Michigan Football: Andrel Anthony commitment day, more on 2021

Michigan football is expected to land one commitment Friday in Andrel Anthony. Here’s a look at his decision and more on the 2021 recruiting class.

A few days ago, it didn’t seem like Michigan football would be adding a commitment Friday, but now, the Wolverines are fully trending for three-star Andrel Anthony.

The sea change in Anthony’s recruitment happened just recently. From East Lansing, Anthony has been Michigan State’s top target and would be their highest-rated commit in the 247 composite rankings.

However, after a full-court press from the coaching staff and recruits in the past couple weeks, the crystal ball predictions started flipping Wednesday. Now, all 11 crystal ball projections are in the favor of the Wolverines, making Anthony’s commitment basically a sure thing.

https://twitter.com/andrel_jr/status/1288252689411973122

The confidence rating is an average of eight out of 10. While the experts over at Rivals haven’t all changed their picks, Michigan football leads in Futurecast picks, 53-47 (percent) and EJ Holland, the Wolverines expert, switched his pick to U-M.

So unless something changes dramatically before this afternoon, expect Anthony to be a Wolverine. With that in mind, here’s his scouting report from 247 sports’ Allen Treiu:

"“Long, thin frame. Very smooth, natural athlete. Changes directions and comes in and out of his breaks fluidly. That serves him well as a route runner where he creates separation. Excellent ball tracking skills and body control. Shows ability to make catches in traffic. Solid runner after the catch. Must get physically bigger and stronger. Pure straight-line speed is something he can still add more of as well. Should be a very good college receiver who can play on the outside or in the slot and be a difference-maker at the Power 5 level.”"

Another 2021 receiver earns high praise from ESPN

If Anthony does pledge to Michigan Friday afternoon, it will give the Wolverines four wide receiver commitments in 2021. The most recent besides Anthony was four-star wideout Xavier Worthy, a top-100 prospect in the 247 specific rankings and No. 174 in the composite.

The 6-foot-1 Worthy often gets compared to Desean Jackson and among Michigan football people, the comparison to Anthony Carter seems to keep popping up.

So maybe it shouldn’t come as a huge surprise that when ESPN put together a list of 25 most impactful recruits in 2021, Worthy made it, at No. 10.

Here’s what ESPN recruiting expert Tom VanHaaren said about Worthy:

"“This pick was going to be quarterback J.J. McCarthy because he could stabilize the quarterback position for Michigan in the future. Worthy is getting the nod, though, because he is going to ultimately help Michigan get to the speed in space as he has elite speed. Worthy is going to bring a little more size to the offense, and if he can add weight, he could be an excellent option to stretch the field on the outside.”"

Worthy has run the 100-meter dash in 10.55 and has the kind of speed Michigan has been after. He’s an electrifying talent and the idea of pairing Anthony, Worthy, four-star Christian Dixon and Markus Allen has to be very exciting for offensive coordinator Josh Gattis.

In the last three recruiting classes, Michigan football has landed Giles Jackson, Mike Sainristil, Cornelius Johnson, A.J. Henning, Roman Wilson and now, Worthy, Dixon, Allen and by the end of the day, Anthony.

That’s an incredible haul and it’s safe to say that speed-in-space won’t just be talk, very soon, it will be a reality.