Michigan Football: Xavier Worthy to enroll early, more on 2021 recruiting

Michigan football should be happy about the news that four-star wide receiver Xavier Worthy will graduate early and enroll in the spring semester.

Earlier this week, it was announced that high school football in California was being pushed to the spring, which directly impacts two recruits committed to Michigan football.

The Wolverines have landed two wide receivers out of California in the 2021 class, those being four-star Xavier Worthy and fellow four-star Christian Dixon.

Worthy is 6-foot-1 and ranks 94th in the 247 sports rankings for 2021, as well as 174th in the 247 composite rankings. Dixon also ranks as a four-star in the composite rankings.

Both players will have to make a decision, much like all California players will if they want to play their senior season or not. Worthy announced on Twitter that he will skip his senior season, graduate early and enroll at Michigan.

https://twitter.com/Xavierworthy2/status/1286402043658162178

That’s very good news for Michigan football on a couple of fronts. For one, Worthy enrolling early, along with others, will give him a better chance of playing right away in the 2021 season. He could also develop an early rapport with the quarterbacks.

Beyond that though, the fact that Worthy is heading to Ann Arbor just seems to solidify his commitment even more. It’s been expected that schools like Alabama and Georgia would keep pushing for the dynamic wideout but this makes me worry less about that.

Getting a signee on campus earlier is never a bad thing and when it’s one of the top players in the class, that’s even better, so this is positive news all around.

More on Michigan football recruiting in 2021

As far as Dixon, he hasn’t said what he plans to do. Another Michigan football target is four-star cornerback Ceyair Wright, who ranks in the top 100 of the 247 composite rankings at 71st overall.

He told Greg Biggins of 247 sports ($) that he plans to stay and play out his senior season. He also said he doesn’t plan to make a decision until the All-American Bowl in January.

Biggins reported that Michigan is among the schools talking to Wright most frequently but he’s from Los Angeles so you can’t count out USC. But for comparisons, he would enroll in June, compared to January for Worthy.

In-state WR set to decide

In the last bit of news to cover, in-state wide receiver Andrel Anthony announced he would make his decision July 31.

For a while, Michigan football seemed to be out of the mix with Anthony, who has been trending with crystal ball projections to Michigan State. All 10 of his picks are with the Spartans but the confidence level averages just five out of 10.

But recently, the Wolverines have been making a renewed push with Anthony according to Steve Lorenz of the Michigan Insider ($), who reported that not only has the staff made more contact, players and commits have started reaching out to him too.

The 6-foot-2 receiver is ranked 529th overall in the 2021 class in the 247 composite rankings. The three-star included Michigan in his final four along with MSU, Notre Dame and Penn State.

The late pursuit is a little curious because U-M already has three commitments at wide receiver in 2021 and is in strong position for with four-star Jayden Thomas.

It might be about trying to keep a kid from the Spartans as much as anything else. Either way, I’d be a surprise if it worked, but the Wolverines did take their foot off the gas at one point. Maybe a final full-court press will change things.