UF not giving up on recruiting Texas football RB commit Cedric Baxter Jr.

Last weekend, one of the top commits in the 2023 Texas football recruiting class was visiting another school that is still pursuing him on the trail this fall. The highly touted four-star Edgewater (FL) running back and recent Texas commit Cedric Baxter Jr. was in attendance last weekend as new head coach Billy Napier and the Florida Gators took on the No. 7 Utah Utes in Gainesville.

That was the first visit that Baxter took to another school since committing to head coach Steve Sarkisian, new running backs coach Tashard Choice, and the Longhorns in the 2023 class back on Aug. 10. It was also the fifth time that Baxter visited Florida on record in 2022.

Moreover, the combination of the pursuit of Baxter on the recruiting trail this fall for the Gators with the electric atmosphere in the swamp last weekend for that upset win for Florida over Utah has generated quite the buzz for this elite Jacksonville-area running back. This seemed like the right combination of factors coming together for the Gators to make a real impression on Baxter and his camp.

And according to a report from Chad Simmons of On3 on Sep. 5 (paid content), Florida is still hot on Baxter’s trail. In fact, this report indicates that Florida has remained in contact with Baxter literally almost since the moment he announced his commitment to Texas last month.

Florida continues to push for 4-Star Texas football RB commit Cedric Baxter Jr.

This report from Simmons mentions that Florida literally texted Baxter a couple of minutes after he committed to Texas saying that they’re still going to push for him.

Yet, it’s also worth noting that Baxter mentioned in this piece that he still feels “really good” about his status with Texas and “that is who I am committed to”. He noted that while other schools are pushing for him to take more official visits this fall, he’s “not sure if he’s going to take any of them”.

These are all pretty important updates as the Longhorns try to keep a firm hold on the commitment of Baxter while many other competing schools on the recruiting trail are pushing to flip him. Florida and the Miami Hurricanes appear to still be pushing for Baxter, despite his commitment to Texas.

The most buzz at the moment is definitely coming from Florida, though, as it pertains to the push to flip Baxter’s commitment from Texas.

Texas currently holds commitments from 22 recruits in the 2023 class as of the late morning of Sep. 6. Baxter is one of the two running backs committed in the Longhorns 2023 class along with the touted four-star DeSoto running back Tre Wisner.