The top free agent in NCAA Women’s Gymnastics has a new landing spot. Arkansas All-American Joscelyn Roberson announced her transfer to the University of Georgia on Thursday.
“From the moment I stepped on campus [in Athens], it immediately felt like home,” Roberson said in a live stream. Roberson added that her decision came down to a combination of academics, medical school reputation, facilities, and connections to the program and teammates.
With the move, Georgia lands one of the most coveted athletes in collegiate gymnastics and adds another major piece to its rising program. Roberson’s decision also reunites her with her elite coaches, Georgia Head Coach Cécile Canqueteau-Landi and Associate Head Coach Laurent Landi.
She is an accomplished elite gymnast, most recently winning bronze on the vault at the 2025 World Gymnastics Championships. Roberson continues to train in elite gymnastics and has her sights set on competing in the 2028 LA Olympics.
The Team USA Olympic alternate and two-time World medalist took official visits to three top NCAA programs: the No. 3 Florida Gators, No. 5 UCLA Bruins and No. 6 Georgia Bulldogs, before making her selection on Thursday.
As one of Arkansas’ star contributors and a fervent supporter of the university, Roberson’s initial intent to transfer made waves in the gymnastics community.
Record-Setting Razorback
An Olympic alternate and World team champion with Team USA, Roberson was considered a top recruit by more than a dozen collegiate programs.
She initially chose Arkansas over title-contenders Michigan and Oklahoma, looking to train under her idol, Olympic gold medalist and then-Arkansas Head Coach Jordyn Wieber. In Roberson’s eyes, Wieber “hung the moon.”
While at Arkansas, Roberson broke countless records. In her first season, she set the program-record freshman all-around score and was the team’s most valuable athlete, contributing 532.425 total points – the most by any Razorback since 2018.
Roberson closed her season as the program’s first freshman individual qualifier to the NCAA Championships, where she secured All-America honors on the balance beam. In her sophomore campaign, Roberson won the NCAA regional titles on balance beam and floor exercise, placed second on balance beam at the SEC Championships, and finished the season as an All-American on floor exercise.
Her top-ranked scores helped Arkansas to NCAA Gymnastics’ ‘elite eight,’ where they concluded the 2026 season as the No. 7-ranked team in the nation. This year’s result was the strongest finish for Arkansas in the Jordyn Wieber era.
After concluding a historic season, Roberson’s initial transfer portal announcement shocked the college gymnastics community. However, Wieber’s resignation just hours later fueled speculation that major changes within the Arkansas program influenced Roberson’s decision.
When the University of Georgia announced its hiring of Roberson’s former coach, Laurent Landi, as Associate Head Coach, many felt that the writing was on the wall for Roberson’s landing spot. Landi joins his wife, Head Coach Cécile Canqueteau-Landi, at the helm of the rising NCAA program.
The Landis coached Roberson through her Paris Olympic push, helping her become a World champion and alternate for Team USA. Together, the duo has coached Olympians including Simone Biles and Jordan Chiles, along with dozens of elite American gymnasts.
Joscelyn Roberson’s Athens Era
Now, Roberson will reunite with her elite coaches on the collegiate stage.
Despite her established connections with Georgia’s program leadership, Roberson insisted Thursday that the Arkansas coaching carousel and Landi’s hiring had no effect on her decision to transfer. “[The decision] was not about coaching at all,” she said, adding that she had “no idea” Landi was headed to Georgia.
With Roberson joining an already talented and young squad, the star transfer joins a program on the rise.
The Georgia Bulldogs finished sixth at the close of the 2026 NCAA Gymnastics season, the program’s best finish since 2016. As Roberson joins an already talented young roster, Georgia enters the upcoming season with legitimate SEC and national championship aspirations.
