The actual article (TIFWIW):
For much of
Cedric Baxter‘s recruitment,
Alabama wasn’t much of a factor at all.
The Crimson Tide offered him back in September, but their pitch never resonated much with him. When he released his top five schools list in April,
Arkansas,
Florida,
Miami,
Texas, and
Texas A&M were the schools that made the list.
But as head coach
Nick Saban and running backs coach
Robert Gillespie have stayed in contact, their message has broken through to Baxter, who told
On3 that the Crimson Tide are now his top school.
“From the jump, ‘Bama has been recruiting me,” he said Tuesday night. “I’m not going to lie, that’s probably my favorite school right now.”
In recent weeks, the Crimson Tide leapfrogged Arkansas and pushed the Razorbacks out of Baxter’s top five. A big part of that has been the message from his former high school teammate,
Christian Leary.
“He kept talking to me about it,” Baxter said. ” … It’s Bama. They’ve always been turned up. At first, I’m not going to say I wasn’t buying into it. But I feel like most people with recruiting, they don’t look at the schools; they just look at logos. I wasn’t really buying into that, but now I am.”
Multiple coaches in contact with Cedric Baxter
Baxter added that he hears from both Gillespie and Saban, as well as receivers coach Holmon Wiggins on a consistent basis. Nothing is set in stone, but plans are in the works for an unofficial visit on June 18. His last visit was nearly a year ago when the Crimson Tide played Arkansas, and Baxter wants to know how they plan to use him in the offense more than anything.
An official visit during the season or potentially in December prior to the Early Signing Period is also on the table. Until then, he’ll certainly be hearing more from Leary and will get an up-close view of the Crimson Tide later this month.
“Coming there as a top player, you’re playing against other great players,” Baxter said of what has caught his attention. “So every day you go get better.”
(I copied & pasted it, don’t shoot the messenger)