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2021/22 class Olympic sports official NLI signing news (Signing period - 11/11/2020-8/1/2021)

AztecBuff

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With Wednesday (November 11th) being the start of the signing period for the frosh class of 2021/22 for all Olympic Sports, thought I'd start this thread. As with prior years' threads where I did this, It will be used throughout the signing period to post any news (tweets, articles, pictures, videos, etc.) of future Olympic Sport Buffs officially signing their National Letters of Intents (NLI's).

As always, if/ as any Allbuffians see any official signing news for any future Buffs, please feel free to post it.

The main purpose of this thread is NOT to post news of newly found future Buffs, which is already covered in the http://www.allbuffs.com/threads/recruiting-news-olympic-sports.101643/ thread. However, If any new (unknown to us) commits do pop up during the signing process, I'll probably post them both places (with more detail on them being put in the main recruiting thread).

Note- With this being the year of Covid-19, don’t know how different this coming year’s frosh class will be compared with previous ones.
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For ease of reference, from the main recruiting thread (post numbers listed are to posts in that thread), expected signers for next academic year (2021/22) we know about so far that could be signing as early as November 11th are listed below by sport. As I think about it, I’ll also fill in info below as we learn about what student-athletes have officially signed on to become future Buffs.
(Note- with these sports getting much less recruiting exposure than, say, football, it's much more likely that some listed below may end up going to another college.)

Cross Country/ Track and field:
Buff track commitments_2020-11-04_2021s only.gif

Known to have Signed NLI - Men's - Robertson; Women's - Longo, Miniutti, Renz
Previously unknown signee(s) - Men's - Baca, Gacnik (post #7 for those two), Greene (Post #23), Swabik (Post #25), Overberg (Post #26), Medina (Post #27); Women's - Orie (Grad transfer from Cornell), Grinde (post #7 for those two); Pollak (Post #24)

Golf (Men's & Women's):

Buff golf commitments_2020-11-09_2021s only.gif


Known to have Signed NLI - McDermott
Additional previously unknown commitment signee(s) - (Women's) - (Men's) – Holland, Eisenbeis (Post #16 & 19), Bornhorst (Grad transfer from Babson College, Post #19)


Lacrosse:

Buff lacrosse commitments_2020-11-09_2021s only.gif



Known to have Signed NLI – Giordano, Halus, Keblish, Lipka, Palm, Zimmerman

Previously unknown signee(s) - McLean (See post #5.)

Skiing:

None known about before the signing period.

Previously unknown signee(s) -

Soccer

Buff soccer commitments_2020-11-09_2021 class only.gif

Known to have Signed NLI - Duguid, Hunter, Miranda
Previously unknown signee(s) - Jones (See post #3)

Tennis:

No verbal commits known before the signing period.

Previously unknown signee(s) - Takac, Pozo (grad transfer from Northwestern) (See post #'s 14 & 18)

Volleyball:

Buff vball commitments_2020-11-09_2021 class only.gif

Known to have Signed NLI - Campbell, Simpson (official, see post #4); Torstenson (Post #9)
Previously unknown signee(s) -

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(Note- it seems team sport athletes usually verbally commit AND often sign their NLI’s much earlier than those in the “individual” sports (golf, tennis, track & field/ cross country and, especially, skiing), so expect more future Buff individual sport athletes to become known and sign as the signing period goes on.)
 
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I was out of the house for a bit, but the teams have been busy getting signings.

1st, for soccer, the 3 known verbal commits are now formal signees, as well as one who wasn't known about before, midfielder Ellen Jones, who will be coming in from Glamorgan, UK.

OFFICIAL welcome and congrats to the 4 newest soccer Buffs!!!





 
For volleyball, looks like their 2 highest ranked verbal commits are now formal signees! (Since they also have posted an article, and with the quote in at at the end (see below), I assume that's all we should anticipate signing today in that sport.)

OFFICIAL welcome and congrats to the 2 newest vball Buffs!!!






"
BOULDER – The University of Colorado volleyball team signed a pair of top-100 ranked student-athletes and Under Armour All-Americans, Jahara Campbell and Taylor Simpson, to National Letters of Intent, head coach Jesse Mahoney announced Wednesday.

