The recruitment race is crazier than ever ahead of the Spring Game 2025. In a compelling gap between one regular season to another, coaches look to reflect on their glaring issues and try to find feasible solutions in the portal not only for the ongoing year but for the forthcoming year as well. The 2026 five-star OT Jackson Cantwell, the nation’s No. 1 recruit in his class, is currently turning the heads of the top-tier coaches before he makes up his mind about the one.

While you might deem the entire recruiting process of the elite athletes a bit dramatic, it’s not easy to pick a single school where each one closely resembles the other in a nail-biting NIL competition. So, it’s never a one-time answer but rather a step-by-step process to unfold.

Which team is Cantwell inclined to? The surface-level answer would include six: Georgia, Miami (Florida), Michigan, Missouri, Ohio State, and Oregon. After all, the 6 ft 8 offensive lineman excludes d8 schools from his updated list of choices in the latest development. The prodigy hilariously remarked that he felt like breaking up his girl while cutting the schools, but it is what it was. There are zero hard feelings, but he had to take a pragmatic approach before inking his name on the paper.

Now, if you want to look underneath the picture, Oregon looks a bit more prominent than others. The latest ON3 report breaks out that Cantwell’s best head coach relationship is with Dan Lanning, and his best position coach connection is with Georgia’s OL coach, Stacy Searels. So, it’s safer than you think to keep Oregon and Georgia in the first and second order in the crazy recruitment dogfight.

Cantwell is looking to schedule an official visit with each program before the final stretch. He said the process will probably culminate in an announcement ceremony in August in front of the Nixa High student body. Don’t be surprised if the Ducks once again topple their opponent in the elite five-star race. After all, it’s their persistence that pays off.

Dan Lanning is the recent hot take on the recruitment trail

Oregon previously earned a commitment from four-star quarterback Jonas Williams but couldn’t retain him for a long time. He flipped his decision to the USC Trojans and coach Lincoln Riley over the weekend. But even when the Ducks were sure on Williams in the fold, Coach Lanning never stopped pursuing Cantwell. The standout Tennessee kid has always been the top priority for them.

”There’s a good argument that Dan Lanning is my favorite coach I’ve met so far. He’s a fantastic dude and a great ball coach. I like him a lot. I think (offensive line coach) A’lique Terry does a great job relating to the kids and does a great job of teaching,” Cantwell specified the reason behind his inclination. There is no debate that Dan Lanning is a heck of a recruiter. He is making history on the recruiting trail and he’s doing it with integrity, not the NIL. You can blame Nike and its owner for the sky-high success of the program, but it’s Lanning’s unique philosophy, behavior, and relentless, aggressive effort that pulls the talent to Eugene.

Also, the 13 winnings made a significant difference in the growing demand among the talent. Cantwell continued, ”It’s very far away, but I think the reason why they have a lot of pull nationwide is just because they’ve won a lot of games. You know about the Oregon brand because of how big they are nationally. They’re on television all the time, you can watch all their stuff, and they win a lot. It’s a lot of fun to watch them.”

It will be interesting to see whether Dan Lanning has the last laugh in the Jackson Cantwell recruitment battle or not.