I wouldn't freak out.  This guy started with a 23 WE and 501 OVR.  He dropped down to about 495 after his ineligible season, but did well starting only a few games his first season, but then starting everything after that.   He had a gang of high-high categories and never did max out.  Maybe I should have gotten him even more minutes.

Kevin Kubiszewski is a player I signed a couple seasons ago, and I was forced to start him right away as I had one returning guard, and no other player could play guard.

His ratings as a freshman (that mattered) were,

Athleticism: 71
Speed: 48
Defense: 66
Perimeter: 43
Ball Handling: 52
Passing: 61
Work Ethic: 19
Stamina: 79

His high potentials were High-High Perimeter, Low-High Defense, and High-High Speed.
Currently he has 9 points left in defense, 8 points left in speed, and 20 points left in perimeter.
His work ethic due to starting grew from 19 to 25, to 31 the next year.
As you can see by his stats he is important to my team.

I agree with rogelio, you don't need to freak out, your player will be fine.

Yeah 23 is fine.  Dont dump him.  Either RS him, or start him early in his career to get him to max out.  Both if possible.

If you can, start him his freshman year every game, THEN redshirt him his second year.  Most players won't reject the RS the sophomore year.  This way, you get the benefit of the higher WE during the redshirt year and get a bit more improvement that year.