Top five-star recruit Jackson Cantwell recently announced his college football commitment to the Miami Hurricanes, and his reported NIL deal is under the spotlight.
Cantwell chose the Hurricanes over the Georgia Bulldogs, and one of the reasons was said to be a landmark NIL package for the high school offensive tackle, reportedly upwards of $2 million per year.
It led to Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart sharing his recruiting philosophy while licking the wounds of losing out on Cantwell, declaring that he doesn’t want to be in a landscape where a freshman recruit comes on campus making more than a senior.
Although Cantwell has stated that the name, image, and likeness deal was not the primary reason for his commitment to Miami football, as reported by the Springfield News-Leader, the value of his deal remains a central topic of debate among college football personnel.
Chris Hummer of 247Sports (subscription required) sought the opinions of Power Four personnel and coaching staff on the Hurricane’s NIL strategy of spending top dollars on star targets, including quarterbacks Cam Ward and Carson Beck.
Those moves were made in an unrestricted NIL era that is set to change upon approval of the House settlement.
The revenue-sharing structure will have a cap, and that’s what’s causing pause among personnel in the sport regarding Cantwell’s NIL deal.
“If it’s coming out of the rev share, there’s no [expletive] way,” the same SEC director of player personnel said. “That’s a quarterback or a starting left tackle. Cantwell is going to start his career and be at best a quality starter. Not a great one. Not an elite one.”
Cantwell’s NIL lawyer, Darren Heitner, told 247Sports that it’s fair to assume that payment won’t come until he enrolls, which would seem to be in the revenue-sharing era.
The details are not public, and some wonder if the deal could be under the “old rules” of NIL if signed before the settlement’s July 1 effective date.
Regardless of whether it falls under cap compliance or not, the deal is sparking more debates around positional value and the fact that much of the salary cap is being spent on a high school offensive lineman who has yet to take a college snap.
The majority answered no, with an ACC director of player personnel giving a bit more open-minded perspective.
“Yeah, but you can only have one of them,” they said. “You have to invest up front, and that’s what the market is around.”
Of course schools want premier left tackles, but the cap will require more thoughtful divvying of resources.
Despite acknowledging the positional value, the majority of those surveyed contend that they would be better off allocating their resources elsewhere, particularly at the quarterback position.
Some, ultimately, shared Smart’s philosophy on not wanting to pay that much to an incoming freshman. In Cantwell’s case, he’d stand to make more than 95% of the roster.
The position is intricately linked with the starting quarterback. In going all out to land Beck in the transfer portal, the move might be of value if Cantwell can make the jump to starter.
If he hits, no one will be looking back on this move with much criticism at all.
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