For weeks, it seemed like five-star offensive tackle Jackson Cantwell would pick Georgia as his next home. However, the standout OT ultimately shocked the entire college football world as he committed to the Miami Hurricanes over both the Georgia Bulldogs and Oregon Ducks.
Controversy quickly followed as On3 Sports’ Pete Nakos reported that Miami offered Cantwell a massive $2 million NIL deal for his freshman year. In response, On3’s JD PicKell pushed back against critics targeting Cantwell over the rumored deal.
Jackson Cantwell Pushes Back on NIL Rumors, Says Miami Commitment Was About Relationships
Top 2026 recruit Jackson Cantwell says his commitment to Miami wasn’t about money and calls out On3 and Pete Nakos for promoting a “false narrative” around NIL influence in his commitment to the Hurricanes.
The 2025 class made headlines when the nation’s top recruit, Bryce Underwood, shocked many people by flipping his commitment from LSU to Michigan. This was reportedly in exchange for a much more lucrative NIL deal. For elite athletes like Underwood and now Cantwell, these moves are becoming increasingly common and unsurprising.
As the No. 1 recruit in the nation in the 2026 recruiting class, getting a massive NIL deal is not a big thing for Cantwell. However, Cantwell made it clear that his commitment to the Hurricanes wasn’t driven by any NIL deal or money.
Jackson Cantwell didn’t hold back.
He says it wasn’t about the money—and calls out @On3sports @PeteNakos_ for pushing a “false narrative.”
Cantwell says relationships, not dollar signs, won out in his commitment to Miami. #dawgnation pic.twitter.com/CTQLiKQZyJ
— DawgNation (@DawgNation) May 13, 2025
“Well, I think my response to it is it’s not the same narrative people like Pete Nakos are pushing right now. I think there’s just a false narrative that that’s why I’m choosing. And I think that, I mean, I think relationships won out in Miami,” says Cantwell.
On3 Sports analyst JD PicKell fired back at Cantwell and other critics, sticking up for Nakos and On3 Sports as a whole.
It would be weird if NIL wasn’t a factor for Jackson Cantwell as the #1 player in America.
But let’s not pretend that staff that developed Penei Sewell had nothing to do with Miami winning this recruitmenthttps://t.co/HtjWxe1oVS pic.twitter.com/QomFXcXg2J
— J.D. PicKell (@jdpickell) May 13, 2025
“It’s modern college football,” PicKell said Tuesday. “This kid’s No. 1 player in America. It would be abnormal, it would be nay, it would be ridiculous if he wasn’t getting a pretty good chunk of change to go wherever he was going to college, Miami or otherwise. So that’s the first part of this, the other part of this is if it was about money.”
RELATED: How Did Miami Pull Off the Jackson Cantwell Heist? Nation’s No. 1 Recruit Reveals What Sealed It
Besides being a massive football talent, Cantwell also shines in track and field. He is a two-time Missouri 5A State Champion in shot put, a Nike Nationals Winner, and the 2023-24 Gatorade Missouri Player of the Year.
This is a classic case of “he said-she said.” Cantwell said it’s not about the money, whereas On3 Sports says it was. At the end of the day, all that matters is that Cantwell will be gracing Miami with his impressive talents and could be a true game-changer for the Hurricanes.
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