Chris Wormley, Wolverine
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| Ohio defensive end Chris Wormley committed to Michigan on Sunday |
Toledo, OH, defensive end Chris Wormley committed to Michigan on Sunday after the “BBQ at the Big House.” He chose the Wolverines over offers from Cincinnati, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan State, Ohio State, and Toledo.
Wormley is 6’4″-ish and 250-ish pounds, depending on the recruiting site. Speaking of recruiting sites, his ratings vary somewhat wildly from place to place:
ESPN: 4-star, #16 DE
Rivals: 3-star, #22 DE
Scout: 4-star, #20 DE
24/7 Sports: 4-star, #3 SDE, #57 overall
Based on Wormley’s ratings and offers, I think it’s pretty safe to say that Wormley is a complete wild card. The only “elite” program to offer Wormley a car scholarship was Ohio State, and the other programs are all middle of the road. People who look to scholarship offers more than ratings might not be all that enthused. As for people who prefer ratings, well, the mixed reviews are curious. Wormley has been on Michigan fans’ radar since his sophomore season, he plays for a decent program at Whitmer, and he’s a superb shotput/discus thrower. He’s had plenty of attention, but Rivals seems to be down on him. Those reasons, explained by Josh Helmholdt from The Wolverine at one point, seems to be that he lacks a strong motor, lacks aggression, and might be a better fit at offensive tackle in college.
Most of Wormley’s highlights seem to come from his sophomore season, with junior year film surprisingly scarce for such high profile player. When he was listed as a 6’4″, 225 lb. sophomore, he looked like an explosive edge rusher with a good frame and the speed to chase down quarterbacks and even running backs in the open field. He looked like an absolute beast and I tended to agree that he was an elite player headed for perhaps the top spot in Ohio’s recruiting ranks for 2012.
But something happened before his junior year. He apparently added about 25-30 pounds (or more), lost some of that explosiveness, and just seemed pretty lethargic. I have even suggested that he looked like he was injured and just couldn’t go 100% last season. Something was amiss. His 2009 performance should have earned him offers from Michigan and Ohio State; his 2010 performance should have earned him offers from Illinois and Indiana.
The above picture seems to be representative of what I see in Wormley. He’s got big thighs and a big butt, and his upper body doesn’t seem to fill out his jersey and shoulder pads. That indicates to me that he’s got some filling out to do, and when he does reach maturity, he might be 30 pounds heavier than he was last season. If and when that happens, he’ll be 6’5″-ish and maybe 285-290 pounds. Do you turn that guy into a strongside defensive end, a 3-tech defensive tackle, or do you try to make an offensive tackle out of him? I’m not entirely sure. He’s got the athleticism inside of him to do any of those things, but it depends on whether he’s healthy and how hard he pushes himself.
Wormley is the 21st commitment of the 2012 class and joins four other defensive ends (if they all stay at that position group) in the bunch. The last Whitmer product to come to Michigan was tight end Kevin Koger, who will be a senior this season.
TTB Rating: 73