Some people just come and leave their mark forever. Nick Saban did something similar; he has set a 17-year-old legacy that everyone looks up to. Be it the techniques that he used or the efforts that he put in with the players; One such playbook rule that Nick Saban has is to keep everyone updated regarding the position of a player if anything goes down the road.

Steve Sarkisian, the HC of the Texas Longhorns, who has worked with Nick Saban, has learned the playbook rules of Nick Saban. Now that Texas’s RB CJ Baxter is out of the season due to an injury, Sarkisian came in and went vocal about the whole situation.

Who are the Longhorns going to turn to?

Now that Texas RB CJ Baxter is out of the season due to a knee injury. It seems like fate is just not in favor of Texas this 2024 season. With that, HC Steve Sarkinsian came out with his first statement after the knee injury, and that is the style of none other than Nick Saban himself. Who always made it clear: how serious is the injury, and if the person is out, how long is he out for? Same approach Steve took up and made a statement.

A video was shared by On3 Video on X, which had a snippet from the interview where Andy Staples and Texas insider Joe Cook talked about the approach that Nick Saban used to have whenever there was an injury of any kind. Andy said, “If a guy might play, Nick Saban was cagey about information. But if the person was out for a season for an extended period of time, then he is like, Here is the injury; here is how long he is out for. And they seem to win a lot of games there.”

Well, the same approach has been taken up by Steve as he made his first statement regarding Baxter’s injury. That comes out of the fact that Steve used to work with Nick, and it all makes sense when we see him taking up the same approach as Nick used to.

During the media availability after the incident of a knee injury, Steve came in and talked about the five-star recruit, CJ Baxter. Steve said, “Obviously, we got some unfortunate news coming out of practice with Cedric Baxter being lost for the season.”

The unfortunate news was that he was calling it off for the season due to the serious knee injury that he had incurred. Everyone, including Steve, is praying for the kid. Steve added and said, “I hate it for the kid. If we polled the top three teammates on our team, Cedric Baxter would be in that top three. As much as we love him for the player that he is, We love him more for the player that he is. Our thoughts and prayers are with him.” Well, a lot was expected of him, but who can ignore fate? No one. But what are our hopes that he will be with us in 2025?

Are there any hopes for CJ Baxter’s 2025 season?

Steve, during the media availability, was asked about how hopeful it is that he will come back. Stever confirmed that we are going to miss CJ for the whole 2024 season. But he then said that he is hopeful that he will come back and the Longhorns will have CJ, as, until the 2025 campaign, he is going to be 100% healthy to play. Even the doctors have said that he will be fine till done; as Stever said, “We are encouraged by all of the doctors that he’s going to make a really healthy recovery, and we will have him back for next season.”

Now that Baxter, the No. 1 RB and No. 30 overall prospect in the class of 2023, is out of the season, We have junior Jaydon Blue in the picture. On the same day that CJ Baxter suffered the injury, Jaydon Blue was named to the watch list for the Doak Walker Award. Jaydon is assumed to start the season behind QB Quinn Ewers in the Longhorns’ backfield. With all the news going around, let us see what kind of strategy the Longhorns come up with as the season starts.