Georgia wins a lot of high-profile recruitments but it does not win all of them.
That was the case on Tuesday, when the nation’s No. 1 prospect in the country announced he his commitment to Miami.
Jackson Cantwell picked the Hurricanes over Georgia, Oregon and Ohio State. The 5-star offensive tackle did confirm to DawgNation that Georgia finished as the No. 2 team in his recruitment.
Georgia got the last visit for Cantwell, who was in Athens this past weekend.
But ultimately it was Miami and head coach Mario Cristobal that won for the Nixa, Mo. native.
“I think relationships won out in Miami,” Cantwell told DawgNation’s Jeff Sentell following the announcement. That was kind of what did it for me. I mean, they spent the most time with me. They put the most effort into recruiting me."
Cantwell did admit that his recruitment “blew up” after Georgia first offered him in July of 2023. He was also very complimentary of Georgia offensive line coach Stacy Searels and how he went about recruiting Cantwell.
Much of the discussion surrounding Cantwell though comes down to money and specifically NIL. Pete Nakos of On3 reported that Cantwell is expected to make “roughly $2.5 million” in his first year at Miami.
Cantwell pushed back on that narrative and specifically called out Nakos by name.
“It’s not the same narrative people like Pete Nakos are pushing right now,” Cantwell told Sentell. “I mean, I think there’s just a false narrative that that’s why I’m choosing...
“I’ve got a lot of, I’ve got a lot of skin in the game with all these schools as far as like getting represented by Drew (Rosenhaus, Cantwell’s agent) and making sure that I’m going to be fairly compensated. And I think every school has done a good job with that and being accommodating with that. And I think that anyone who would say otherwise about how I’ve done my recruitment has been just misled.”
Cantwell was asked about specific contract details in terms of what he would be getting from Miami.
“My contract is confidential,” Cantwell said.
For Georgia, the addition of Cantwell would’ve paired him with 5-star quarterback Jared Curtis. The 5-star quarterback did visit Athens this weekend, with Cantwell in town to try and help seal the deal.
“I had a great time with those guys,” Cantwell said. There’s a lot of good people in Georgia. And, again, tying back to what I said about it’s hard to, like, it’s hard to please everybody in this process.Because, I mean, Jared’s a great dude. I love spending time with him."
Without Cantwell, Georgia still has the No. 6 overall recruiting class per the On3 Industry rankings. Georgia has signed a top-four recruiting class every cycle under Kirby Smart.
Cantwell made it pretty firm that he intends to stick with his commitment. That means Georgia will have to look elsewhere for offensive line help in the 2026 recruiting cycle.
Georgia holds a commitment from 4-star offensive lineman Graham Houston at the moment. The Bulldogs signed five offensive linemen in the 2025 recruiting cycle, led by Juan Gaston. The mammoth offensive tackle has made a quick impact in his time at Georgia and could push for early playing time this fall.