How Kentucky football's CJ Baxter gained perspective after ACL injury

When CJ Baxter hit the turf, everything went quiet. No whistles were being blown. The yelling and screaming that comes with football practices was nonexistent. Everything around him stopped.

All he could remember was hearing cars as they sped by the field. The “fast” practices full of noise that he was so used to every day didn’t sound the same. He knew in that moment there was something really wrong.

Years before Baxter transferred to Kentucky, he was a five-star All-American — the No. 1 running back in the entire country coming out of high school. When he put on the pads, nothing could slow him down. He compiled over 4,000 yards and 57 total touchdowns for Edgewater High School in Orlando, Florida.

After completing his four-year high school career, the Boynton Beach, Florida, native committed to Texas, where the running back room has seen the likes of Bijan Robinson, Ricky Williams, Cedric Benson, and Earl Campbell — yes, the man with a college football trophy named after him.

Baxter had a notable freshman campaign for a rookie in the SEC, rushing for 659 yards and five touchdowns in 2024. He had become a reliable option who felt poised to have an even stronger sophomore campaign.

Then things didn’t go according to plan.

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Ahead of his sophomore season with the Longhorns, Baxter tore his ACL. He was forced to sit still for the first time in his life. A player who started his football journey at 4 years old was going to have to learn how to run again.

“My lowest point with an ACL is the first two months,” Baxter said during UK’s preseason media day Monday, Aug. 3. “Trying to get your range of motion back, trying to walk. I was on crutches for two months. My girlfriend was going to softball, leaving softball practice early to drop me off at (physical therapy). I had a point where I couldn’t even take a shower by myself.”

Baxter was forced to sit on the couch and watch as his teammates played road games, feeling unsettled in a way he had never felt before — and he needed something to lean on.

The rehab process began, and as Baxter grew stronger each day, so did his faith. The running back points to religion as the biggest thing that helped him get through his recovery.

“My faith was tested, and my faith has grown so much stronger,” Baxter said. “From a football aspect, I feel like there’s nothing I can go through that’ll make me back down from it. I feel like I can overcome any adversity.”

The Texas transfer began doing devotionals each day and was ultimately baptized in May by his high school pastor, Josh Plant, from Church on the Drive in Orlando.

It was a moment that symbolized everything.

“The adversity I went through, my faith ultimately got me through it,” Baxter said.

Baxter returned to the field for the 2025 season, making just eight appearances due to a hamstring injury. He was pushed down the depth chart, leading to only 54 total carries.

The running back then decided it was time to retire the burnt orange and enter the transfer portal, which led him to Kentucky — a place where he feels like he has a clean slate. Somewhere Baxter wants to cement his legacy.

“I wanted the fresh start,” he said. “My main thing for me is playing out every single game. … I want to be available every game. Not only a play, but be an impact every single game.”

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It’s his goal for the season, one he knows he is capable of completing. Baxter feels “100%” heading into fall camp for the first time since he first entered college.

He also remembers how it felt to take his first hit after returning, a feeling he was anticipating even more than finding the end zone. Once that happened, he thought one thing.

“I got up and was like, ‘All right, I can still do this.'”

The journey Baxter has been on isn’t what he thought it would be. The past few years have been filled with some of the lowest moments of his life, but he says he wouldn’t change a thing.

In his eyes, this was all meant to be. His injury has given him a newfound perspective heading into his first year in Lexington.

“It was very, very humbling,” Baxter said. “I think God wouldn’t have gave me that if he didn’t think I could handle it … I’m not thankful that it happened to me, but I’m thankful for what it did for me.”

This season, Baxter has a chance to prove to himself on a larger scale that he can, in fact, “still do this.”

Reach sports trending writer Alaina Morris at amorris@gannett.com and follow her on X at @alainammorris.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: How Kentucky football’s CJ Baxter gained perspective after ACL injury