Will Matthews and CJ Baxter: The return of RB1

After a season lost to injury, one of Texas’ most dynamic playmakers is back and ready to make his mark. In this episode, Will Matthews talks with CJ Baxter about the challenges of staying connected while sidelined, the lessons learned from watching the game from a different perspective, and the teammates who “held it down” for him along the way. He shares how coaches kept him engaged, the energy guys like Tre Wisner brought to the team, and why the locker room bond carried him through. Now, with game one just days away, he talks about the excitement of finally stepping back on the field, silencing doubters, and proving he’s still the explosive player fans remember.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Last year. Put that to bed. Now going into this year,
what should we expect from you walking into this year?

Speaker 2 (00:08):
Oh yeah, I'm definitely super excited about the season. I
want to put last year to bed. But it did happen,
But I learned so much from it. It definitely made
me a smarter player. Me and Coach Flood literally just
had a conversation about it. He was just telling me
how he's happy to have me back on the field,
and I told him, like, the game slowed down for
me a lot. You missed the year, but because I

(00:32):
think I handled it the right way as far as
being involved with the guys, still learning the offense. Excuse
me then things like that. So super excited for this year.
I still think i'mna bet the dynamic player I once was,
So I'm just excited to get back to that.

Speaker 1 (00:45):
So I've been injured before. It can be demoralizing, it
can be really difficult to stay connected, but special players
stay connected. How did you stay connected to the team.

Speaker 2 (00:57):
Yeah, so from the get go, from the drunk, Coach
Star told me he still wanted me to be involved
like heavily. It was hard the beginning of the season
because I did have surgery the week before the Michigan game.
So it was hard the beginning of the season. But
once I was, once I was more, you know, moving
around more and stuff like that. He let me travel

(01:18):
at practices. He would make me be behind the ball
and like see it from from a different point of
view to see everything. Coach choice when he was here
during games, when during the best will come off the
field when we have the iPads now, he would make
me grab the iPad first and see what I've seen
before he even grabbed it. So it was just things
like that that really helped it. Then my teammates, those

(01:40):
guys rally behind me. They made sure I felt involved
during everything. Even though I wasn't physically playing, I was
still there. They made me you know, just I'm just
so grateful for all of them. They they held it
down for me.

Speaker 1 (01:56):
Yeah, and you say that they held it down, not
meaning people understand the bond of a football team coming
together that locker room. How you come together, talk talk
us through. How they held it down for you? How
did they how do they continually be your north star?

Speaker 2 (02:13):
I mean, Trey Watson is the perfectly simple I think
people did not expect him to do what he did.
And when I went down, Christian Clark went down, he
stepped up, big tongue, what his number was called. He
was ready, which we all knew it in the building,
like we knew the type of guy he is. Bring

(02:33):
energy every day. He doesn't have a bad day, he
doesn't have a bad practice. He's he's tray Like who
y'all see on the field. That's him off the field
far as like energy and how outgoing and stuff he is.
Things like that, And then like there was moments in
a game where Quinn or Trey or Blue or the
list goes all and on, they'll make a plan like

(02:54):
that that was for you or something like that. So
that's what I mean by holding it down for me.

Speaker 1 (03:00):
And so as you get ready for this season, Game
one is we're standing at the doorstep of the next challenge. Nameless, Faceless,
talk me through how excited you are about getting back
on the field. I know you called your father and
said I'm excited about the hits talk and see that.

Speaker 2 (03:18):
Yeah, so I'm definitely super excited. The opponent is who
the oppont it is. We definitely respect those guys. It's
a big game. I mean, that's why we come to
takes it to playing games like that. But for me personally,
like you said, I'm excited to be on the field again.
I mean it's been I've never missed the whole year
of football. So just excited to, you know, see the crowd,
make plays with my numbers, call, be out there with

(03:41):
the guys. We don't have to hit each other anymore.
We can go play against someone else. So I'm just
super excited. Man. I can't I can't wait but do
with my feet are today and then get through the
week Saturday to be here when it gets here.