What Jackson Cantwell, nation’s No. 1 football recruit, has meant to Nixa

NIXA — Walking the halls of Nixa High School, a soft-spoken Jackson Cantwell is one to say “hello” to others and ask how their days are going. With his dry sense of humor, he’s not afraid to give someone he knows a hard time. At the lunch table, he’s just a normal 16-year-old high school kid.

If it weren’t for him towering over everyone else in the school, no one would think twice about him being maybe the most popular high school kid in America right now. Or that he has the biggest names in college football flying to Nixa, Missouri, hoping he’ll decide to play for their program.

“Some of your prominent athletes are not always your most studious and character-driven kids,” Nixa athletic director Dr. Brandon Clark said. “But I’m telling you, Jackson is a great kid and a great athlete. His humility and the way we handled all this… It’s hard to imagine having to deal with this type of pressure and how he’s handled it with the grace he has. He is one of the nicest young men that I know, and I’m very glad he’s here.”

Cantwell, the most sought-after recruit in Springfield area history, will decide on Tuesday afternoon in Nixa. He will choose between Georgia, Miami (Florida), Ohio State, and Oregon and end the speculation that has hovered over him since he made his first varsity start in the third game of his freshman season.

According to those close to him, the 6-foot-8, 300-pound offensive tackle has helped bring more excitement and a level of swagger to the Nixa program. They also say Cantwell hasn’t allowed the spotlight to change him, when many others might have crumbled if they were in his shoes.

“He puts Nixa on the map to a bigger degree than it ever would’ve in the athletic world because his name has been mentioned so much with Nixa, Missouri,” Nixa football coach John Perry said. “It just gives us that name recognition at a national level.”

Jackson Cantwell accelerated excitement around Nixa football

Cantwell’s arrival at Nixa High School coincided with the rise in the football program. In Perry’s first two years as coach, the Eagles went from a sub-.500 team to one that made deep postseason runs and averaged over 30 points per game. The school also finished the renovations on the football stadium in 2020, making it the place to watch a game on Friday nights.

When word of Cantwell’s presence, a genetically gifted son of Olympians, made its way around, it took the excitement of Eagles football to another level. Very early in his career, he was tabbed as a five-star prospect and was nationally recognized as one of the best young players in the country.

Scott Puryear, a former News-Leader reporter and columnist who lives in Nixa and has children who attended the school, saw everything take on a new dimension once Cantwell stepped on its gray turf.

“I’d been to those games before and they were fun, but they weren’t sold out and the stands weren’t full,” Puryear said. “Now, every Friday night at Nixa is an event and one of those FOMO deals where if you don’t go, you’ll be like ‘what did I miss?’ I think Jackson has helped take that to another level.”

Perry noticed it, too. He had coached SEC-level players in Mississippi, but had never experienced anything like the last three seasons. He thought the excitement was there after leading the Eagles to eight- and nine-win seasons before the lineman’s arrival.

“You’re seeing an increased flow of people at events he’s in,” Perry said. “Whether it’s a track meet or a football game. If he’s gonna be there, you’re gonna get more people to show up, and I think that’s been obvious.”

Jackson Cantwell’s recruitment exceeds the mania around Dorial Green-Beckham

Only the attention that former Hillcrest standout Dorial Green-Beckham received during his recruitment rivals the amount of football attention that Cantwell has received.

Green-Beckham was the consensus No. 1 overall recruit in the 2012 class when he committed to Mizzou, which saw then-Tigers coach Gary Pinkel land a helicopter on Hillcrest’s field. Coaches like Mack Brown and Bob Stoops made routine trips to Springfield to sit with Green-Beckham in his home and watch the wide receiver play.

Green-Beckham’s recruitment came very early in Twitter’s days, when major online recruiting outlets were just starting to emerge.

Now, Twitter’s not even called Twitter anymore and online engagement has exploded far beyond the DGB days. There are countless recruiting outlets breaking down Cantwell’s every move, whether that be a breakdown of the gloves Cantwell’s wearing, why he runs out of the tunnel with a Waffle House flag, how close Waffle Houses are to the schools that are offering or speculation around the amount of Name, Image and Likeness money he will make.

At the same time, current Mizzou coach Eli Drinkwitz landed a helicopter at one of Cantwell’s games at Carthage. Ohio State’s Ryan Day, days after winning the national championship, Georgia‘s Kirby Smart, Pro Football Hall of Famer and Miami (Florida) defensive line coach Jason Taylor, and many others have sat down with Cantwell in the Nixa football locker room.

“This is DGB on steroids,” Puryear said. “Social media, the way it is now, you can follow and speculate, and there’s daily chatter about a kid that’s No. 1 in his class. This is never out of sight, outta mind because of all that.”

Jackson Cantwell hasn’t let the spotlight get to him

With the added attention, Cantwell has been no stranger to interviews. A track and field prodigy at a young age, Cantwell’s been interviewed since he was eight. He’s doing one seemingly every other day with outlets nationwide.

Those who have gotten to know him locally say he’s the same kid as before he became a household name in the football recruiting world, only a little more polished and comfortable.

Nothing changed after he was named the consensus top recruit in October. It only made him strive to be better.

“He wants to be really good at whatever he does, whether it’s academics or football, he’s going to work on it every single day, and he’s going to do the little things without fail,” Perry said. “That gives him an opportunity to be great. Five-star, four-star, the money, it doesn’t matter. His desire to be great is what is going to give him the opportunity to be successful in whatever he does.”

On Tuesday, Cantwell will pick a hat in front of the Aetos Center for Performing Arts and make one fan base happy. He’s expressed his desire to have the recruitment out of the way and return to as normal a life as possible before playing his senior year for the Eagles. He’ll be driven by the pursuit of greatness and the desire to lift Nixa to a state championship victory after finishing as a runner-up a year ago.

Cantwell has been one of the more special athletes to ever come through the Springfield area. No matter how he plays or what school he picks, those who know him will continue to believe that he’s one of the more special people to leave their impact on the area.

“Jackson’s done a great job of catapulting us,” Clark said. “He’s been a very good way to open the door to what we’re doing to where Nixa, Missouri, is and what we’re doing here at Nixa Public Schools.”

Jackson Cantwell recruiting coverage

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