By ANDRE CHAMPAGNE, Tiger Rag Staff Reporter
Courtney Blackson finished her college gymnastics career at Boise State in 2024. The two-time All-American gymnast out of Elk Grove, California, spent four seasons with the Broncos before transitioning into coaching at Mountain West Gymnastics in Boise, Idaho.
At the time, Blackson believed her competitive days were behind her.
“When I initially graduated from Boise State, I didn’t plan on coming back,” Blackson said after the Sprouts meet. “It was truly just retirement and when I got a job as a gymnastics coach, it kind of just inspired me to love the sport again and appreciate the game so much.”
Everything changed when LSU head gymnastics coach Jay Clark and assistant coach Garrett Griffeth walked into her gym on Jun. 18, 2024.
Clark said he and Griffeth were in Boise evaluating talent in a gym he had never been to. After striking up a conversation with several younger coaches, the discussion turned to NIL and the transfer portal and how both have changed the way Clark recruits. One coach asked Clark whether LSU received a scholarship expansion following the NCAA v. House Settlement that summer.
“I’m like, ‘Yeah, we’re always looking for people with more eligibility now,’ and a hand goes up,” Clark said on Jan. 26 during media availability.
“I might have eligibility,” Blackson jokingly said.
Clark turned to Griffeth and asked who she was.
“He says, ‘That’s Courtney Blackson,’” Clark added.
“It was kind of thrown out there that I did not use my fifth year of eligibility, so a joke just turned serious,” Blackson said.
Blackson signed with Boise State in 2019 and was granted an extra year of eligibility due to COVID-19. She elected not to use it after her fourth and final season with the Broncos.
Clark called LSU Assistant Athletic Director Blair Napolitano, who specializes in compliance, to explore the Tigers’ options.
“Is it somebody that we might be interested in?” Clark asked Napolitano. About 15 minutes later, Napolitano answered.
“Blair says, ‘Yeah, but they’d have to go in the portal, whoever it is. We can’t talk to them.’ So, we just told her if you’re interested in talking to us, you’d have to go into the portal,” Clark said.
Three days later, Blackson did just that. Even when she entered the transfer portal, Blackson was hesitant on returning to competition.
“(She) took a visit. Not sure she wanted to do it, scared to death. (She) hadn’t done it in a year,” Clark said.
Blackson ultimately chose LSU and went right to work. When she arrived in Baton Rouge, she had some catching up to do.
“It was a lot of emotion,” Clark said. “She’s looking around and not at the place that everybody else was when she got here, but through a lot of time and some emotional days, you know, she’s gotten it where she needs to be and we’ve already seen the fruits of that. She’s a heck of a competitor.”
Focusing on vault and uneven bars, Blackson has emerged as one of Tigers’ most consistent performers. Four meets into the season, Blackson has recorded four scores of 9.900 or higher. She matched her career-high with a 9.950 on bars in the home opener meet against Kentucky and posted a season-high 9.900 on vault in LSU’s win at No. 7 Missouri last Friday.
Blackson said returning to full competitive form wasn’t easy, but she credited the LSU coaching staff for trusting her throughout the process.
“Having over a year off, it was a little bit hard at first, but again, with the team’s support, the coaches’ support, they helped me through this whole journey,” Blackson said. “They really kept it low stress and I think that was super important to kind of at my own pace and they trusted me and I trusted them and day-by-day, just continue little steps one foot in front of the other and they brought me here.”
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