2026 No. 1 recruit Jackson Cantwell preparing to cut down to final four schools

Cantwell has 30 scholarship offers and has a Top 10 of schools almost exclusively in the Big Ten or SEC.

One of the hottest names of the recruiting trail over the past few years in the 2026 class has been No. 1 overall recruit Jackson Cantwell, who has accumulated 30 scholarship offers and has a Top 10 of schools almost exclusively in the Big Ten or SEC.

Cantwell, a 6’8”, 315-pound offensive lineman, has a Top 10 of Texas A&M, Miami, Nebraska, Oregon, Georgia, Alabama, Ohio State, Michigan, Missouri and LSU.

The five-star is coming off recent visits to Big Ten powerhouses Michigan and Ohio State as he looks to make the rounds with his top schools.

“I had a lot of fun in Michigan and Ohio State. I mean, those are just two great places,” Cantwell said at a media event part of the Under Armour All-America game. “I learned a lot from talking ball with [offensive line] coach [Grant] Newsome Michigan, and got to learn a lot more about the program at Ohio State, was getting to kind of get the tour of that. So that was a really enjoyable trip.”

At this point, Cantwell has a visit to Texas A&M on his bucket list, as he’s yet to make the trip out to see the Aggies since the spring of 2023. Outside of that, the five-star doesn’t expect to check out any new schools, and may not even take that many visits, due to his track requirements in the spring, prior to official visits.

The five-star offensive lineman only wants to take four official visits as well in the summer with the possibility of adding an extra one in May, which means he’ll have to narrow down his list of schools by then.

Looking at some of his top suitors, what does Cantwell like about each of his top schools?

On Texas A&M: “The Aggies, I mean, they have a lot going for them as far as they’ve put a lot of time into recruiting me, and they’ve really shown them a priority there. I like their O-line coach a lot. I think Coach [Adam] Cushing has shown me a lot of great stuff so far and breaking down film with me and what I can do and how they’re successful.

“I like Coach Elko. He’s a good dude. They got very promising two sport stuff there. They had Bryce Foster, I’d say, a while back, like a couple years like, you know, doing some throwing, some shot put there, throwing some discus while he was playing offensive line. So it’s promising that you can do two sports at Texas A&M.”

On Miami: “Miami excites me a lot because I mean, they have an offensive line-oriented head coach in Mario Cristobal. I like Coach Cristobal a lot. I think Coach [Alex] Mirabal is a top-five [offensive] line coach in the country. Even that could be a little bit subjective where in that top five would be because I mean, he does a fantastic job. I mean he’s been great developing [players]. They always seem to have the right guys on the offensive line.

“I watched them play against Duke. They had Cam Ward — had all the time to do basically whatever he wanted in there, and he was rolling around for like 30 seconds. You got to have some good pass protection up front. They do a fantastic job. So that was kind of what’s what excites me about Miami’s O-line development.

“I’ve talked to [Coach Cristobal and Mirabal] a decent amount. It kind of came up a little bit recently because they were one of the first ones to kind of jump in the boat, like I’d say winter of 2022. And I didn’t talk to them like a whole lot after that. But then I kind of got back on with them in like 2023, 2024. I just didn’t know when I’d be able to visit.

“And I mean, I just got back down there, got talked to them and I like kind of what they do. They seem to be a very close bunch. They’ve kind of known for a while they want to develop offensive linemen, they want to have a great offensive line. So that’s just kind of some of the stuff excites me about Coach Cristobal as a whole.”

On Georgia: “They do a lot of things right. They do a lot of attention to detail. I like [offensive line] coach [Stacy] Searels a lot. Coach Searles [is] definitely one of my favorite O-line coaches that I’ve seen so far. I think it’s just because when you’re at Georgia you can like recruit incredibly well.

“So obviously that will help Coach Searles out a lot, but he also does a pretty good job developing those guys and getting them ready to go play at the next level. So that’s something that I’ve always been excited about with them. And I mean, it’s just UGA like you grow up and you see UGA playing national championships a lot. And I think they’ve got a really good chance to win one this year. So it’s always good to be a contender.”

