The most dominant athlete on the Arkansas campus might be Sam Pittman’s secret weapon to landing the biggest recruit in program history.
Despite competing collegiately at Texas, Ryan Crouser — who just won a historic third straight Olympic gold medal in Paris — is now a volunteer assistant for the Razorbacks’ track program.
His presence in Fayetteville could potentially be a factor in Pittman shocking the world when it comes to the recruitment of Nixa, Mo., five-star offensive lineman Jackson Cantwell.
A consensus top-10 recruit in the 2026 class by Rivals, Cantwell included Arkansas in his list of 14 finalists alongside the likes of Alabama, Georgia, Michigan, Ohio State and several other big-time programs.
The Razorbacks making the cut wasn’t particularly surprising considering Fayetteville is only a couple hours away from his hometown and he’s been on campus a couple of times, but they’re still viewed as a major long shot to actually land his services.
Even being in the mix, though, is notable. Arkansas rarely lands five-star recruits, much less one ranked No. 2 overall in the 247Sports Composite. The highest-ranked player it has signed straight out of high school, in that nearly quarter-century old metric, was former quarterback Mitch Mustain at No. 9 in the 2006 class.
Transfers like Jadon Haselwood (No. 4) and Ryan Mallett (No. 5) were also top-10 recruits coming out of high school, but even they weren’t ranked quite as high as the nearly 6’8″, 300 pound Cantwell.
Needless to say, Pittman will need every advantage he can get in order to land him in the 2026 class — including tapping into his two-sport potential.
The son of two Olympians, Cantwell is also an elite thrower in track and field. In fact, he obliterated the national shot put record for sophomores last year with a throw of 74 feet, 9.75 inches. No other sophomore had ever eclipsed 70 feet.
You can see some of that power here:
That throw led to a member of FloTrack — a branch of the same company that annually draws the ire of Arkansas baseball fans — asking Crouser about him in June. The interviewer asked Crouser if Cantwell had a chance to break the all-time high school record of 81 feet, 3.5 inches set by Michael Carter back in 1979.
“I think he definitely has the potential,” Crouser said. “It’s not going to be easy. It’s one of those things, if he’s dedicated and works hard and things come together, I think it’s possible, which is really saying something because there’s been a few people in history that even had a chance to come close to it. (It) looks, statistically, as one of the, if not the, most difficult record in any high school sport, Carter’s 81-3.”
“So I think he does have a chance. He’s a big kid, he’s strong. You’ve seen very significant technical improvement from him this year, so I think that’s where you’re going to see, if he does get it, it’s going to be on the technical side. Because he physically has the capabilities to get there, for sure.”
Ryan Crouser’s Credentials
Before becoming the Arkansas football head coach, Sam Pittman was widely considered one of the best — if not the top — offensive line coaches in the country.
His resume includes many NFL Draft picks and multiple first-rounders, but it honestly pales in comparison to Ryan Crouser’s list of accomplishments in his sport.
Not only did the 31-year-old win four national titles in the shot put at Texas, but he took home the gold medal in the event at the Rio de Janeiro Games in 2016, Tokyo Games in 2021 and now the Paris Games. Crouser also broke a world record that had stood for 31 years in 2021 and then broke his own mark with a throw of 23.56 meters last year.
On top of that, he’s also been a solid addition to the Arkansas track coaching staff. Under Crouser’s tutelage, Clemson transfer Roje Stona improved his shot put throw by more than 5 feet.
Based on the interview with FloTrack, Crouser is clearly aware of the shot put prodigy that is Jackson Cantwell living only a couple hours north of him, so he could probably take his performance to the next level if that’s something Cantwell desires.
The two-sport combination of playing in the trenches for a major college football program and throwing for the track and field team isn’t unprecedented, either. It was obviously another era, but Michael Carter — the aforementioned high school record holder — was an All-American nose tackle on some of SMU’s best teams in the early 1980s and also won multiple national titles in the shot put.
He then went on to win a silver medal in the Olympics and become a three-time Pro Bowler for the San Francisco 49ers dynasty that won three Super Bowls. To this day, Carter is the only athlete to win an Olympic medal and a Super Bowl ring in the same year (1984).
Arkansas Football Must Help with Cantwell, Too
Landing a player of Jackson Cantwell’s caliber will take much more than having Ryan Crouser as a volunteer assistant on the Arkansas track team.
The Nixa product has said previously that having the opportunity to win in football is a major, if the primary, factor in his decision process.
That means Sam Pittman will have to pull his weight in the recruitment by turning the Razorbacks around from the 4-8 (1-7) record they had in 2023.
He’ll presumably need to show improvement just to save his job, but a surprise season like 2021 could increase Arkansas’ chances with a player like Cantwell.
The Razorbacks have already managed to secure surprise commitments from the likes of linebacker Tavion Wallace in the 2025 class and defensive end Colton Yarbrough in the 2026 class, but it’ll all be for naught if they lay an egg this season and Pittman gets fired.
If Arkansas can get back on track, though, and the offensive line becomes a strength of the team again, Pittman could offer Cantwell a package unlike any of the blue bloods he’s also considering — a chance to learn under an offensive line guru on the gridiron and the literal G.O.A.T. in the shot put.
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