Kentucky football adds former five-star recruit CJ Baxter to running back room
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- Kentucky adds Texas transfer, former five-star CJ Baxter at running back
- Coaching staff signals committee running-back plan modeled after Oregon
- Baxter’s injury history makes running back depth important
The rushing attack for Will Stein’s first Kentucky football offense is coming into shape.
Former Texas running back CJ Baxter, the 2023 Big 12 Freshman of the Year, committed to the Wildcats Sunday. He joins former Oklahoma running back Jovantae Barnes in signing onto the Wildcats’ transfer class.
Oregon, where Stein was offensive coordinator, used a committee approach at running back. Two Oregon running backs had more than 100 carries this season, and three had more than 70.
With Baxter and Barnes in the fold, Kentucky is likely to take a similar approach in 2026.
Baxter was a five-star prospect out of high school but saw his Texas career derailed by injuries the past two seasons.
The 247Sports Composite ranked Baxter as the No. 1 running back in the high school class of 2023 and No. 18 prospect overall that year. He totaled more than 4,000 all-purpose yards for Edgewater High School in Orlando, Florida, to earn a spot on the Under Armour All-American team as a senior.
Baxter committed to Texas over Florida, Miami and Texas A&M then quickly backed up his recruiting hype with 659 rushing yards and five touchdowns as a freshman. He also caught 24 passes for 156 yards and was the first freshman to start at running back for Texas since Ricky Williams in 1995. In the Longhorns playoff loss to Washington, Baxter rushed nine times for 64 yards and one touchdown and caught two passes for 39 yards.
Baxter’s sophomore season ended before it began after he tore his MCL and PCL in a preseason practice in August 2024. He missed the entire season.
Baxter returned to action a year later with 10 carries for 40 yards and five catches for 25 yards in a season-opening loss to Ohio State, but suffered a hamstring injury on the first play of a Week 3 win over UTEP. Baxter missed the next four games, including the overtime win at Kentucky.
Baxter returned to the field in an October win at Mississippi State but he was not as effective. In the final five games, Baxter averaged just 2.9 yards per carry and did not record more than nine carries in a game.
Even during his breakout freshman season, Baxter battled injuries. He left one game early with a rib injury and another with a hip pointer. Baxter missed one game as a freshman with a foot injury.
Because of Baxter’s injury history, it is important Kentucky signed another starter-caliber running back.
Barnes fills that role after rushing for 1,281 yards and 12 touchdowns in four seasons at Oklahoma. Like Baxter, injuries have been an issue for Barnes, who did not appear in more than nine games the last three seasons.
He missed five games due to injury in 2023 and four in 2024. He opened 2025 as the Oklahoma starter but suffered another undisclosed injury early in the season. It is unclear how long that injury sidelined him because Barnes eventually decided to limit himself to four games played in order to preserve a redshirt and remain eligible to play college football in 2026.
Barnes caught 17 passes for 123 yards and one touchdown as a junior in 2024. Baxter has caught 36 passes for 197 yards and one touchdown in his career.
That pass-catching ability could be important in Stein’s offense. Oregon’s top three running backs caught a combined passes this season.
Current Wildcat running back Jason Patterson looks like a good fit for the scheme, too, after totalling 57 carries for 225 yards and catching 17 passes for 85 yards last season. Patterson is Kentucky’s leading returning rusher following the graduation of Seth McGowan and transfer of Dante Dowdell.
Redshirt freshman Tovani Mizell is UK’s other returning scholarship running back. UK signed three-star Alabama prep running back Delvecchio Alston, who committed to the previous staff, in December.