RECRUITING: With Decision Looming, Will 5-Star OL Pull a Surprise?

By Mark Pszonak

Annually, there are only a handful of five-star recruits nationally. And there are even less players that every recruiting service has ranked as a top-five player. This is why offensive lineman Jackson Cantwell’s process has been under a magnifying glass for months. While we are a day away from finding out where he will commit, there is still a bit of intrigue remaining in his decision.

If it was possible to wager on where Cantwell was committing, Georgia would be an extremely heavy favorite. And this only grew more likely over the weekend when Cantwell, who is from Nixa, Missouri, took his sixth visit to Athens to get even more comfortable around the program. During his visit he had the opportunity to hang out with another recruit which further intensified the commitment rumors.

https://twitter.com/jcantwell2499/status/1921534051476734405

This is a photo of Cantwell with five-star quarterback Jared Curtis, who committed to the Bulldogs last Monday. Curtis was also a heavy Georgia lean at the time of his commitment.

So, while Georgia is undoubtedly the heavy favorite, there are a couple of other schools that are still throwing some last-minute Hail Mary’s in hopes of swaying Cantwell. This short list includes Miami and Oregon, but in reality, Georgia’s only real threat resides in Coral Gables.

The Canes have established quite a reputation for throwing NIL money towards top-level recruits. And there is no reason to believe that they aren’t doing the same with Cantwell. Prior to the NIL-era, his recruitment would already be 100% sealed in favor of the Bulldogs, but now it is impossible to say that even 24 hours prior to a decision. In a day when there are no limits to how much money a recruit can be offered, it would be naïve to ever be 100% confident in an upcoming commitment.