"We are extremely excited to welcome our 2021 recruiting class to Boulder and look forward to what Jahara and Taylor will bring to this program," said Mahoney. "Both are elite athletically, with a great work ethic and a desire to compete at the highest level. We are thrilled to have them join the Colorado family."

JAHARA CAMPBELL

Campbell, the 27th-ranked player in the nation, is a 6-1 outside hitter from Hamilton High in Chandler, Arizona. Campbell was recently named an AVCA All-Regional honor and is a top-10 outside hitter for the class of 2021. As an underclassmen, Campbell dominated with 586 kills and 232 blocks before transferring to Hamilton where she had to sit out the first half of her junior season. She finished her junior campaign with 138 kills, 85 digs and 21 blocks.

"Jahara is one of the most dynamic attackers in the 2021 class," said Mahoney. "She plays high and has a fast arm coupled with experience attacking on both the left and the right. She has competed at a high level both in high school and in club and has the skills and competitiveness to make a smooth transition to the collegiate game."
...

TAYLOR SIMPSON

Simpson is a 6-0 setter from Sierra Canyon High in Chatsworth, Calif. Simpson was also named an AVCA All-Regional Performer and is ranked 73rd overall by Prepvolleyball.com. Arguably a top-three setter in the 2021 class, Simpson was one of 11 setters in the top-50 juniors ranking. She has an outstanding record of 107-22 her freshman through junior campaigns with a total of 3,127 assists, 535 digs, 342 kills and 194 aces in 347 total sets (9.04 assists/set, 1.54 digs/set, 0.56 aces/set and 0.98 kills/set). She led her team to the CIF Division 2 State Championship in 2017.

"Taylor has all the qualities you look for in an elite setter," said Mahoney. "She runs a fast offense, can play physical at the net, and makes the toughest sets look routine. Her teammates love to play for her - she has tremendous energy and court presence. Our offense is in good hands for years to come."
...

"We are still actively recruiting for the 2021 class and will be announcing further additions to our roster this spring," said Mahoney.
"
 
Soccer has now posted its signing day article, so assume that means that's probably it for signings today.



Direct link to article - https://cubuffs.com/news/2020/11/11/soccer-adds-four-for-2021.aspx

"
By: Seth Pringle, Assistant SID


Story Links​


BOULDER—Typically, National Signing Day for the Colorado Buffaloes soccer team is celebrated while looking forward to a trip to the NCAA Tournament. This season the timing hasn't changed, but the landscape of college soccer has.

Head coach Danny Sanchez would have liked to announce his four additions while juggling postseason preparations, but the Buffs still have a three-month wait until their expected start to the season in February.

The 2021 recruiting class spans the globe, consisting of two international newcomers, a west coast connection and CU's first addition from Hawaii since 1996.

Ellen Jones, 5-3, Midfielder, Glamorgan, UK (The Cathedral School Llandaff)
Hannah Duguid, 5-3, Midfield/Forward, Calgary, Alberta (Burnaby Central Secondary School)
Holly Hunter, 5-7, Defender, Temecula, Calif. (Great Oak H.S.)
Phoenix Miranda, 5-9, Defender, Honolulu, Hawaii (Aiea H.S.)

"This is a fantastic recruiting class for us," Sanchez exclaimed. "All four of these players have experience at the highest levels and are ready to compete immediately in the Pac-12. They are all great students that our Herbst Academic Center will love working with. We feel that each one brings qualities that can continue the trajectory of our talent base within our program. We can't wait until they get here next summer"
...
"
 
On the track and field (and in some cases cross country) side, there have been 5 signees announced so far today (including one transfer) and, as often happens (I seem to often not know individual sport student-athletes until they're formally signed on.), only one (Hannah Miniutti) was previous known about by me. OFFICIAL welcome and congrats to her and the other new Buffs:
  • Middle distance/ distance runner Elle Orie, who will be coming to Boulder from Cornell. (On her roster page there (https://cornellbigred.com/sports/womens-track-and-field/roster/elle-orie/54891) she's listed as a senior, so I'd GUESS she may be a grad student transfer.)
  • Multi-event and jump athlete Annie Grinde, who will be joining CU from some obscure place called Boulder CO (Boulder HS).
  • From Gunnison, distance runner Alex Baca and
  • distance runner Zack Gacnik from Conifer.






