The injury-marred career of Texas Longhorns redshirt sophomore running back CJ Baxter is over after he told ESPN on Monday that he intends to enter the NCAA transfer portal when the window opens in January.
Baxter prepares to depart the Forty Acres as head coach Steve Sarkisian holds exit meetings with players following the conclusion of the regular season.
The 6’1, 227-pounder was regarded as a huge recruiting coup for former running backs coach Tashard Choice when he committed to the Longhorns out of Edgewater High School in Orlando in 2023 recruiting class — Baxter finished the cycle as a consensus five-star prospect ranked as the No. 18 player nationally and the No. 1 running back, according to the 247Sports Composite rankings. Texas won out over Alabama, Clemson, Florida, Georgia, LSU, Miami, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Ole Miss, Tennessee, Texas A&M, and others, holding off a late push from Florida State, which was able to secure a fall official visit from Baxter, but proved unable to flip him.
At Edgewater, Baxter rushed for 3,826 yards and 57 touchdowns on 495 carries (7.7 ypc) and caught 17 passes for 246 yards (14.5 ypr) and one touchdown, ultimately compiling over 4,000 all-purpose yards during his 39 career games.
As a freshman, Baxter showed promise, starting the season opener before an early-season injury relegated him to backing up breakout star Jonathon Brooks until Brooks suffered a season-ending injury late in the regular season, earning Big 12 Offensive Newcomer of the Year recognition after rushing for 659 yards on 138 carries (4.8 ypc) and five touchdowns, adding 24 catches for 156 yards.
The strong freshman season for Baxter never quite dissuaded concerns about whether the explosiveness and dynamic ability he showed in high school would translate to college, concerns he was never able to assuage after missing the 2024 season after tearing two knee ligaments in preseason camp.
After returning in 2025, Baxter never found much rhythm behind a retooled offensive line that featured four news starters, including three players seeing time at left guard before center Cole Hutson took over midway through conference play, finishing the regular season with 54 carries for 196 yards with 12 receptions for 41 yards and his first and only touchdown for Texas since scoring in the Sugar Bowl loss to Washington at the end of the 2023 season.
A hamstring injury sustained on the first play from scrimmage against UTEP kept Baxter out for the next four games. When he returned, the several flashes of explosiveness on a 14-yard run against Ohio State and an 18-yard run against San Jose State never showed up again — on his final 30 carries of the season, Baxter’s longest run was 10 yards.
With Baxter’s pending departure, the Longhorns move from what Sarkisian termed a potential portal need at running back to a definite portal need at running back as Baxter’s once-promising Texas career is now officially derailed by injuries that made it impossible to evaluate his true potential as a college running back.
Now the determination of that potential will happen for Baxter in 2026 while wearing another uniform.
