Announcement Preview: 2021 WR Andrel Anthony Jr.
East Lansing (Mich.) High School wide receiver is set to make his college decision, and the pick will come from his final four of Michigan, Michigan State, Penn State and Notre Dame. Anthony's decision will be this evening at 6:00 p.m. and he will make his announcement at his high school.
To preview that decision, writers from Wolverine Digest, Spartan Nation and All Penn State - all Maven sites - joined me in making our final predictions about Anthony's ultimate destination.
Irish Breakdown: Notre Dame is in an interesting situation at wide receiver. Despite just one committed wideout in the class (Lorenzo Styles Jr.), the staff has been relatively picky at the position. Anthony performed well at Notre Dame’s Irish Invasion camp prior to his junior season, and the Irish staff has stayed on him ever since. Notre Dame certainly did enough to stay in this recruitment, but it doesn’t appear that Anthony was high enough on their list to get the staff to go all out for him. With just one wideout in the class that could be risky, but the Irish staff seem to be after higher level targets at this time. For that reason, I’ll be a bit surprised if he isn’t wearing Maize and Blue in college.
Eric Rutter (Wolverine Digest): Though Michigan already has three wide receiver commitments in the 2021 class, Anthony would give the Wolverines a clear recruiting win over rival Michigan State if he does indeed pick U-M. On Wednesday, Anthony mentioned that he took a trip to Ann Arbor over the weekend to view the campus if he did indeed pick Michigan but also said that his decision has been made for a couple weeks now. That last minute trip to Michigan would not have been necessary if he were content on picking a different school, so I think the Wolverines were able to make a late push for Anthony and will land his commitment later today.
Hondo Carpenter (Spartan Nation): This is a classic example of why Mark Dantonio isn't here right now. I fully expect him to pick Michigan and it is the Spartans fault. He had an offer long before the Spartans. Harbaugh and his staff identified him early while the Spartans slept. He literally lives on the Spartans front porch and loved Michigan State. While they waited, Michigan worked. Recruiting is just like football. If all things are equal, hard work pays off. The Wolverines worked significantly harder than the Spartans. He is a super young man. MSU's new staff craved him, but Dantonio's selfish decision to wait so long to retire put Tucker so far behind the eight-ball that recovering is going to be nearly impossible.
Mark Wogenrich (All Penn State): Penn State has been recruiting pretty well in Michigan this year. In fact, I just did a story about how assistant coach Tim Banks (a Detroit Martin Luther King graduate) is approaching the state. If he stuns the room and commits to Penn State, Anthony would be the Lions’ fifth player in the 2021 class from Michigan. And he would be another strong receiver in the class. That said, Anthony’s probably headed to Michigan, though it would be interesting if Michigan State coach Mel Tucker could close the deal started by the former staff.
CONCLUSION: All four writers picked Michigan, and for Notre Dame this could mean something important. Like Notre Dame, the Wolverines weren't pushing for Anthony for some time, but recently turned up the heat. That despite already having commitments from Cristian Dixon, Xavier Worthy and Markus Allen. Michigan has long been considered a top contender for wide receiver Jayden Thomas. Could Michigan's recent push for Anthony mean they know things are looking good for Notre Dame with Thomas? I think there is something to that.
Be sure to stay locked into Irish Breakdown all the time!
Join the Irish Breakdown community!
Subscribe to the Irish Breakdown podcast on iTunes.
Follow me on Twitter: @CoachD178
Follow me on Parler: @BryanDriskell
Like and follow Irish Breakdown on Facebook