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In a complete bombshell of an announcement, all four of the recruits LSU hosted during the weekend of the Louisiana Tech game committed to LSU Monday. Sage Bradford, Lia Redick, Zoé Cadrin and Reese Esponda became the first major recruits in the class of 2027 to announce their future home. They are major parts of what is expected to be a large class with massive talent. Bradford, Redick and Cadrin are four-star recruits according to College Gym News while Esponda is a five-star recruit whose
rating is tied for the sixth highest in the 2027 class.
Zoé Cadrin and Lia Redick are Canadian, so their results will be from elite competitions only. Redick trains at Oakville Gymnastics Club in Oakville, Ontario, and Cadrin trains at Wimgym in Kirkland, Quebec. Cadrin made her junior elite debut in 2023, and Redick made her junior elite debut in 2024. In their time since, they’ve made several international appearances for Canada, with their most notable appearance together being as members of the silver medal winning team at the 2024 Junior Pan American Championships. Cadrin hasn’t competed since March, while Redick helped Canada earn silver medal finishes at the DTB Pokal Team Challenge in late March and the Senior Pan American Championships in mid June.
Sage Bradford and Reese Esponda have some Level 10 experience, but they’ve focused on elite gymnastics since 2023. Bradford is a Texan and has been training at WOGA Gymnastics for her entire career. Bradford has yet to make a US national team, but she’s made several appearances at domestic elite competitions. Gymnastics recruits athletes two years before they enroll, and it’s very possible that she’s about to become a major star.
Reese Esponda is the biggest name to commit to LSU of these four. She is originally from Montana and trained at Roots Gymnastics & Dance in Missoula before moving to WCC outside of Houston in 2024. Esponda broke onto the scene in 2023, a season she capped by winning the junior floor title at the U.S. Championships. In 2024, she competed on floor at the Baku World Cup event held in March. She finished her season 29th in the senior all-around competition at the U.S. Championships. In 2025, she won the floor title and finished fifth in the all-around at the U.S. Classic in July and finished seventh on floor and 16th overall at the U.S. Championships in August.
There are two things worth noting here. First is that there is no guarantee that all four of these girls will enroll on time. Their first season is 2028, the same year as the Los Angeles Olympics. The two Canadians and Reese Esponda are people to watch as potential candidates for deferring enrollment, something that will impact some teams in the 2028 season like it did UCLA and Florida in 2024. Second is that LSU is far from done with their 2027 class. The Tigers have at least three more spots on their 2028 roster available for top recruits. LSU has visits scheduled for the next two weekends with some of the top uncommitted recruits remaining.
