An offensive tackle out of Nixa headlined major sports outlets like ESPN, Bleacher Report and Sports Illustrated.
“People around the nation have recognized that he is a generational talent,” said sports agent Drew Rosenhaus.
Jackson Cantwell’s priority is to protect his quarterback and create holes, but being the number one OT in his class meant that there is more.
“I honestly hated social media growing up,” Cantwell said. “I wasn’t a fan of it as far as posting myself and stuff. I’ve gotten better over the years to grow my brand.”
With that brand comes Name, Image and Likeness aka NIL. It is a student-athlete’s ability to profit off of their athletic ability.
“Whenever I was a junior, I started getting questions from schools about NIL and I didn’t know how to respond because I had never mentioned it before,” the recent Nixa graduate said. “So we knew at that point it was time to work with somebody.”
That somebody being Drew Rosenhaus, a leading agent in NFL Representation.
“There was so much interest in him from the colleges as I helped him with the process, the amount of interest in him was absolutely remarkable,” Rosenhaus said.
Jackson’s agent held down the fort when it came to the lucrative side of recruitment. It allowed Cantwell to block out the noise and pick a football program that suits him best – Miami.
The duo cannot disclose numbers, but Cantwell did tell KY3’s Danielle King this:
“Are you a 9 figure guy?” -King
“I can confidently tell you I am not, I wish I was that would be pretty nice.” -Cantwell
Cantwell is currently working with brands in what is called merchandise deals. He is essentially trading social posts of the product in exchange for free products. Deals include brands like 1st Phorm and Smoothie King.
“I can just go get free smoothies for me and my family any day I want,” Cantwell said. “So that’s pretty cool right, I mean I love free food just as much as anybody.”
He said he has yet to turn down a food deal.
“I know I am going to get some tortilla chips in the mail, that’s some pretty low hanging fruit to review and post it,” Cantwell said.
NIL has given this 17 year old a different outlook on social media and now he’s just having fun with it.
“It is really cool to work with these companies and you know you can try all these products,” Cantwell said. “Even after this I can drive to Smoothie King and get a 44 ounce peanut butter plus smoothie with extra chocolate protein in it and it would taste pretty dang good. That’s the fun part of it. Is really getting to enjoy that kind of stuff for something that doesn’t take a ridiculous amount of work.”
FULL SIT-DOWN WITH CANTWELL AND ROSENHAUS WILL BE PUBLISHED ON TUESDAY, DEC. 30.
