Texas Football: Enormous flip arrives with ex-Michigan signee Xavier Worthy

A very nice retroactive addition to the 2021 Texas football recruiting class arrived on the afternoon of April 24, which is the same day as the program’s spring football game. Newly hired head coach Steve Sarkisian and second-year wide receivers coach Andre Coleman flipped a key commitment from the former Michigan Wolverines elite four-star signee Xavier Worthy.

Back during the Early Signing Period, head coach Jim Harbaugh and the Wolverines looked to have locked in a huge addition to their program by signing the four-star Central East wide receiver product Worthy. But it took less than six months after the Early Signing Period, and less than three months after National Signing Day, for the Wolverines to lose the commitment of Worthy.

Worthy was originally recruited very intently by the Alabama Crimson Tide when Sark was their offensive coordinator. Sark made a good pitch to Worthy as a member of Alabama’s coaching staff, especially after winning a National Championship, boasting a Heisman Trophy winner in star wideout DeVonta Smith, and winning the Broyles Award himself.

It was Worthy taking to his Twitter timeline on the afternoon of April 24 to announce that he will be taking his talents to join Sark and the Longhorns this offseason. Just a few weeks after requesting a release from his signed National Letter of Intent with Michigan, Worthy will be landing on the Forty Acres.

What Xavier Worthy brings for the Texas football program?

Since the lone blue chip commit/signee that Sark and the Longhorns had at the wide receiver position in their 2021 class was the four-star Monarch product Jaden Alexis, adding Worthy is huge. Texas did have a few key wide receiver additions in their 2021 class, but none that bring the potential of Worthy to the table.

Texas will wind up getting the commitment of Worthy over offers from Michigan, Alabama, and 19 other schools. Some of the other notable schools on his offer sheet were the Auburn Tigers, Georgia Bulldogs, LSU Tigers, Nebraska Cornhuskers, Oregon Ducks, Penn State Nittany Lions, Tennessee Volunteers, Texas A&M Aggies, and USC Trojans.

Moreover, Worthy ranks as the nation’s No. 61 2021 high school prospect, No. 8 wide receiver, and No. 4 prospect out of California (247Sports Composite). And the Top247 ranks him as the nation’s No. 99 high school prospect, No. 13 wide receiver, and No. 8 prospect out of California.

The 6-foot-1 and 160 pound Fresno, CA, native has the ability to make an immediate impact for the Longhorns this year, if he’s able to make a positive impression on the coaching staff once he arrives on campus this offseason. Worthy should be able to join the Longhorns by the time summer workouts start, which means he could participate in a meaningful role in fall camp.

Texas now has four wide receiver commits from their 2021 class. The other two, outside of Alexis and Worthy, and the three-star Warren Easton product Casey Cain and three-star Rudder product Keithron Lee. This has turned into a pretty strong haul at the wide receiver position in the Longhorns 2021 class.

After adding the commitment from Worthy, the 2021 Texas recruiting class will rank at No. 15 in the nation and in the second spot in the Big 12 behind the Oklahoma Sooners (per 247Sports Team Composite Rankings). They will then sit at 22 commits, with the highest-rated being the elite five-star Denton-Ryan athlete Ja’Tavion Sanders.