 
Another confirmed signing for lacrosse. OFFICIAL welcome and congrats to Ms. Giordano!!!



__________________________________________________________________________________________

And, a pic of 2021 volleyball Buff Emma Torstenson. (Not sure if it's true in her case, but in many cases defensive specialists/ liberos do not receive scholarships, at least at the start of their college years. If that's true for her, believe I've heard that CU can't formally announce anything about student-athletes like her until later in the year, which is why she wasn't included in the formal release cubuffs.com released today.)

 
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The 2021 recruiting class spans the globe, consisting of two international newcomers, a west coast connection and CU's first addition from Hawaii since 1996.

Ellen Jones, 5-3, Midfielder, Glamorgan, UK (The Cathedral School Llandaff)
Hannah Duguid, 5-3, Midfield/Forward, Calgary, Alberta (Burnaby Central Secondary School)
Holly Hunter, 5-7, Defender, Temecula, Calif. (Great Oak H.S.)
Phoenix Miranda, 5-9, Defender, Honolulu, Hawaii (Aiea H.S.)
On paper, this looks to be another very good class. Last season's recruiting class was ranked in the top 10. Not sure where this one will be ranked as it is small and includes two foreign players, but all four signees have some youth national team experience. The two Americans are both 4* recruits. But the most intriguing is Ellen Jones from the UK. She is on Bristol City's first team which is in the WSL (Women's Super League) the top flight of English soccer for women. Birston CIty are horrible, generally losing their matches by multiple goals. But she's in somewhat of a professional setting and in the few times she gets on the pitch she is going to be competing with and against professionals. The top tier teams in the league are loaded with talent. I am assuming she hasn't signed a professional contract so she's eligible to play in the NCAA. I assume she'll be able to arrive in Boulder in June as the WSL season will be over by then.
 
TAYLOR SIMPSON

Simpson is a 6-0 setter from Sierra Canyon High in Chatsworth, Calif. Simpson was also named an AVCA All-Regional Performer and is ranked 73rd overall by Prepvolleyball.com. Arguably a top-three setter in the 2021 class, Simpson was one of 11 setters in the top-50 juniors ranking. She has an outstanding record of 107-22 her freshman through junior campaigns with a total of 3,127 assists, 535 digs, 342 kills and 194 aces in 347 total sets (9.04 assists/set, 1.54 digs/set, 0.56 aces/set and 0.98 kills/set). She led her team to the CIF Division 2 State Championship in 2017.

"Taylor has all the qualities you look for in an elite setter," said Mahoney. "She runs a fast offense, can play physical at the net, and makes the toughest sets look routine. Her teammates love to play for her - she has tremendous energy and court presence. Our offense is in good hands for years to come."
...

"
"

I hope Taylor Simpson realizes another woman named Taylor Simpson left some big shoes for her to follow.
 
With the youth on their roster (4 sophomores, 4 juniors and just one (grad student transfer) senior), wasn't sure how many new Buffs the tennis team might have coming in, but they have just announced 2 new student-athletes signing on, one more grad transfer (this one from Northwestern) and one, I'm assuming, freshman (from Turkey).

OFFICIAL welcome and congrats to Ms's. Tokac and Pozo!!!


 
The track and field and cross country teams have now formally announced the signings of a couple distance runners that had been known verbal commits. (These are the last 2 track and field verbal commits I knew about that hadn't signed yesterday, but assume there will be others coming onto the teams if it's a typical year for track and field recruiting.)

OFFICIAL welcome and congrats to them!!!


 
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The men's golf team has announced 3 members of its freshman class. In addition to the one I already knew was a verbal commit (from California), the team has Aussie Jack Holland and German Frederik Eisenbeis heading to Boulder.

OFFICIAL welcome and congrats to them!!!



 
Article on the tennis team's 2 incoming student-athletes. (As noted in post #14, it consists of 1 freshman and 1 grad transfer (from Northwestern).)

 
I missed it originally because no Buff account tweeted out a link, but there was an article released yesterday about the men's golf team's recruiting class. (Also see post #16 for the team's posts about the individual commitments.) - https://cubuffs.com/news/2020/11/12/edwards-adds-three-recruits-to-mens-golf-program.aspx

Note - In addition to the 3 incoming freshman already tweeted about, there's also new news in the below article that a grad transfer, Christopher Bornhorst, is joining the Buffs after spending 4 years at Babson College Iwhich is in Wellesley, Massachusetts). Welcome and congrats to him!!!

"
BOULDER —University of Colorado men's golf coach Roy Edwards has added three prep performers, hailing from three different continents, to the Buffalo program, as all signed national letters-of-intent to attend CU beginning next fall in the recent fall signing period that began on Wednesday.

Frederik Eisenbeis from Gymnasium Rodenkirchen in Cologne, Germany, Jack Holland from Haileybury College in Keysborough, Australia, and Dylan McDermott from Granite Bay (Calif.) High School will become the newest Buffaloes.

"We are extremely excited about signing Freddy, Dylan, and Jack," Edwards said. "All three are extremely accomplished golfers and tremendous students, which is the perfect model for CU student-athletes. Going forward, we expect all three to form a cornerstone to some great success individually and as a team for our program. All three of them had their college searches abruptly halted during the spring, and I was impressed at how they adapted to what was available to them and how they came to their decisions. We look forward to welcoming them to campus next fall."
...

Edwards also added a graduate transfer from Babson (Mass.) College to the roster, as four-year letterman Christopher Bornhorst joined the team in walk-on tryouts earlier this fall. A team captain as a junior and senior, he was named the "Athlete of the Class of 2020" for all sports at Babson. He helped the Beavers jump from outside the top 50 in the Division III national rankings as a freshman to 14th his senior year, and earned third-team All-America honors as a senior (the 26th-ranked individual overall), which followed his earning honorable mention All-America honors his junior year. A four-time GCAA/PING All-Region selection, he was also a three-time NEIGA All-New England performer (2016, 2017, 2019). He set the school record for career stroke average with a 73.97 figure for 71 rounds (most of Babson's tournaments were 36-hole affairs), with his stroke average as a senior a career-best 72.07.
...
"
 
Part 1 - From following links in the various Buff sports team's signing announcements in Instagram, found a few signing and signing-related posts from some incoming Buffs (those that have public accounts) -

Volleyball's Taylor Simpson -


Lacrosse's Katie McLean-


Lacrosse's Cooper Palm-


Men's golf's Jack Holland -


Women's track and field's Reese Renz-
 
Per the below, looks like there's another new formal and previously unknown about commitment for the men's track and field and cross country teams- this time middle distance and distance runner Ben Greene, who is from Falmouth, Maine.

OFFICIAL welcome and congrats to him!



(As I mentioned in my original post, I plan on posting more detailed info on all the Olympic Sport student-athletes, whose Buff commitment wasn't known about before this thread started, in the regular Olympic Sport recruiting thread. I have been negligent so far, but hope to do that within the next day or two.)
 
Another signing for track and field, this time for the women's team, as it looks the Buffs continue to get stronger and stronger in the hurdles and sprints, as Emma Pollak, from Kent Washington, has signed on to join the team.

OFFICIAL welcome and congrats to her!



 
Another previously unknown about 2021/22 freshman Buff has signed on- this time multi-event (decathlon outdoors, heptathlon indoors) men's student-athlete John Swabik, who's from Sherman, New York.

OFFICIAL welcome and congrats to him!!!


 
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OFFICIAL welcome and congrats to a new men's track and field/ cross country local formal commitment not previously known about (at least on Allbuffs) - distance runner James Overberg, from Lafayette, CO!

 
Was just looking at track and field/ cross country's twitter, and noticed I missed, back in December, one of their tweets announcing another 2021 Buff signee (another I didn't know about previously), distance runner Josh Medina, from Alamosa, CO.

OFFICIAL welcome and congrats to him!

 
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