call and then five minutes later I’d be on the next 30 minute call and then 5 minutes later I’d be on the next 30 minute call,” Neff recalls. “So I had to make a calendar and write out each coach with their Zoom link … It was crazy but definitely a fun experience. Not many people get to experience that!”

Wanting to be considerate of her teammates going through the recruiting process as well, Neff chose not to share many details when in the gym or boast about all the calls she was getting. When you’re the recruit on every school in the country’s radar, the calls come right away, but for others it can be a months-long battle of trying to get noticed.

“I felt kind of bad because I had one other teammate that’s my year (class of ‘24) and she was trying to get colleges to call her,” Neff said. “On the 16th when I came back to practice everyone was asking how many calls I got and I felt bad saying, so I was kinda being secretive about it.”

The calls from coaches lasted for months, with most colleges following up every week or so until it was time to schedule official visits.

“They would just ask me, ‘How was your week this week?’ and ‘Do you want to know anything about us?’ and then I would ask them questions,” Neff said.

On the second or third call with the coaches, Neff set up official visits to the schools she was most interested in. She had her top 10 determined going into the process, so narrowing it down to five was a matter of several factors, including how well she clicked with the coaches. (Note: the number of official visits allowed by the NCAA at the time was five. The rule has since changed allowing unlimited visits.)

“The first thing was how I would get along with the coaches, especially if I wanted to move to that state – that was a big one,” Neff said. “I also thought about my family. Like, would it be easy for them to get there? I also thought about what the academics have to offer.”

Neff decided to take her official visits at the University of Utah, the University of Oklahoma, the University of Florida, Louisiana State University and the University of Alabama. As she went on each visit – posting videos and photos along the way to keep fans up to date – where Neff would end up became one of the most talked about subjects in the gymnastics community. It was hard to get on Twitter, Facebook or Reddit without seeing hundreds of people speculating on where she might end up.

“100%” Neff said when asked if she was surprised by the level of interest in her recruiting journey. “I was like, ‘Why do so many people care about me? I’m nothing too great, I’m just another girl!’

But it was fun too, Neff admits as she recalled a post suggesting she should throw everyone for a loop by committing to a school she never even visited. “I was like, ‘That would be pretty funny!’ she said with a laugh.

Neff was intentional with posting photos from each of her five visits. Not only was she trying to build suspense for the fans following her journey, but she wanted to spark transparency about the recruiting process and what gymnasts can expect.

“When I started the process I was confused,” Neff said. “I didn’t know how it happened and I never really knew about the recruiting process, so I did it to show younger generations what I went through being the top recruit. I also kind of did it because of my school friends. When I told them I had all these offers they were like, ‘You need to post that on Instagram!’ And I was like, ‘No I’m not that type of person’ and ‘That’s not really how gymnastics is … we don’t really do that.’ But I also wanted to express my gratitude and show people how grateful I am to go on all these visits and meet these amazing people and the coaching staff.”

Making The Decision

The best piece of advice Neff received during the recruiting process was to envision where she would want to be if gymnastics wasn’t a part of the equation. What state would she actually enjoy living in? Would her family be near if she got homesick?

Family was always one of the most important elements to the recruitment process for the Utah native, although there were times she felt like purposely pushing against the narrative that LDS gymnasts don’t want to leave the state of Utah.

“A lot of colleges don’t even come out to Utah [to recruit] because they assume because we’re LDS and so family-oriented that we would never leave Utah. My coaches were like, ‘Please don’t get that [impression]. They will leave!’” Neff recalls. “There was a part of me that thought maybe I shouldn’t go to Utah just so I wouldn’t get the comments.”

But at the end of the day, family is what she values the most. “I just knew I couldn’t leave them,” Neff said.

However, she kept her mind open as she went on all her official visits. She was simply amazed by every school and felt a family-like atmosphere everywhere she went, but she knew she had to start narrowing down her options in order to make a decision.

For starters, she knew she wanted an established coaching staff, and some of the states she simply couldn’t envision herself living in. This was the first step in narrowing her choices down. When it came down to taking her fifth and final visit at Florida, Neff was feeling overwhelmed. It had been a long process with hundreds of phone calls made and four official visits complete. In her heart, she knew Utah and Oklahoma were at the top of her list.

