We learned a few days ago that Fresno (CA) Central East wide receiver Xavier Worthy would not be making good on his pledge to play for the Wolverines. Despite signing his National Letter of Intent, he requested out of it and will presumably be granted that request. In modern times it's not worth the public relations hit to reject those requests.
Hit the jump for more.
Worthy was a 4-star, the #8 wide receiver, and #61 overall in the 2021 class. I gave him a TTB Rating of 89 when he committed in June of 2020 (LINK). He has ridiculous speed (10.55 in the 100 meters as a sophomore), but he missed a year of development this past season when California high school football was postponed to the spring. Worthy planned to graduate in December, ending his high school career.
Concrete details about what happened between Worthy and Michigan are not available, but the mix-up appears to have been between Worthy and admissions. He adjusted his high school class schedule to graduate early, and then he was not admitted to school. Was it Worthy's fault for not doing what he needed to do? Or was it Michigan's admissions department screwing up by not communicating what exactly needed to be done? Nobody really knows.
I have seen a lot of people blaming Michigan's admissions department, but I'll say this: Numerous recruits graduate early each year and enroll in January without incident.
Regardless, Michigan's 2021 class is now missing its #3 highest ranked recruit (behind QB J.J. McCarthy and RB Donovan Edwards). And the Wolverines - who lost Worthy's friend Giles Jackson to Washington via the transfer portal - are now missing two guys who would have been two key components of #speedinspace.
Worthy flirted with Alabama during the recruiting cycle, and rumors are rampant that he will end up at Texas, where Crimson Tide offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian is now the head coach.
Jackson is the first player from the 2021 signing class to depart.
I think blame can be placed on Admissions. Why did Worthy - and the coaches - think he would get in? What step was missed?
ReplyDeleteWhat is the HC role in bridging communication?
I would think the head coach's role in bridging communication is minimal. The head coach has way too many things to worry about than the minutiae of the Admissions process and protocol.
DeleteBut should the HC have awareness on issues, even if only potential? He's got a recruiting department, so it's not like one would expect Him Harbaugh himself to be dialed in ... but someone - ANYONE - should have liaison to admissions, with a direct line to JH. If that isn't happening, corrective action should be implemented in order to avoid losing another stud (or scaring off candidates)
DeleteHarbaugh has signed, what, 175 players to Michigan over the years? And Worthy is the first one to have an issue with Admissions. 174 out of 175 is a pretty good batting average.
DeleteI don't really know who should have done what or how much more involved a head football coach at an FBS program should get involved in Admissions.
I realize I'm in a much different situation than Jim Harbaugh as a high school coach, but from what I've seen, there's no way an FBS head coach can do everything people expect of him without delegating.
You can't recruit every player personally, be on top of the X's and O's, oversee Admissions for every player, do media appearances, organize practices, meet with your staff, develop a recruiting board, watch film, scout opponents, keep track of the academic performances of the 115+ kids in the program, oversee weightlifting, etc.
At some point, you have to delegate and let people do their jobs.
174 of 175 is fantastic. What's the stat for early enrollees?
DeleteI'm not saying JH himself should be the guy, I'm saying what you are: that there should be delegation to someone in recruiting or player development departments in sync with Admissions, players and parents
Pretend we had the #1QB committed for 2022. Having experienced this with Worthy, wouldn't you want to make sure nothing like this happened again?
thunder,
ReplyDeleteyou think josh heupel will turn joe milton into a good starting qb?
Nope. I took a look at Tennessee's roster, and I don't think Milton will start there, either. I do not believe in Heupel as a coach, nor do I believe in the Tennessee program. Life is going to be tough on those guys.
DeleteIm wondering if Josh Heupel has using him on trick plays in mind, and not as a full time starter? But who knows, maybe he feels he can make him into a starter.
DeleteBut I also think Milton wont start there either.
I seriously doubt admissions dept has blame in this. They somehow seem to process 20+ athletes in football alone every year without much problem. Can’t imagine it isn’t a pretty straightforward process stating here is exactly what must be done for early admission. More likely on the students side.
ReplyDeleteRight. Admissions is literally their job. I think it's much more likely that Worthy and his family thought they had things ironed out but were mistaken.
DeleteCould be both. There's a lot of smoke that there was a mistake made on the M side. Wouldn't surprise me if errors were made on the player side as well.
DeleteBlaming Harbaugh seems like knee-jerk feelings stuff.
-Lank
I seriously doubt admissions dept has blame in this. They somehow seem to process 20+ athletes in football alone every year without much problem. Can’t imagine it isn’t a pretty straightforward process stating here is exactly what must be done for early admission. More likely on the students side.
ReplyDeleteHearing rumors that Tennessee is moving to Division 2. Can anyone confirm?
