On Monday, 247's Allen Trieu previewed the upcoming decision of East Lansing High School wide receiver Andrel Anthony:

"So I think the likelihood is very high that he's going to be close to home," Trieu said of Anthony. "I think there's some doubt creeping in because I think he took a visit on his own to Michigan (recently), and Michigan seems to be creeping back — into a race that I thought, at one point, they were potentially the leader. Kind of faded away and it seems like, maybe towards the end here, are coming back into the picture. But it would take a lot for me to come off my Crystal Ball to Michigan State.

As the week progressed, however, the Crystal Balls started coming in for Michigan—including a switch from Trieu. While Mel Tucker and his staff had made Anthony a top priority, it appeared a late push from Jim Harbaugh and Co. could win over a player who practically lives on MSU's campus.

Today, Anthony confirmed as much, announcing his commitment to the Wolverines this evening over fellow finalists Michigan State, Notre Dame, and Penn State. He's the 21st commit in the 2021 class and the fourth at receiver, joining Xavier Worthy, Cristian Dixon, and Markus Allen.

GURU RATINGS

Anthony slots just in front of Allen as the 14th-ranked prospect among Michigan commits in the 247 Composite. He would've ranked as Michigan State's best 2021 commit by 135 spots—incidentally, he would've taken the top spot from East Lansing teammate Ethan Boyd. Will we circle back to this? Perhaps.

Anthony is listed at 6'2", 175 by Rivals and 247. He plays like a taller receiver; to replicate his high school success at the next level, he'll need to bulk up a bit.

[Hit THE JUMP for scouting, video, and the rest.]

SCOUTING

Anthony's recruitment gained steam with a strong camp season in the spring/summer of 2019. After a few MAC schools and Indiana offered, Michigan hosted him at their Prospect Camp and liked what they saw enough to extend a scholarship.

He repeated the process the next weekend at Michigan State's Elite Camp. Spartan247's Stephen Brooks:

[2022 OR four-star Darrius] Clemons and Anthony were 1A and 1B in terms of the most impressive receivers on the field. Anthony is really smooth and a great route-runner. At 6-2, 165 he’s able to glide by DBs and showed reliable hands downfield. Anthony can be a legitimate threat from all over the field, too, not just in the vertical passing game. He definitely looks like a future No. 1 receiver wherever he lands.

SpartanMag's Jim Comparoni:

Anthony showed terrific acceleration, but could gear down in an instant for comeback routes. His crisp footwork on go routes, corner routes and post-corners is already that of a college player.

He was near the top of Trieu's list of top performers at the camp:

Since he has picked up several camp offers, some Spartan fans have wondered when MSU would jump in on this 2021 wide receiver from right there in East Lansing. The Spartan staff just needed to see him camp and he did what he needed to do showing fluid route-running, good speed and sure hands.

MSU offered. A breakout junior season led to more big offers: Notre Dame in September, Minnesota—remember their recent receiver success—in October, Penn State in February.

As with seemingly any player recruited by Notre Dame, Irish247's Tim Prister did a junior film evaluation in March. He didn't see a top-level athlete:

Not a lot of distinguishing characteristics for an undersized, slot receiver…other than a great ability to catch every football that touches his hands. Andrel Anthony makes the difficult catch frequently. He also has the ability to coerce defensive backs into playing the inside route and then running a short-corner route.

But he lacks elite burst, which doesn’t mesh well with a 165-pounder. He has limited wiggle for a player of his size. He’s not a deep-ball threat per se, which is okay for a slot receiver. But his change of direction can be very deliberate, which makes defending him in the slot a lot easier.

Notre Dame hasn’t gone all in seeking a pledge. Doubt they will.

This is the most negative take I've seen on Anthony. In fact, Irish247's Kevin Sinclair named him one of the 2021 ND targets who'd shown the most improvement midway through his junior season, and put out a similar but less skeptical evaluation in December:

While he continues to mature physically and athletically, Anthony shows a quality focus on the football and the natural tools to build quality ball skills. He’s not the most explosive athlete – yet – but he’s a strong route runner, proving to find the soft spot in zone coverage and gain separation through deception. And after the catch, he’s a crafty ball-carrier who can make you miss.

Keep a close eye on Anthony over the next year, an athlete with room to grow and the character to take those positive steps.

Trieu handled the 247 scouting report, which he updated in March—so there's been no football since.

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.

