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Jackson Cantwell, nation’s top 2026 prospect, shines with impressive shot put performance
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Jackson Cantwell is set to make some college football team’s offensive line really good starting in 2026.
He’s the nation’s top prospect, according to the 247Sports Composite rankings, which also makes him the top-ranked offensive tackle in the class as well as the top-ranked player in the state of Missouri. Cantwell is a whopping 6-foot-7 1/2 and 300 pounds, and he hasn’t even played a down of football as a high school senior in Nixa.
But wait a minute on the whole football thing. That will happen in due time, because the 5-star gem is going to make a huge impact (no pun intended) for whatever lucky football program gets him. Right now, Georgia is in the mix and so is Missouri, his home state school. Oregon, Michigan and Miami are on his college list, according to 247Sports.
Right now, though, in the spring of his junior year of high school, it’s all about track and field for Cantwell. And specifically, it’s all about the shot put. On Friday, Cantwell made headlines for tossing a shot put instead of tossing around defensive linemen. He posted a ridiculous toss of 73 feet, 6.25 inches in what Cantwell tweeted was his first outdoor meet with the 12-pounder. The effort made Cantwell the new national leader in the shot put, according to Ozarks Sports Zone.
“Still searching for more,” said Cantwell on his social media account, which should get the attention of those college football coaches who are yearning for his services in 2026.
Cantwell will soon be throwing around those collegiate defensive linemen. Right now, though, he’s doing his major damage in track.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
