If you missed it, oh, half an hour ago, four-star guard Kobe Bufkin committed to the basketball program.

Michigan has landed one of the fastest, and fastest-rising, prospects in the country. Fresno (CA) Central East four-star wide receiver Xavier Worthy announced his commitment in an Instagram Live stream this afternoon.

Worthy chose the Wolverines from a final six that also included Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, LSU, and Oregon. He's acquired most of his big-time offers since March; he's also rocketed from a three-star to a top-100 overall prospect on 247 in that time period.

Worthy's pledge brings Michigan's 2021 class to an even 20 commits. They remain eighth overall on the 247 Composite team rankings, mere fractions of a point behind USC. Worthy is the third receiver in the class, joining four-star Cristian Dixon and three-star Markus Allen. 

GURU RATINGS

Rivals	ESPN	247	247 Comp
3*, 5.6, NR WR, #47 CA	4*, 84, #22 WR, #12 CA, #126 Ovr	4*, 93, #11 WR, #8 CA, #95 Ovr	4*, 0.9255, #32 WR, #16 CA, #175 Ovr

ESPN and 247 both rank Worthy among their top 150 prospects overall and the top 12 in California. Rivals is a massive outlier, leaving him out of their position rankings and placing him 47th in the state. I'll delve into this more in the counting section; it's safe to expect his Rivals ranking to rise unless they refuse to reevaluate anyone during the pandemic.

All three sites list Worthy at 6'1" and either 160 or 165 pounds. He's got a thin frame and will need to add some muscle.

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

SCOUTING

Worthy made a relatively late appearance on recruiting radars; from what I can tell, that was caused in part by a focus on track and in part because he was a year behind another Power Five receiver, 2020 Cal signee Jeremiah Hunter. Also, as you'll see in the highlights, his quarterback doesn't have the arm strength to fully take advantage of his top trait. He ranked 844th in the composite partway through his junior season and as low as 1,023rd on 247's own rankings.

Once 247 went over his junior film—and his track numbers—they boosted him to a four-star. Greg Biggins foreshadowed the move in an April post on California's fastest prospects:

Xavier Worthy is making a big jump when new rankings are released next week with a four-star bump and a move inside the Top247. He’s not just a track guy, he was very good on the football field as well with 54 catches for 992 yards and 16 touchdowns. He should be an immediate impact player in the return game and is tremendous after the catch. His 22.05-200m time earlier this year was the 4th fastest in the country and he’s another guy we could have seen run in the 10.3-100m range as well sub 21.00 in the 200m. Worthy recently released a top six of Fresno State, Michigan, Nebraska, Oregon, Oregon State and Utah.

This won't be the last time his track stats are mentioned. In May, Worthy skipped over much of the Top247 and moved all the way to #147. 247's Charles Power:

The Fresno (Calif.) Central East wideout is one of the fastest prospects in the Golden State running a 10.55 and 21.42 in the 100 and 200 meters, respectively. He transferred that speed to the field as junior, proving to be a big play threat, scoring a touchdown on nearly one out of every three receptions. The feeling is Worthy should have an even bigger senior season with his former teammate Jeremiah Hunter moving on to Cal.

Biggins mentioned a comparison of former Cal All-American and current Philadelphia Eagles WR DeSean Jackson that I must stress given recent events is purely due to similarity of their playing styles—they're both skinny burners, YAC monsters, and scary return men. Colleague Brandon Huffman made the same comparison for Worthy's scouting report, then provided an eval that kicked off by doubling down on the speed:

Explosive speedster with elite speed (10.55 PR in 100m as sophomore), dynamic playmaker with the ball in his hands. Crisp route runner, with ability to quickly gain separation and stretch the field. Natural pass-catcher who can get deep consistently while also taking shorter passes. Good body control and ability to adjust to throws. Also adept punt and kick returner. Slender frame will need to add weight and strength. Projects as immediate impact Power 5 player and second or third day NFL draft pick.

Oregon was the biggest program, along with Michigan, to get in on Worthy before the spring—the rest of his initial top six changed as more offers came in. Their 247 site did a breakdown of Worthy's senior film. The takeaway:

But Worthy is much more than just fast. He's extremely difficult to bring down with the ball in his hands due to his electric change of direction, and he shows good hands throughout as well. If there is a knock, it's probably his build. He doesn't look overly tall, despite being listed at 6-foot-1 and he's built like a bean sprout. Wherever he ends up, weight will be needed. At the same time, whoever lands Worthy's signature is getting a potential game-breaker. He has the feel of a player who could average nearly 20 yards per catch as the big-play target in the passing offense.

Worthy again made the list of 247's biggest risers in June, bumping him from #141 to #95. That came on the heels of Alabama, LSU, and Georgia all offering the previous month, as well as a commitment to play in the (formerly Army) All-American Bowl. Biggins took the opportunity to add another enticing comparison:

We have comped Worthy to Desean Jackson multiple times because of his frame and explosive play making style. I still like that one but breaking down his film again recently, you can see some Tavon Austin in him as well.

He's very good with the ball in his hands and is capable of making a big play from anywhere on the field. A lot of track guys playing football are just straight line guys but Worthy has the ability to cut, change direction, make people miss in the open field and make what looks like a minimal gain into a huge one.

He has excellent football instincts with the ball in his hands, a natural feel for the position and is a true home run threat every time he touches the football. 

