Alabama gymnastics has brought in three new additions next season from the class of 2025. Here is a look at the three signees.
Jasmine Cawley
The all-around gymnast committed to Alabama in October 2023. Cawley is from Clermont, Florida, where she competed with Brandy Johnson’s Global Gymnastics, which won the 2024 National Club of the Year.
Cawley had an accomplished prep career. She was the 2023 national champion on the balance beam and the 2022 Nastia Liukin Cup champion on the floor exercise, and she also finished in the top three in the all-around at the event. The decision to commit to Alabama was easy for her, as in an interview with College Gym News she cited her “immediate connection” with everyone on her first official visit.
“I chose Alabama because of the connection with the coaches and the girls there,” Cawley said. “They were absolutely amazing, and they welcomed me with open arms from the start of my visit. The coaches and even some of the girls continued to stay in touch with me and that meant a lot to me.”
McKenzie Matters
Matters was the first class of 2025 member to commit to Alabama, doing so in September 2023, and she spent her prep career at Prestige Gymnastics in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
She was a 2023 Level 10 Pennsylvania state champion, winning on the all-around and balance beam. Matters is a three-time Level 10 Development Program national qualifier, a member of the 2023 Level 10 Pennsylvania state champion team and a 2023 Region 7 All-Star team member.
The official visit to Alabama appeared to have greatly impacted Matters’s decision, as she committed to the Crimson Tide just one day afterward.
Azaraya Ra-Akbar
The Canada native is the newest addition to the Crimson Tide’s 2025 class after signing on Sunday. Ra-Akbar spent her prep career coached by her father, Jubael, at Kitchener Waterloo Gymnastics in Toronto.
Ra-Akbar made a name for herself early, as she had three top-10 finishes in floor, bars and all-around at the 2021 U.S. Gymnastics Championships and was a top-three finisher on the balance beam at the 2021 Nastia Liukin Cup. She is a 2023 Elite Canada floor exercise champion and was a 2022 Winter Cup bronze medalist in the floor exercise.
“We are proud to welcome Azaraya into our Alabama family,” head coach Ashley Johnston said. “She joins a great group of 2025s and will be able to fit right into the culture we’ve established here as a program.
Cawley, Matters and Ra-Akbar will arrive in Tuscaloosa this fall, and Johnston is excited for what they will bring to the Crimson Tide.
“Our entire 2025 signing class brings both a fierce and joyful approach to their respective craft that will be instrumental towards our continued pursuit of excellence,” Johnston said. “We look forward to seeing the positive impacts they will make on our program, both individually and collectively, and we cannot wait for the three of them to arrive.”