On Nebraska: “Nebraska played a pretty fantastic game whenever I watched them there. Obviously, they’re kind of back into being an up-and-coming program. It sounds weird because they were a blue blood for a while and now they’re kind of coming back up again. I mean, first bowl game win since 2015. Always good to go see some progress linearly. I mean, they think they’re going to be able to win even more games next year. So I’m excited to kind of see how those guys keep developing that program because it’s obviously really promising.

“Once you get a quarterback, that helps a lot. The got the quarterback they got. They’re trying to get a supporting cast around him. So I’m glad to see they’re investing a lot in those guys. I mean, obviously, they’re in need of offensive linemen and they’ve said that’s something that I could obviously be a big piece for them in 2026 class with. So I’m excited to kind of see how that’ll end up developing.”

On Alabama: “Alabama, obviously they’re a very good football team. I mean, obviously there’s some question about if they could have made it into the playoffs or not. And with one game going right for them, they probably would have made it in with a pretty high seed. So I mean they’re a team that’s been a blue blood for a while now. I mean, I think Kalen DeBoer does a fantastic job. I think he gets over-criticized a bunch just because he’s not Nick Saban. But you don’t have to be Nick Saban to be a great football coach.

“He’s a proven winner. He’s won everywhere he’s been. He’s won at D3, he’s won at D1, FCS, he’s won at Power 5. Like he’s a guy that will go out there and win football games. And [offensive line] coach [Chris] Kapilovic as well, the O-line coach there, we had some ties from Michigan State, but I didn’t talk to them as much. But when he got to Bama, we already had that connection so it helped out a lot. And he went to Missouri State, which is 20 minutes for me. So he knows my area really well. So, it’s kind of cool they get to share that.”

On Missouri: “ I grew up on the Mizzou campus. I think from until I was 8, I basically lived there while my dad was trained to be a professional shot putter. So I know a lot about it. Obviously, I mean, they got a good thing going there right now. They’re winning a decent amount of games.

“They’re in the top 25, it feels like every year for the last couple years now. Ever since they got Coach Drinkwood, their offensive line has been on the come up. Really, they’ve done a better and better job every single year. I think [offensive line] coach [Brandon] Jones has been a pretty big part of that.”

“And I mean, as far as, like, winning those battles, I mean, it’s really tough to get away from Missouri because, like, they put such a huge emphasis on in-state guys. That’s their biggest recruiting priority right now is Eli Drinkwood wants to get in-state guys. So, I mean, I think that’s why that’s happening and try and make it as tough as possible for guys to leave the state.”

On Oregon: “I think they’re really promising. I mean, national championship favorites right now. I don’t want to jinx [Head] Coach [Dan] Lanning on that, but no, they’ve done a great job. I think people panicked after two games, didn’t understand it takes time to build stuff. But [offensive line coach] A’lique Terry has done a fantastic job building those guys up on the offensive line.

They coach about as well as anybody. I think Dan Lanning is one of the most likable dudes in college football right now as far as head coaches go. And I can confirm that he’s like that all the time. He’s just a great dude. He knows a lot of guys in our south, in our Missouri area, in like southwest Missouri. So I’ve gotten to talk to him a lot and I’ve really enjoyed getting to keep building that relationship. I mean, there’s great stuff going on in Oregon.”

LSU and USC have fallen onto the back ropes here as Cantwell’s recruitment continues to take off, but there are a number of heavy suitors for the five-star’s services, which will lead to a very competitive battle down the line, one that will surely involve NIL.

While the offensive lineman himself hasn’t been very involved, he hired Rosenhaus Sports Representation to help him navigate the process smoothly.

“I don’t know a whole lot yet [about NIL yet], but I mean, I’m glad that I got [Rosenhaus Sports Representation] on board. Earlier, my dad was watching an episode of Hard Knocks and he saw them represent somebody and was like, ‘that’s the guy,’” Cantwell said, referring to Drew Rosenahus. “And I think he was right because they do a fantastic job. But they’ve still got to go meet with everybody because we have not met with a whole lot of schools yet if really, if many at all…So the thinking is, is they want to make sure that everything’s gonna be what’s best for me and then we’ll see what to do from there. But I trust those guys with everything. They’ve done a fantastic job with pros, college guys. They’re starting to get to high school right now, thankfully. So it helped me out a lot.”