When it comes to recruiting elite talent, Miami rarely misses. Poaching Carson Beck was just the baseline of what they could pull off if they persisted at recruiting. This year, Mario Cristobal and Co. landed the top recruit of the 2026 class, Jackson Cantwell. He went at loggerheads with Kirby Smart and Dan Lanning and managed to secure the star OT’s commitment. So far in his prep career, Cantwell has a total of 286 pancake blocks. That’s not the only feat this mere 16-year-old has achieved. He’s physically built different.

It was on a flight back home from Georgia that Jackson Cantwell made his decision. “It’s either Georgia or Miami. By the end of this (flight) I’m going to know,” he told Rivals. Miami is not just getting a top-class prospect in Cantwell. The OT’s physique is a key reason for Cristobal pursuing him relentlessly. Along with his football heroics, Cantwell is also a sensation in field athletics. In 2024, he broke a national record for a sophomore in shot put, for his impressive 74.985m throw. Earlier, he also broke an AAU record in the sport at just 12 years old. Cantwell’s strength defies age, and it shows in his latest On3 Instagram post.

In the video, we see Cantwell lifting a jaw-dropping total of 475 lbs on the bench press. You can read that number again. And there’s barely a peep from him as he pushes the barrel upwards, that too with a close grip. If he’s lifting that weight in his junior year, one can only imagine the baseline he’ll set for himself by the time he reaches college. He’s a physical phenom, standing at 6’7” and weighing 325 lbs. Shockingly enough, he benched 315 lbs as an eighth-grader, according to the Springfield News-Leader. Also aiding him in this stunt was his father, Christian Cantwell.

Some of that power is inherited because his parents are Olympians themselves. Christian has 5 world championship wins, and won an Olympic silver in 2008 – the year Jackson was born. Teri Cantwell, his mother, was SMU’s shot put champion for two years when she attended the school, and also participated in the 2002 Sydney Olympics. In eighth grade, Cantwell was already taller than the average offensive lineman in the NFL, noted the Springfield News-Leader in 2022.

Mario Cristobal has secured the commitment of the most lethal OT in the 2026 class. With him in his offensive line, opposing defences will have to get their bearings together for a second or two before it comes charging at them. But once again, the NIL-influence rumors are back, as usual with Cristobal. Despite the show of his physical prowess, fans are not getting swayed easily towards appreciation for the OT.

Fans give mixed opinions about Jackson Cantwell’s show of strength

Cantwell’s strength is unbelievable. There’s no two ways about it. It’s a natural reaction for fans to be thrown off by such strength in a player who’s barely an adult. One skeptic fan wrote, “If only bench pressing was the main thing at tackle you need FOOTWORK unless he kicking to inside the line to guard then he could be really good being that damn strong.” Sure, strength is not everything, but let’s face it, Cantwell still has a long, long road ahead of him in his career. He’s bound to have some gaps in his style, which will be made up for by training under Alex Mirabal.

One fan decided to take on the critic hat. “Short arms,” they wrote. Well, not quite. Cantwell’s arm length is 33.5 inches, and those arms have won him all those field honors and records. Added to that, he also has the hands to match his size. Cantwell benched that number with a close grip, too. This young lad still has some time to reach his maximum potential.

Another comment read, “Cristob*l couldn’t develop a roll of film.” The HC, contrastingly, has created some of the top-rated OLs in drafts. Ryan Kelly and Penei Sewell are two talents he coached, and they went as first-round picks in 2015 and 2021, respectively. Among the OLs he recruited in his career, 5 of them went as first and second round picks: Cam Robinson, Jonah Williams, Alex Leatherwood, Kelly, and Sewell. For next year, too, Cristobal is slated to add one more name to this list: Francis Mauigoa.

However, some fans were appreciative of Cantwell’s impressive skills. “Big hurricane 🧡💚🙌‼️,” wrote one fan. With his size and stature, he’s easily one of Cristobal’s biggest players. But Cantwell is also just 16, and that growth spurt in him still has time to work wonders. What Cantwell pulled at his high school gym is a feat even grown-ups struggle to bench. This was somewhat the theme of another comment under his post: “Not human.”

Jackson Cantwell feels confident in Miami, even after fellow top-class prospect Jared Curtis tried hard to get him over to Georgia. His physical prowess already had CFB’s biggest names battling it out for him. Even as skeptics doubt how well they’ll translate into Miami football, Cristobal has a mammoth weapon slated to join his offense. Cantwell brings with him some serious damage-inducing power to the Hurricanes’ O-line, and that’s a key advantage Cristobal will be focusing on.