No. 1 recruit Jackson Cantwell drops down in rankings after Miami commitment

On Tuesday offensive tackle Jackson Cantwell was the No. 1 recruit in the nation according to On3 and the No. 3 player according to 247sports. On Wednesday, 247sports dropped him to No. 10. Why? Well, there may be reason to believe that his commitment to the University of Miami may have something to do with it.

While nothing is confirmed, it is interesting to see Cantwell drop that far after choosing Miami over Georgia, Ohio State and Oregon. Would he have dropped that far if he chose an SEC powerhouse or the defending national champions?

The recruiting services certainly have the right to fluctuate their rankings as they see fit and other players such as Zion Lee and Keisean Henderson got their flowers in the recent rankings despite not committing to an elite program. Lee is currently committed to Maryland and Henderson is committed to Houston.

This also isn't to say that other players should not have been ranked higher in the rankings, but nothing changed outside of the commitment on Tuesday. And there weren't any signs that Cantwell would drop prior to his pledge to Miami. On 247sports he is still holds the top composite ranking and even after calling out Pete Nakos of On3, Cantwell remains at the top of On3.

Reports are mixed about Cantwell's NIL deal but the general consensus seems to sit in the $2-$3 million range. If other players in the top 10 receive that level of NIL deal then there might be reason to believe further movement could come. Cantwell could either rise, or fall a bit further, in that case.

After Cantwell committed to the Hurricanes, there was an expected amount of backlash from fans of other programs but it was surprising to see the immediate rankings change. This will be something to monitor, and if Cantwell continues to fall, it could be time to recognize that the rankings should be taken with a grain of salt.