‘He looked better than I was anticipating’ – Steve Sarkisian was pleasantly surprised by the return of a Texas playmaker
The Texas Longhorns opened up fall camp Wednesday. And running back CJ Baxter returned with a vengeance. After missing out on the 2024 season when he suffered a season-ending knee injury this time last year, the 6-foot-1, 227 announced his presence to everyone. Including head coach Steve Sarkisian.“I’d probably say he looked better than I […]
The Texas Longhorns opened up fall camp Wednesday. And running back CJ Baxter returned with a vengeance.
After missing out on the 2024 season when he suffered a season-ending knee injury this time last year, the 6-foot-1, 227 announced his presence to everyone. Including head coach Steve Sarkisian.
“I’d probably say he looked better than I was anticipating, especially when we got into team periods,” Sarkisian said. “He hit a couple runs that were very encouraging to me. A lot of times when you’re coming off a significant knee injury like those guys, physically you’re ready, but psychologically, it’s the mental side of the game.
“What does that feel like? I’m a runner, and now I’ve got to run between four 300-pounders. The hole doesn’t look big enough for me to get through, but I’ve got to try to get through it,” Sarkisian said. “It’s a psyche thing. And I thought CJ’s psyche looked really good today running the ball. I was definitely encouraged by that.”
Prior to the injury, CJ Baxter was a second-team Freshman All-American.
The Orlando, Fla., native ran the football 138 times for 659 yards and five touchdowns. The season total is the 12th-most for a Longhorn freshman in program history.
Baxter is back in the fold with returning starter and lone 1,000-yard rusher in the FBS, Tre Wisner. Redshirt freshman Christian Clark and sophomore Jerrick Gibson are also in the talented room. Gibson ran for 387 yards and four touchdowns in 2024 while Clark, like Baxter, suffered a season-ending injury in fall camp. He was ranked as the No. 177 prospect nationally, No. 4 running back, and No. 3 overall player in the state of Arizona, per Rivals.
With a new-look offensive line that, despite being inexperienced, has loads of talent, this year’s Texas running backs have a legitimate shot to make some real noise in the SEC. DJ Campbell was named on the Outland Trophy preseason watch list, Trevor Goosby apparently looks like he’s in fantastic shape, Brandon Baker is looking to take hold of the right tackle spot, and as expected Neto Umeozulo and Cole Hutson round out the top group day one.
