When Texas Longhorns redshirt sophomore running back CJ Baxter wakes up every morning, it’s there on the nightstand — the softball national championship trophy that his girlfriend, Mia Scott, helped the Longhorns win back in June.
It’s on Baxter’s side instead of Scott’s side because the former standout Texas third baseman wants her boyfriend to go win one for himself this year, in line with lofty national expectations that have the Horns ranked No. 1 in the preseason AP Top 25 and Coaches Poll for the first
time in school history.
As Baxter has spent the last year rehabilitating from the two torn knee ligaments sustained in 2024 preseason camp, Scott has pushed him since he underwent surgery the week before the season opener against Colorado State, especially on mornings when Baxter didn’t want to strain through the lengthy recovery process.
There was plenty of teasing, too — one of the toughest athletes at Texas over the last four years, Scott wasn’t just a slick-fielding second-team All-American for the Longhorns in 2025, she hit .446 while playing with a torn ACL and wanted to know why Baxter achieve the same type of success on the football field.
The answer, of course, is because Scott’s tear wasn’t significant enough to require surgery, allowing her to make the move to professional softball and play for the AUSL’s Volts this summer after winning the national championship.
Baxter’s surgery for two torn knee ligaments ultimately presented more mental challenges than physical challenges, even though he wasn’t able to move around much in the weeks afterwards and was forced him to lean on a support network that extended from his family to Scott to motivational speaker Kevin Carroll and the Texas medical staff, including Donald Nguyen and Daryl Faulkner.
As much as Baxter may have struggled in private moments with that support network, Sarkisian commended his third-year running back for the way that he approached the entire rehabilitation process.
“There was a real sense of maturity early on in the process of how he was going to attack his recovery. There was a real sense of maturity in how he was going to support his teammates, right? What’s my role this year? Support my teammates, be a great teammate,” Sarkisian said.
Baxter’s teammates have responded to that support with increased respect for the 6’1, 227-pounder, who provides a unique skill set to the Texas running backs room as the heaviest player with the highest upside as a between-the-tackles runner.
Although Sarkisian and his medical staff initially planned to take a cautious approach with Baxter throughout preseason camp and into the early part of the season, Baxter’s progress has forced Sarkisian to change course.
“I was set on being overly cautious and patient coming into the season. I’ve changed my tune. I told him that I met with him after last scrimmage. I’ve changed my tune. We’re going to be a little more aggressive than we thought and he wants it that way. He continues to give me confidence that I can be aggressive with the way he’s responding day after day after day,” Sarisian said.
Baxter’s growth and improvement led to more snaps in the second scrimmage — the nation’s No. 1 running back in the 2023 recruiting class is close enough to full health for Sarkisian to term Baxter and junior running back Quintrevion Wisner co-starters at the position with Wisner 1A and Baxter 1B.
“His confidence continues to grow as he gets over the one hurdle to the next to the next,” Sarkisian said.
With the season opener against No. 3 Ohio State looming in 11 days and Baxter set to play a feature role for Texas in that powerhouse matchup, attention starts to turn to securing another national championship trophy for the Baxter-Scott household.