Reading between the lines a bit, it sounds like Anthony is the type of player who's got the body control, hands, and technique to be a productive Power 5 receiver, but his frame combined with lack of explosiveness will probably prevent the NFL from showing a lot of interest on draft day.

Think skinny Junior Hemingway or Adrian Arrington. Those two were excellent college receivers; they also combined for 34 career NFL receptions. When you remember 247 is rating players by NFL potential, his standing in their rankings makes more sense. The crafty separation ability and contested-catch advantage get negated for those guys at the highest level; they can still be very productive college players, particularly as #2 options.

OFFERS

In addition to his top four of Michigan, MSU, ND, and PSU, Anthony holds offers from Air Force, Arkansas, Cincinnati, Indiana, Iowa State, Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Ole Miss, Oregon State, Purdue, West Virginia, and Wisconsin, plus most of the MAC and a handful of others.

HIGH SCHOOL

The most prominent Michigan player to come out of East Lansing High is the one and only Jim Brandstatter, who was the program's only letterman from the school between 1939 (G/T Frederick Olds) and 1992 (OT Michael Sullivan). Anthony will be the fourth to letter on the varsity squad and the first who isn't a lineman.

It's not a big-time talent feeder in general. There's only one four-star prospect in the Rivals database, former MSU OL Blake Treadwell, while Boyd and Anthony are the only others to commit to Power 5 schools aside from 2002 two-star RB Antoine Bagwell, who didn't qualify at Nebraska and ended up at a D-II school.

STATS

According to MaxPreps, Anthony caught 54 passes for 954 yards (17.7 YPC) and nine touchdowns in nine games as a junior. As a sophomore, he had 33 receptions for 543 yards (16.5 YPC) and seven TDs.

FAKE 40 TIME

The only listed 40 time I can find for Anthony is a 4.47 reported by MLive and the Detroit News without any additional context. I'm obligated to give that five FAKEs. Donovan Peoples-Jones ran a 4.48 at the NFL combine.

VIDEO

Junior highlights:

Sophomore highlights and single-game reels can be found on his Hudl page.

PREDICTION BASED ON FLIMSY EVIDENCE

It's possible Anthony could get early playing time if his body is ready and he's capable of playing on the outside, where Nico Collins will leave HOPEFULLY A WHOLE LOT OF TARGETS available for the taking after he graduates. Given Anthony's need to bulk up, however, it seems more likely those snaps will go to an older player (Cornelius Johnson, Roman Wilson, AJ Henning) or one of the more game-ready freshmen.

Once Anthony is physically ready, I could see him coming on strong. Quarterbacks are going to like his reliable routes and sticky hands. He could grow into a reliable possession receiver with a jump ball element to his game.

UPSHOT FOR THE REST OF THE CLASS

Let's start with a musical number:

So you don't have to piece it together yourself: Anthony is Michigan's fourth in-state commit—I didn't bother scrolling down to the nation's composite #1 punter, Tommy Doman. Other than the punter, all of M's in-state commits are in the top 12. While the Wolverines aren't exactly cleaning up, they're in good position to land the #2 and #6 players on the list, RB Donovan Edwards and DT/OT Rayshaun Benny, and maintain a puncher's chance at #3, OG Rocco Spindler, who's down to M and ND as he nears his announcement. 

Michigan State also has four Winter Wonderland commits: the 15th-, 16th-, 31st-, and 32nd-ranked players in the state. Barring a healthy jump from a current commit or an unexpected twist in another recruitment, Mel Tucker is going to get shut out of the state's top 14 players in his debut recruiting class, failing to even land the receiver in his backyard that he needed far more than Jim Harbaugh. Northwestern has a top-ten Michigan commit and two more in the top 20. I don't even need to check to tell you the Red Cedar Message Board has been in a long-running meltdown about this. Delicious.

Speaking of which, you may enjoy this SpartanMag list of 15 recruits to keep an eye on for State's 2021 class, published in January. Anthony is the 12th player on that list to commit to a school; none are ticketed for East Lansing. Edwards and Benny are two of the three uncommitted players; the other is the #21 player in the state, WR Jace Williams.

As for the impact on Michigan's class, their focus is narrowing to a list of top targets: Edwards, Benny, Spindler, MA OL Drew Kendall, NJ DT George Rooks, and IA TE Thomas Fidone are among the most prominent. Please don't ask me to project how the scholarship situation is going to play out during a pandemic.

Anthony's pledge slips Michigan past North Carolina for the eight-best class in the 247 composite rankings. Here's the class as it currently stands: