Inside 'the freak show' workout with sophomore Nixa football phenom Jackson Cantwell

NIXA — With the speakers blaring Meek Mill throughout the weight room on a recent summer morning, the "freak show" was about to begin.

The majority of the Nixa Eagles football team stopped what they were doing and made their way over to the power rack in the corner of the room. Their sophomore teammate was about to, once again, wow everyone with the weight he was about to bench.

Jackson Cantwell, 15, had just finished his warm-ups while repping out 225 pounds like it was nothing and then moving up to 315 and 365 — numbers that would be great one-rep maxes for anyone else in the room.

He motioned for fellow sophomore Hayden Mays to come over a spot him from the group next to him.

The two used to lift together but it got to a point in eighth grade when they noticed they spent half their workouts changing out weights to the insane amounts that Cantwell was going to need. Instead, Cantwell now has his own rack with Mays and others ready to spot when needed.

More: Nixa's 6-foot-8 freshman Jackson Cantwell has Olympian parents, world records and a 33 ACT score

As "Dreams and Nightmares" played in the background, Cantwell laid back and adjusted his hands to the bar. With four 45-pound plates on each side, the sophomore lifted all 405 pounds up, Mays helped get him in position and Cantwell pushed the bent bar up and down off the middle of his chest four times.

Cantwell got up, smiled, watched the replay on a teammate's phone and then moved on to lateral raises.

"I don't think very many will ever do that," Nixa strength coach Jon Gold said. "It's the freak show. It's unbelievable."

Blessed with Olympian genetics, incredible work ethic and amazing attention to detail, it's easy to see why Cantwell has turned himself into one of the nation's elite college football prospects in the 2026 class.

Cantwell, now at 6-foot-8, 300 pounds, holds about a dozen college football offers from the biggest programs in the nation. He is scheduled to visit and participate in camps at Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee next week and more attention will follow as he heads into his first full season starting on Nixa's offensive line.

Injuries helped insert him into the starting lineup during the third week of his freshman season and he's started at left tackle since. Other notable accolades from his freshman year include breaking the MSHSAA Class 5 shot put record and a second-place state finish in the discus. Not to mention that he got a 33 on his ACT before he took a high school class.

"If you asked me last year where I thought I'd be in a year, I would not have thought it would be anything like this," Cantwell said. "I'm just happy that I can keep working and keep getting better every single day."

Cantwell is the son of Christian and Teri (Steer) Cantwell. His dad is a five-time world champion and won a silver medal in the shot put at the 2008 Beijing Games. His mom participated in the 2000 Sydney games and was a two-time NCAA shot put champion at SMU.

Cantwell started lifting when he was about six years old before his parents paused him after a couple of years fearing it would hurt his development. Around sixth grade, he noticed others his age were in the weight room and he's been back in ever since.

"It's definitely the most fun part of being at practice," Cantwell said "It's something I've always enjoyed doing and enjoyed the process of. It's definitely pretty, pretty easy for me to get motivated to work out in the weight room."

Cantwell's process and attention to detail have been just as important to his success in the weight room as having Olympian parents.

Warming up on Nixa's gray turf on a recent humid summer morning, Cantwell took his time with every stretch. He wasn't going through the motions nor was he joking around with teammates.

Every little movement was done with a purpose.

It translated to the weight room when he kept his arms loose with workout bands. When warming up to bench, he started by bench pressing just the 45-pound barbell. Instead of being lazy with it, he exploded multiple times while simulating what he was going to do before he added another 360 pounds.

"My dad's probably been waiting for me to say a lot of this stuff, but I think he's a lot of the reason why I take the weight room so seriously," Cantwell said. "He taught me at an early age how to warm up, how to get yourself ready in-between sets and I use that for pretty much every workout that I do to this day. It's been very beneficial because I can get myself ready to perform as well as I can and that can be used in other stuff like actual practice, running and getting myself ready."

Cantwell's attention to detail is contagious, Gold, Nixa's strength coach, noted. The former powerlifter has noticed others in the room pay closer attention to what they're doing in the weight room. Before the sophomore's arrival, no one was benching 400 pounds. The Eagles now see what's possible as others were benching 315 pounds or more for multiple reps on the same morning.

When he's not planning out the weight he should be doing with Gold or lifting, Cantwell's right there cheering his teammates on. He'll coach others up on little things that could help them lift another 10 pounds and then spot whoever needs it.

"Everything he does is done with intention," Gold said. "You get one guy doing it and now they all think they can do it. All of our numbers have gotten better."

Cantwell's attentiveness also translates onto the football field. The only thing he'll sarcastically complain about is running but he still beats all of the linemen in sprints. He doesn't take a rep off knowing that it's going to help him more when he plays under the Friday night lights.

Come time to work on the many techniques of being an offensive lineman, Cantwell knows he still has a lot of room to grow. His progress on the offensive line was evident from his first start during his freshman season to the team's postseason loss.

Eagles head coach John Perry now sees a player who is night and day different than what he was when he first lined up at Carthage in the third week of last season.

"Last year, he was learning and was a work in progress," Perry said. "He needed to be coached up as far as the execution of an offensive lineman. He's coming off a solid year and he's worked this offseason and done things to learn the game. He's so much better in his footwork, he's starting to dominate the line of scrimmage instead of just learning how to play offensive line. He is starting to dominate the offensive line and it's not going to be fun for the defense.

"It's just his desire to be great. He's going to put in the time athletically and physically and he's going to put in the time tactically and technically. He is going to watch film, he's going to work on his feet and he's going to work on his steps. His eagerness to be great is uncommon and there's not a lot of people in the world with that kind of desire to be the best they can be and be an SEC or All-Pro left tackle."

Cantwell's desire will be needed for the big goals he's set for himself.

This year, he wants to finish his sophomore season on the football field as an all-state offensive lineman. When it's track and field season, he wants to break the state's overall shotput and discus records.

In the weight room, Cantwell wants to beat his dad's one-rep max on the bench press of 641 pounds. Cantwell has his arm length working against him as he estimates his wingspan to be at about 6-foot-8. Even getting within 100 pounds of his dad's bench would be something Cantwell would be proud of but it's difficult to doubt him when he sets his mind to something.

One of his other goals will be accomplished in the coming week. When Cantwell realized he was going to be the football prospect he is, he wanted to be noticed by Alabama and Georgia, the two schools currently synonymous with college football. He will visit both schools and participate in camps along with a visit to Tennessee next week.

By the time of his junior year when college coaches could start contacting him directly, he laughed thinking he might need a second phone.

Cantwell doesn't see a reason to rush his recruitment just yet. His preference would be a school that would allow him to play football and participate in track and field. NCAA rules prohibit track and field programs from contacting him until July 1 following his junior year. He might put together a short list of schools before then and follow by going on official visits and then make his decision.

Until then, Cantwell will either be in the weight room or on the field getting ready for the season. He'll keep pumping out videos on his social media showing him benching 315 pounds 11 times, 225 pounds 22 times, 385 pounds five times or dunking as a 300-pounder.

Behind the scenes, he'll put the work into the smaller details that have turned him into the big recruit he is today.

"If you would have talked to me in eighth grade, I would have told you that I'd probably play football my freshman year and probably never play again," Cantwell said. "Because I did not know what football could do for me at that point.

"With my dad being right about everything, which is really annoying sometimes but he's right about everything, he said I would probably become a really good recruit throughout high school and I was like 'yeah, dad, whatever.' I just wanted to throw and maybe play basketball.

"I guess he was right because people are saying that I might be able to do this at the next level. I'm really excited to see if I can do both at the next level."

Jackson Cantwell's football offers

• Mizzou (visit)

• Oklahoma (visit)

• Oregon

• Florida State

• Ole Miss

• Iowa State

• Illinois

• UNLV

• Kansas State (visit)

• Nebraska (visit)

• TCU (visit)

• Miami (Florida)

• Texas A&M (visit)

• Tennessee

• Kansas

• Arkansas (visit)

Wyatt D. Wheeler is a reporter and columnist with the Springfield News-Leader. You can contact him at 417-371-6987, by email at wwheeler@news-leader.com or Twitter at @WyattWheeler_NL.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Jackson Cantwell: Nixa football recruit puts work in weight room