Michigan Football: Xavier Worthy, others upgraded in recruiting rankings

Michigan football recruit Xavier Worthy finally got his due from Rivals as he was upgraded to a four-star in the latest release of their 2021 rankings.

When you watch Xavier Worthy, a Michigan football commit, it doesn’t take long to realize that he’s something special.

Only for some reason, it did take the Rivals recruiting service a strangely long time to realize Worthy wasn’t a three-star recruit.

And finally, with the release of Rivals updated 2021 recruiting rankings this week, the wide receiver from California finally got his due, going from an unranked three-star prospect to the No. 57 overall in 2021 and 11th among wide receivers, making him a solid four-star.

The upgrade for Worthy has been long overdue and it’s been coming. Michigan football had to beat out the likes of Oregon and Alabama, among others, for the commitment of the elite recruit.

Yet, Worthy wasn’t the only future Michigan football player getting an upgrade in the rankings.

Another sleeper in the 2021 class or someone I’ve been calling a sleeper, is offensive tackle Tristan Bounds, who moved up to a four-star recruit in the updated rankings.

The 6-foot-8 left tackle has tremendous upside and he’s also listed as No. 28 among offensive tackles with Rivals. He and Giovanni El-Hadi give U-M two really good tackle recruits.

Another wide receiver commit, Markus Allen also made the leap from being ranked as a three-star earlier to now being viewed as a four-star prospect by Rivals and No. 18 in Ohio.

Allen is young for his recruiting class and has an elite ability to go and get the ball. His route running is good and the only concern about him right now might be a shoulder injury.

Michigan recruits are still being underrated

While Allen moved up in the rankings, his high school teammate and fellow Michigan commit, Rod Moore didn’t and he should have.

Moore is a three-star prospect and is actually ranked higher than Allen in the state of Ohio as he’s 15th overall.

Since Michigan offered Moore, I’ve been saying the defensive back should be a four-star and even though he’s moved up in the 247 and Rivals rankings, he’s not getting his due yet.

Another who is still criminally under-ranked at Rivals is linebacker Jaydon Hood. Hood is ranked as a four-star recruit in the 247 composite rankings but is still just a three-star via Rivals.

Some other Michigan commitments such as Junior Colson saw their rankings drop slightly, which also doesn’t make any sense.

But, it’s exciting to see Worthy, Bounds and Allen all get the bump. They each deserved it and while Moore and Hood especially are still getting hosed by Rivals, it’s not the end of the world.