"I could be the guy to get a lot of dominoes to fall": Nation's No. 1 recruit Jackson Cantwell sees game-changing potential at Oregon

Five-star offensive tackle Jackson Cantwell was originally set to announce his commitment decision on April 30, but he has postponed it to May 13. He began his official visit schedule with a weekend trip to Oregon alongside his family.

Although his flight to Eugene faced delays, the top prospect from Nixa High School in Missouri arrived in time to watch a scrimmage at Autzen Stadium and rounded off a memorable visit.

“The OV was great," Cantwell said on Monday, via On3. "The takeaways are that they want me to play football and throw for them and do so at an extremely high level with great coaching and all the resources I could ever need to succeed."

Cantwell is the No. 1 prospect in the 2026 class, and the Ducks coaching staff made sure to treat him like he deserves.

“The amount of time and effort they poured into me and the attention to detail stood out," Cantwell said, via Rivals. “They have a plan for me to develop and even to be a dual sport athlete at a high level too. They are heavily invested and think I could be the guy to get a lot of dominoes to fall in the 2026 class.”

Before the visit, many close to the recruitment believed Georgia held the edge in landing Cantwell's. However, according to On3’s Steve Wiltfong, the visit may have given Oregon the lead, at least for now.

Jackson Cantwell's father shares insights from Oregon trip

Jackson Cantwell's father, Christian Cantwell, a five-time world champion and 2008 Olympic silver medalist in shot put, graduated from Missouri and initially hoped his son would follow in his footsteps by becoming a Tiger. However, as Jackson’s recruitment intensified, sticking to that hope became immensely difficult.

Christian strongly supported Missouri, but he was also impressed by Oregon coach Dan Lanning’s potential, even joking that he "could probably sell ice to an Eskimo."

During this week's visit, Christian was blown away by the Ducks staff's appeal. In an interview with On3, he highlighted some of the strategies the staff used to appeal to his son.

“Couple key takeaways for Jackson would be their commitment to helping him reach the level of personal development that he is capable of whatever that ends up being," Christian said on Monday, via On3.

"They had Jackson Powers-Johnson come back and be a big part of the weekend and give his testimony for coach Terry and the entire staff. They had Josh Conerly come in and develop and they see Jackson being on a similar path."

Oregon already has the nation's No. 1 tight end, Kendre Harrison, committed to the 2026 class. Adding Jackson to the cycle will give Lanning's program a mighty offense to tear apart opposing schools' defenses.