A dominant freshman season culminated in historic honors for Azaraya Ra-Akbar, who stunned with perfect scores and shattered expectations for Alabama Gymnastics.
If you’ve been paying attention to Alabama Crimson Tide gymnastics this season, then this shouldn’t surprise you one bit.
Azaraya Ra-Akbar didn’t just step onto the collegiate stage this year, she owned it.
Now, the rest of the gymnastics world is catching up.
Ra-Akbar has officially been named College Gym News Freshman of the Year, and honestly, it feels like the perfect ending to what has been one of the most dominant freshman seasons we’ve seen in a long time. From the moment she stepped into a Crimson Tide uniform, you could tell she was different. There was a confidence, a presence, and a level of execution that just doesn’t come around often, especially not from a freshman.
And she backed it up every single week.
This wasn’t just about flashes of greatness.
This was consistency.
This was dominance.
This was showing up in the biggest moments and delivering, over and over again.
She didn’t just earn one award either. Ra-Akbar was also named SEC Co-Freshman of the Year, earned All-SEC honors, made the SEC All-Freshman Team, and picked up regular-season All-America recognition. That’s not just a good freshman year, that’s a statement.
And let’s talk about what really made this season special.
She became the only freshman in the entire country to score a perfect 10.000 on uneven bars. Let that sink in. In a sport where perfection is rare, she reached it, as a freshman, on one of the biggest stages. And it wasn’t a one-time thing where everything just happened to click. She dominated bars all season long, stacking up six event titles and repeatedly putting up scores of 9.950 or higher.
That’s elite.
But she didn’t stop there.
Ra-Akbar proved she could do it across multiple events, showing her versatility and value to Alabama’s lineup. At the SEC Championships, she stepped into the pressure and delivered again, scoring 9.900 or higher on vault, bars, and floor. That kind of performance, in that kind of moment, tells you everything you need to know about who she is as a competitor.
She’s built for it.
By the time the season wrapped up, she led all SEC freshmen with 13 event titles. Thirteen. That’s not normal. That’s not expected. That’s what happens when you have someone special.
And here’s what really hits, this is just the beginning.
Alabama hasn’t seen a freshman make this kind of impact in decades.
The last time a Tide gymnast earned this level of national freshman recognition was back in 1999.
That’s how rare this is.
That’s how long it’s been.
Ra-Akbar didn’t just live up to expectations. She raised the standard.
You can feel it building with this program again. The energy, the confidence, the belief... it’s there. And a big reason why is because of what she just showed everyone this season.
Azaraya Ra-Akbar isn’t just the Freshman of the Year.
She’s the future of Alabama gymnastics.
And if this year was any indication?
That future is incredibly bright.
Roll Tide.