Why Michigan WR Commit Xavier Worthy Made Massive Rankings Jump
Xavier Worthy has made a massive jump.
Worthy entered the day as a low three-star prospect but moved into the Top 100 nationally after Rivals.com’s latest update to the 2021 recruiting rankings.
A newly minted four-star recruit, the Fresno (Calif.) Central product is now ranked as the No. 57 overall prospect in the country.
"We went back on the wide receiver position because we didn’t get to see nearly as many kids this summer as usual, and we knew most of the Cali players weren’t going to play, so we wanted to compare them all," said Rivals.com National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell. "Summer is about skill position kids and holding to an early February eval of Worthy based on film didn’t add up after watching him again. His speed is elite and compared to the rest of the class, we felt he was in that Rivals100 range."
Rivals.com National Recruiting Analyst Adam Gorney, who is based out West, added:
“When I first saw Worthy on tape, I thought he was very impressive, but I wrongly went too conservative in his ranking. I wanted to see him more in person, but then the shutdown hit and that became impossible. So during this ranking, we revisited everybody, and he clearly was a name that deserved a major bump in the rankings as we were able to go over junior film again, check out what he’s done over the last few months — even though that’s been limited — and then compare him to the other receivers in this class. We felt a major move up was warranted, so we didn’t hesitate.”
Worthy was one of the most underrated prospects nationally this cycle. He had a big junior season, recording 54 receptions for 992 yards and 16 touchdowns, and blew up on the recruiting trail this offseason.
On top of that, Worthy brings elite speed and has drawn comparisons to NFL wide out DeSean Jackson. Worthy ran a 10.55 in the 100m as a sophomore and was the only runner in his class to qualify for the California state meet.
Worthy committed to Michigan in July over offers from Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, LSU, Oregon, Penn State, USC, Washington and several other major programs.
Worthy is the third highest ranked recruit in Michigan’s 2021 class. Only Sterling Heights (Mich.) Stevenson offensive lineman Giovanni El-Hadi and Bradenton (Fla.) IMG Academy quarterback JJ McCarthy are ranked higher.
Worthy is one of four wide receivers in the class. He is joined by Rivals250 prospect Cristian Dixon and three-star pass catchers Markus Allen and Andrel Anthony.
Worthy plans to graduate in December and enroll early at Michigan.
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