Texas Longhorns RB Transfer Stays in the SEC

The transfer portal has now officially been open for over a week, and while the Texas Longhorns had a slow start in adding pieces to their 2026 roster, head coach Steve Sarkisian and the Longhorns have been on a tear recently, gaining top commitments out of the transfer portal.

The Longhorns landed an All-ACC linebacker in Pittsburgh transfer Rasheem Biles late Saturday night, and on Sunday, made the biggest headline with the commitment of Auburn transfer star wide receiver Cam Coleman, followed up by flipping NC State transfer running back Hollywood
Smothers' commitment from Alabama to Texas.

However, while the Longhorns have been making splashes in the transfer portal, some of the players who decided to transfer out of Austin are starting to find new places for the 2026 season, with one of those guys finding a spot on a different SEC team.

CJ Baxter Commits to Kentucky

Texas Longhorns Football Kentucky Wildcats CJ Baxter Transfer Portal — Texas Longhorns running back CJ Baxter (4) runs with the ball against Washington Huskies linebacker Carson Bruener (42) during the first quarter of the 2024 Sugar Bowl college football playoff semifinal. | Stephen Lew-Imagn Images

Per reports from On3's Hayes Fawcett, Texas transfer running back CJ Baxter has committed to the Kentucky Wildcats. Baxter spent the last three seasons with the Longhorns and will have two years of eligibility remaining.

The former Longhorn running back ranked as a three-star transfer portal prospect. However, he was viewed as one of the top running backs available, ranked as the No. 11 player at his position in the portal by 247Sports.

In his three seasons with the Longhorns, Baxter made 21 total appearances, totaling 855 rushing yards and five touchdowns while adding 36 receptions for 197 yards and a receiving touchdown.

The product out of Edgewater High School in Orlando, FL, was a highly-touted prospect in the 2023 recruiting class, rated as a five-star recruit and the No. 1 running back in the country for the 2023 cycle per 247Sports when he signed with the Longhorns.

Baxter made an immediate impact as a true freshman in 2023, where he totaled 138 carries for 659 rushing yards and five touchdowns. The running back was expected to take over as the primary ball carrier in 2024 but a severe season-ending injury cut Baxter's second year short before it even got started.

And his return to the field this season never saw Baxter recapture the momentum he built after his freshman season, as he tallied just 196 rushing yards on 56 carries in what was a very underwhelming Longhorns rushing attack in 2025.

Baxter joins a Kentucky program under new leadership with new head coach Will Stein replacing former head coach Mark Stoops after the Wildcats ended the 2025 season with a 5-7 overall record and 2-6 conference record.

Baxter was a part of a mass exodus for the Longhorns at the running back position with Quintrevion Wisner, Jerrick Gibson, Rickey Stewart Jr., and, most recently, Christian Clark all heading to the transfer portal.

Texas now heads into the 2026 season with two returning running backs in James Simon and Michael Terry III, although Terry could be moved back to wide receiver depending on the coaching staff's decisions, two transfer portal accusations in Arizona State transfer Raleek Brown and NC State transfer Hollywood Smothers, and incoming freshmen in five-star Derrek Cooper and three-star Jett Walker.