Picking up a hidden four-star gem, and a flip from Georgia, here’s how Auburn gymnastics is bridging the gap with Ryan Roberts’ Year 0 recruiting class

Niyonna Franklin committed to Auburn on Sunday and Aaliyah Oglesby committed to Auburn on Wednesday.

Ryan Roberts started behind the eight-ball for the class of 2027.

That’s always going to be the case for a gymnastics coach hired in the aftermath of a season. Roberts was named Auburn’s new head coach on April 21 — and coaches around the country had been recruiting class of 2027 kids since the previous June. The vast majority of the nation’s top prospects in the class verbally committed in the weeks and months after that, either last summer or last fall.

So, for Roberts to make something out of that Year 0 signing class, he was going to have to either flip some verbal commits, or find an uncommitted gem.

He and his staff have done both with their first two pickups: