Miami freshman Jackson Cantwell may have put himself back in the left tackle conversation.
The former five-star recruit from Nixa, Mo., has had a start to the 2026 season that hasn’t matched the hype surrounding him, but his work in last Saturday’s 52-3 win over Central Michigan gave the Hurricanes something to think about. Cantwell played 16 snaps in that game and, according to Pro Football Focus, finished as the fourth-highest graded freshman in the Power Four conferences in Week 4 with an 83.9.
That showing came after he was moved back to left tackle, and Cantwell made his excitement about the shift known on social media.
The position matters because left tackle is where Cantwell has always looked most natural. It’s the spot he played in high school, and it’s the one several outlets and fans expected him to claim when Miami rebuilt its offensive line.
But the job is currently held by redshirt junior Samson Okunlola, who has been in the middle of the program’s offensive line cross-training and has already logged more than 200 snaps this season. Of those, 88.1 percent - 215 of 244 - have come at left tackle.
For now, Cantwell has mostly been used elsewhere. He has played 78 snaps this season at the line of scrimmage, with 59 of them coming at right guard. At 6-foot-8 and 330 pounds, he has the kind of size that can swallow up defensive tackles, but the change in position has not yet turned into a sustained role.
Miami still appears to view him as a player who needs to keep working across the line. He is likely to continue practicing at multiple spots, and that flexibility may be part of what the staff wants to see before trusting him with a bigger job.
The Hurricanes have dependable veterans at both tackle spots and at center, so if Cantwell carves out a steady place, it may come at one of the guard positions. Another path would be Cantwell taking over at left tackle and Okunlola moving back inside.
That kind of decision is being sorted out away from public view, inside Greentree Practice Fields and the Carol Soffer Indoor Practice Facility.
Cantwell arrived as a top-10 elite national recruit with 459 pancake blocks at Nixa High School, so the raw talent has never been the issue. The real question is how he fits Miami’s current scheme, and whether the recent left tackle look is the beginning of something more permanent.
He’ll get another chance to answer that Saturday, when Miami faces Clemson in an Atlantic Coast Conference game at Memorial Stadium, better known as Death Valley.
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