....if he's 80 percent now, there is no point in rushing him back. Perhaps he can be ready for the home stretch. We have other guys who need opportunities.  

He's going to get reps early on, he just won't get a massive share of them. Pretty sure we're all aware of this lol. 

Gerry’s been saying that Baxter isn’t fully ready for a while and not sure why people say otherwise.

8 hours ago, AusMOJO said:

He's going to get reps early on, he just won't get a massive share of them. Pretty sure we're all aware of this lol. 

That would be detrimental to his recovery and could even put him at higher risk of injuring himself again.

1 minute ago, Hashtag said:

That would be detrimental to his recovery and could even put him at higher risk of injuring himself again.

Not really. He'll get touches, but it won't be much. He seems to be moving pretty good. But he's not getting 20 carries a game yet, that's for sure. You ease him back into it. Maybe if a game is a blow out, he'll get some reps. I'm not sure he has enough juice to surpass Wisner, Clark or Gibson at the moment. 

1 minute ago, AusMOJO said:

Not really. He'll get touches, but it won't be much. He seems to be moving pretty good. But he's not getting 20 carries a game yet, that's for sure. You ease him back into it. Maybe if a game is a blow out, he'll get some reps. I'm not sure he has enough juice to surpass Wisner, Clark or Gibson at the moment. 

Tell this to Halliburton....there is countless examples of athletes rushing back recovery and getting hurt again. Hell Johnathan Brooks is a prime example of this to keep it Longhorn related. His knee injury just wasn't an ACL. It was ACL and his MCL that needed to be surgically repaired and his PCL suffered damage as well but fortunately for him it wasn't a complete tear and didn't need surgery. That is dang near every ligament in his knee that was damage in some sort of severity. His recovery should be slower to ensure the knee is strong as it possibly can be.

8 minutes ago, Hashtag said:

Tell this to Halliburton....there is countless examples of athletes rushing back recovery and getting hurt again. Hell Johnathan Brooks is a prime example of this to keep it Longhorn related. His knee injury just wasn't an ACL. It was ACL and his MCL that needed to be surgically repaired and his PCL suffered damage as well but fortunately for him it wasn't a complete tear and didn't need surgery. That is dang near every ligament in his knee that was damage in some sort of severity. His recovery should be slower to ensure the knee is strong as it possibly can be.

there's a possibility that he's not the same when/if he comes back

I would love for him to work consistently but goal should be to be RB1 in 2026 after Wisner heads to the NFL.

21 minutes ago, Hashtag said:

Tell this to Halliburton....there is countless examples of athletes rushing back recovery and getting hurt again. Hell Johnathan Brooks is a prime example of this to keep it Longhorn related. His knee injury just wasn't an ACL. It was ACL and his MCL that needed to be surgically repaired and his PCL suffered damage as well but fortunately for him it wasn't a complete tear and didn't need surgery. That is dang near every ligament in his knee that was damage in some sort of severity. His recovery should be slower to ensure the knee is strong as it possibly can be.

Sure and as I said, they'll work him in slowly. See how he pulls up in training, etc. I think we're pretty much in agreement, so I'm confused why we're going back and forth here lol. 

It was mentioned again to me last night that it shouldn’t be expected to see much if any of Baxter against Ohio State. 

October is likely imo. It takes time.

Christian Clark is the welcome news. He is ahead of schedule and ready to roll. We’ll need him out of the gate.

I'd expect this year to be the Wisner + Clark show, with some backup carries for Gibson and Simon, especially in games 2-4.

Gibson and Simon both probably have a chance in those three pre-Florida games to earn the coaches trust and get more carries the rest of the season. 

Baxter is a luxury item. I'm not sure you go into this season relying on him for any of it, but he'd be great to have during that November slate.

 

8 hours ago, AusMOJO said:

Not really. He'll get touches, but it won't be much. He seems to be moving pretty good. But he's not getting 20 carries a game yet, that's for sure. You ease him back into it. Maybe if a game is a blow out, he'll get some reps. I'm not sure he has enough juice to surpass Wisner, Clark or Gibson at the moment. 

Baxter will probably start getting snaps in the early part of conference play.

 

Edited July 31, 20251 yr by GoHorns1

2 hours ago, GoHorns1 said:

Baxter will probably start getting snaps in the early part of conference play.

 

Completely depends on how the next month goes.... But I'm trying to think of an example of a player taking part in fall camp, who doesn't play until October, without injury or re-injury. Maybe a Bo Scaife situation or something like that. 

 

6 hours ago, GoHorns1 said:

Baxter will probably start getting snaps in the early part of conference play.

 

Maybe, we'll see how he holds up during fall camp. Problem is the guys ahead of him are healthy and raring to go. Wisner, Clark and Gibson is a good rotation of backs to have. Throw in Baxter when he's ready and it's a great room to have. 

On 7/31/2025 at 12:31 AM, AusMOJO said:

He's going to get reps early on, he just won't get a massive share of them. Pretty sure we're all aware of this lol. 

Doubtful. Probably won't see him involved until week 6-7.

16 minutes ago, UTexas said:

Doubtful. Probably won't see him involved until week 6-7.

Now THAT is doubtful. What is the point of playing 6-7 weeks in. If he's ready to play, give him some reps. I doubt we see him week 1 but some of those "lesser" teams where you might blow them out, he'll likely get some back up reps. 

If you're going to wait that long to play him, you might as well just red shirt him and call it a season. 

31 minutes ago, AusMOJO said:

Now THAT is doubtful. What is the point of playing 6-7 weeks in. If he's ready to play, give him some reps. I doubt we see him week 1 but some of those "lesser" teams where you might blow them out, he'll likely get some back up reps. 

If you're going to wait that long to play him, you might as well just red shirt him and call it a season. 

Disagree on that take, you get him reps where you can, he's already lost last year.  He'll have the added benefit of being completely fresh and it will allow the other guys to rest to get ready for the post season (assuming Texas is going far).  There's plenty of games to go around and getting him prepared to contribute in the playoffs would be huge as well.

18 minutes ago, HookemTexas said:

Disagree on that take, you get him reps where you can, he's already lost last year.  He'll have the added benefit of being completely fresh and it will allow the other guys to rest to get ready for the post season (assuming Texas is going far).  There's plenty of games to go around and getting him prepared to contribute in the playoffs would be huge as well.

I don't think y'all are disagreeing. 

 Baxter may jump ship and gonpro regardless if he can return to form by the end of the season. I trust the coaches to oversee his recovery and know when he is ready. We are blessed to have a good stable of running backs competing.

I just hope he gets fully healthy and back to full go, not just for the teams sake but also for Baxters as a person and player long term potential.

Don't want to see him on the field till he's as close to 100% coming off injury. With college season looking more and more like an NFL season, he could give you that  boost down the stretch. 

Everyone is different after ACL surgery depending on several factors, but it generally takes 6-12 months usually closer to the latter for running backs. He is in that window and being a guy who has powerful legs and directional cuts he will retrain his muscles and gain strength and confidence back soon.  The surgery is healed but it takes a while to get full strength and rom back in all the muscle groups.  Suspect he will get limited reps that will increase over the first month.

16 hours ago, AusMOJO said:

Maybe, we'll see how he holds up during fall camp. Problem is the guys ahead of him are healthy and raring to go. Wisner, Clark and Gibson is a good rotation of backs to have. Throw in Baxter when he's ready and it's a great room to have. 

By waiting until conference games  Baxter will be fresher for the for late conference and playoff games. Texas needs to play 16 games minimum 17 games maximum to reach the NCG.