A combination of Jackson and Austin sounds, uh, unstoppable.

You may be wondering: wither Rivals? Refusing to acknowledge anything that didn't occur at one of their own camps, that's where. They tossed Worthy from unranked to 47th in the state and put him in post on players who would've benefited from more camps when the pandemic hit:

No receiver in the West region has been busier landing offers over the last few weeks than Worthy, who has added Alabama, Georgia and many others despite the coronavirus travel ban. The Fresno (Calif.) Central standout was not at the Rivals camp and not many 7-on-7 events happened in the spring, so it was impossible to see Worthy in person. The film is impressive and the offers are coming in, but a big rankings bump cannot be justified yet because he hasn’t done any new events. It’s tough, though, since Worthy has a chance to be one of the better receivers in the West.

I don't get it. All three sites evaluate plenty of players based on their Hudl tapes. Worthy's Hudl tape screams top-150 prospect at the least. His track numbers exist. A senior season seems unlikely to happen, at least on schedule, so Rivals is either going to sit on this objectively bad ranking or throw up their hands and acknowledge they rewatched his junior film. You'll be hard-pressed to find 46 better players in California.

OFFERS

Michigan beat out a final group that also included Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, LSU, and Oregon, which is a hell of a top six for anyone, but especially a player from outside SEC country. As best I can tell, those were all committable offers. He also holds offers from Arizona State, Fresno State, Nebraska, Penn State, Tennessee, USC, Utah, Washington, and Washington State, among others. (Related aside: what, exactly, does Chip Kelly think he's doing?)

HIGH SCHOOL

The Rivals database does very weird things with Fresno's various directional schools. I can't totally blame them for this when Worthy's is called "Fresno Central East" but it complicates figuring out his fellow alums. Central East went 8-0 last year and won the Division I-AA state title against Chatsworth Sierra Canyon, better known for their basketball program headlined by Bronny James. 

STATS

In 15 games as a junior, Worthy caught 54 passes for 992 yards (18.4 YPC) for 16 touchdowns with a long of 80, according to MaxPreps. He also averaged 39.0 yards and scored twice on just eight kickoff returns.

He recorded ten receptions for 259 yards and three TDs in 11 games as a sophomore.

FAKE 40 TIME

Worthy hasn't done SPARQ testing, but might I interest you in some more high school track numbers? Via athletic.net:

A 10.55 100-meter dash as a sophomore is good, in my opinion. Worthy's track exploits put him up there with the best to come through the football program, as Sam Webb put into context in a recent podcast:

I think that Xavier Worthy, just to amp him up a little bit more, 10.55 as a sophomore... because you guys cover (recruiting) you realize how fast that is. But if you sort of put that in the context of fast guys and Michigan history… I think that Denard's fastest time was like 10.4-something. And when you look back at Tyrone Wheatley... and I tweeted about this the other day because someone brought up Wheat. And let me make this clear... Tyrone Wheatley is the best athlete I've ever seen come through the doors of Michigan football. I only go back 30 years or so with good memory, but there's no peer when you think about Tyrone Wheatley, who at 225 pounds was a 10.59 100-meter guy in high school. He was 10.46, I think in the in the Big 10 Finals. He ran 10.36 at Michigan as well. So, you're talking about arguably the best Michigan football athlete in the last 30-40 years. And that was what he ran in his time at Michigan. 10.36. This kid is running 10.55 as a sophomore. That's freaky, unbelievable speed. And here's the thing, he's not physically filled out yet. So, once he gets in a strength conditioning program with a nutritionist as well, and packs on the muscle, he's gonna get faster and more explosive.

Denard's best high school 100 time was a 10.44. Worthy didn't get to post a 100 time in his junior season before it got corona'd; he did squeeze in the fourth-best 200 time in the country. It's time to break out the "cheetah in a porsche strapped to a jet engine and dropped out of a plane" tag, which we don't deploy too often.

Unlike one or two players who also got that tag, Worthy's track speed, as you'll see in the next section, very much translates to the football field.

VIDEO

Junior highlights:

Enjoyable analysis of his junior highlights:

At the very least, watch for a couple plays starting at the 4:25 mark.

Track highlights (his 10.55 100 is at 0:28):

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

PREDICTION BASED ON FLIMSY EVIDENCE

Worthy's speed and wiggle may make his age less relevant; if he's a taller version of KJ Hamler or Rondale Moore, to name a couple recent examples, then he could have a similarly explosive year-one impact. He should get an instant opportunity on special teams and some sort of role on the offense.

From there, the ceiling is massive. Lofty names have been thrown around MGoSlack. I'll let Brian use the big Michigan name put out there in the recruiting profile and mention a different player that came to my mind: Ted Ginn, who ran a 4.28 at 5'11".

UPSHOT FOR THE REST OF THE CLASS

It's got a really, really fast guy in it.

I don't know how to possibly project a class that's being assembled in a pandemic mostly prior to a season that may not happen, which then opens up a Pandora's box of unanswered questions about eligibility for current players and related issues. Top remaining prospects include MI RB Donovan Edwards, MI OG Rocco Spindler, IA TE Thomas Fidone, MA OG Drew Kendall, MI DT/OT Rayshaun Benny, NJ DT George Rooks, and CA CB Prophet Brown.