ReplyDelete-Lank
Maybe he'll make the 2deep. Maybe they'll win 5 games ... Maybe
DeleteD2 = starter & chance to win games = NFL would find him
Can only guess which way this will go
IRT Milton predictions it seems the philosophy here is "If at first you don't succeed try try again." and again. and again.
Delete-Lank
Milton should feel good about attending grad school at a place that has won a national title in the last 50 years.
Delete-Lank
Grad school is a great opportunity. Hope he makes the most of it
DeleteLooking at Tennessee's QBs, Milton is headed to 3rd string.
DeleteMaybe but he's got 3 years of eligibility left if so.
DeleteAlso...One might think the same thing about McNamara.
We'll see.
-Lank
Added a longer Milton take in the other thread. In short, I think he's misevaluated but most M fans. There's a clear relationship between performance and injury. Wouldn't be surprised to see him in the NFL still...or not.
ReplyDeletehttps://touchthebanner.blogspot.com/2021/04/ex-wolverine-commit-updates-spring-2021.html
-Lank
DeleteYou mean Jim Harbagh misevaluated him?
DeleteMaybe him too but I haven't seen anything from Peters, McCaffrey, or McNamara to tell me that JH made an obvious mistake in going with Milton ahead of them. Tennessee is probably better off than Illinois or Northern Colorado.
DeleteThere's 3 pieces to the issue with JH's QBs IMO.
1 is talent identification. Harbaugh is relying on transfers over recruits. Again and again.
2 is development. Between Peters, McCaffrey, Milton, and McNamara he should have been able to turn at least one of them into an above average starter by now and he simply hasn't done it. His best QB development at Michigan remains Speight's improvement from 15 to 16. Milton was always a boom/bust option but McCaffrey and Peters were higher rated recruits with every advantage.
3 is personnel management. The intolerance to injuries seems to be driving some kids away. That doesn't explain all of the issues but it's part of it.
-Lank
If Jim Harbaugh saw that Milton could be the starter without injury he would still be on the team. This article about injury being the reason Milton was inefective, but really he should be the starter, is wrong.
DeleteIf you mean my post (not an article), I'm not saying who should be a starter because I don't know. I'm saying from what we saw on the field it's not obvious. None of the QBs Harbaugh has recruited at Michigan has turned into a high quality starter at this point. None.
DeleteWe split hairs and have opinions but the effects of injuries, small samples, and difference in opponent quality make it unclear. If there was a QB competition this summer between Peters, McCaffrey, Milton, and McNamara at Hypothetical State University -- we don't know who would win. I could make an argument for or against any of them winning it.
Peters - most experienced. career passer rating 120.
McCaffrey - beat out Peters and brings the run threat. Still unknown as a 5th year senior, with only 35 career pass attempts and zero starts.
Milton - beat out Peters and McCaffrey, solid before injury, most arm talent and arguably room for improvement with 3 years of eligibility left. career passer rating 125. High INT rate.
McNamara - outperformed Milton in 2020, youngest and arguably most room for improvement. no interceptions in 71 career attempts. 4! years eligibility left. small sample.
I don't think Harbaugh wanted any of these kids to transfer, but when you get passed over by a younger player it shouldn't be a surprise. That's what happened with Peters, McCaffrey, and Milton alike.
Back to the Hype-State situation. My personal opinion is that McCaffrey or Milton might be the best option depending on offensive system. I put a premium on McCaffrey's ability to run and look past the weak arm and lack of proven passing ability. Maybe Harbaugh was wrong there. Could be McNamara too - he's only entering year 3 at a position where many improve later in their careers.
-Lank
BTW Milton says he is still choosing between Wash St and Tenn. I'd be pretty surprised if started immediately at Tenn but clearly, and to his credit, he's not afraid of coming in to a seemingly full QB room and competing.
-Lank
He'll never start at Washington St either.
DeleteYeah, I don't really see Milton being a Nick Rolovich QB at Washington State, either. I really thought Milton's best shot was to go to a slightly smaller school where they'll run the QB, do some RPO stuff, and take shots down the field. Milton's never going to be an accurate passer, but you still have to respect his arm strength if you're a defensive coordinator.
DeleteIf a QB isn't accurate it doesn't really matter how far or hard he can throw it.
Delete-Lank
I watched the Tennessee spring game highlights. All 3 QBs have nice accuracy, especially Harrison Bailey.
DeleteYou're orobably right, he should go to a smaller school. Theres some nice football programs at smaller schools in Florida. I think he should go thrre, and keep taking ckasses. Get a goid education. That can help him the rest of hus life.
Yep. G5, and especially FCS allows max reps and game experience. The arm is there, but he needs a ton of live reps to sharpen the intangibles
DeleteNot an insult, just the best chance of getting to the League. Nothing wrong with taking that route either - if you're good & ready, the NFL will find you
Then consider not being able to read a Defense ... recipe for disaster
ReplyDelete