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5-star Miami target remains wide open with finalists after trimming list down

Will the nation's No. 1 prospect end up with Miami?
Braulio Perez
Braulio Perez

Canes Warning

Nixa Eagles Jackson Cantwell holds back a Joplin defender during the championship game of Class 6 District 5 football at Nixa on Friday, Nov. 11, 2023. / Nathan Papes/Springfield News-Leader / USA TODAY NETWORK

Soon enough, the official visit schedule is going to arrive for the nation's No. 1 prospect. With spring ball coming up soon, 5-star offensive tackle Jackson Cantwell has multiple teams dreaming of landing his commitment.

Will the Miami Hurricanes end up winning one of the biggest recruiting battles of the year? Recently, Cantwell announced his Top 6 and thankfully for Mario Cristobal and Co., the Canes made the cut. Cantwell will be taking an official to Coral Gables, with a date yet to be set.

In a new interview with On3's Collin Ginnan, the elite prospect revealed that he doesn't have a leader among his final group of programs still in the hunt. You can tell Cantwell is torn, which is why his upcoming visits will be so big for him.

Miami and Mario Cristobal remain in the hunt for 5-star OT Jackson Cantwell

Yup, Cantwell's recruitment is wide open with six programs still in the mix. In addition to Miami, teams still alive are Georgia, Missouri, Ohio State, Michigan and Oregon. As you can see, there's serious competition for Miami and Cristobal. However, Cristobal is an ace recruiter.

Things are trending in the right direction for Miami too, as nothing but good things have been surrounding the team of late. Cam Ward is expected to be the No. 1 overall pick, while Carson Beck has signed with the school and will run the offense in 2025.

As we've said before, this is part of the recruiting pitch Miami can deliver to Cantwell. The other schools will do everything they can too to try to turn Cantwell's head. Each and every single official visit is going to be of massive importance for Cantwell, ranked the No. 1 OT and No. 1 player overall for the 2026 class.

Regardless of when Cantwell decides to announce his commitment, nothing will be finalized until the Early Signing Period gets here in December. Whoever lands his verbal will still have to fight off the other teams until then. Once Cantwell sets his OV schedule, we'll have a better idea of what kind of timeline he'll be dealing with to shut things down. Any update on Cantwell is one Miami fans will be following closely and for good reason.

Braulio Perez

Braulio Perez

Braulio Perez is an NCAA Content Director for FanSided, joining Minute Media in 2017 after 2.5 years at the Newark Star-Ledger as a high school sports reporter and 2.5 years at the Lynden Tribune as sports editor. While with the Lynden Tribune, Perez was named the Sports Writer of the Year in 2012 for his division by the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association. At the Star-Ledger, he also assisted in coverage of college football recruiting. Perez's focus has been on college football recruiting, high school sports, the NFL, NCAA and English Premier League. He is also a regular contributor for 247Sports' Cougfan.com.