“I told Jenny [Rowland] that I wasn’t going to come on my official visit,” Neff recalled. ‘The process was just dragging out forever. I was missing school football games and I was like, ‘I just want to go and be a normal teenager!’”

However, Neff’s mother encouraged her to go, even if she felt her heart was already set. She owed it to herself to explore every option in front of her. So Neff quickly called back. “Only 20 minutes had passed, so I called back and was like, ‘I’m sorry, please don’t change anything. I don’t know what I was thinking – I’ll go!’”

While in Gainesville, despite having the trip of a lifetime, Neff ended up getting the final bit of clarity she needed.

“I met [Gator commit] Danielle Ferris’ mom and my mom had asked her mom, ‘How did Dani know that she wanted to go to Florida?’ And she said, ‘When she was younger she always knew she was going to be a Gator.’ And so then I thought of myself and I thought, ‘That’s kinda how I was!’ I was like, ‘I’m always going to be a Red Rock.’ That’s what I wanted to be! I wanted to be a Red Rock and I wanted to have my billboard up by the highway. It’s always been my dream!”

At that moment, Neff knew she was going to be a Red Rock. Staying true to herself and the mindset she set going into this process, she wanted to be somewhere she was going to be happy and feel at home, even without the sport. That was 20 miles up the road in Salt Lake City. After lots of thinking and countless nights of tears, Neff had finally made her decision.

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A post shared by Avery Neff (@avery.neff)

“I actually took longer than most girls to decide but it was the hardest, most draining decision I’ve ever had to make in my life,” Neff said. “I was crying all the time, I was so torn. It was hard to figure out where I could even see myself, but I think at the end of the day it’s always been Utah.”

Making the calls to all the schools she visited to tell them her decision was equally as hard, but the support she received from each and every school left her feeling inspired. Still to this day, Neff said most of the coaches keep in touch.

“It’s inspiring to me to know that even though I’m not going to their school, it’s bigger than gymnastics,” Neff said. “It’s about building relationships! When I called Jay [Clark] and told him no, he told me, ‘Just because you aren’t on my team, that doesn’t mean that I won’t be the first person to root for you and all your accomplishments.’ I saw him at the NCAA Championships and he gave me a big hug; he’s just like that big father figure … That really showed me that it’s not just about gymnastics, it’s about who we are as humans too and I think that’s so awesome.”

Then came the final phone call – a FaceTime with good news for Utah’s head coach Tom Farden.

“Just seeing Tom so excited … his wife was in the background and she started bawling,” Neff said. “It was the cutest thing. I felt so loved in that moment!”

Future Focused

While her future with the Red Rocks won’t be officially sealed until November 2023, Neff can hardly wait to be center stage in the Huntsman Center as the hometown girl – living out her dream in front of 15,000 fans.

“Tom told me the first time you step foot in the Huntsman when it’s packed full, it’s so loud it shakes your heart because of how loud it is down there,” Neff said. “It gives me chills and I’m so excited to have that feeling and be part of that team. I’ve always been on the side cheering for them and being part of the crowd – now I’ll be on the team that’s cheered for by that huge crowd!”

And while she’s certain her family would have supported her anywhere she went, she looks forward to having her entire family among the roaring crowd at every home meet.

“I have family that lives up in Idaho and they are die hard Utah fans!” Neff said. “They were like, ‘We’ll drive down to every meet, we already got our season tickets for when you’re there!’ So I just had so much support from them and my whole family was super excited that I chose Utah.”

But until then, she’s focused on upgrading her routines and pushing herself to be the best gymnast she can be in her senior season.

“I don’t want to get ahead of myself,” Neff said. “I know a lot of gymnasts will be like, ‘I’m just so ready to get to college,’ but I’m like, ‘I have a whole year that I need to prove myself worthy of going to Utah.’ I’m excited for senior year and that I get to have fun and be the Utah commit.”

And as the very best always do, Neff has her sights set on defending her titles, including the Nastia Cup and the All-Around National title.

“I want to make my routines harder to see if I can push myself to the limit of doing the hardest skills and also winning, instead of just winning with easier routines,” Neff said. “I really want to win nationals again so I can be back to back national champion. It’s really hard, but you have to work towards it!”

Then it’s Red Rock time!