Miami football completes trade, Bubba Baxa signs with Houston
Former Miami football kicker Bubba Baxa is returning home to finish his collegiate career with the Houston Cougars. Baxa’s journey to Houston completes a virtual trade of Baxa for former Cougars quarterback D’Eriq King.
After a solid freshman season in which Bubba Baxa was 45-46 on extra points and made 9-12 field goal attempts, his disastrous sophomore campaign forced a change midway through the year. Baxa was 15-17 on PATs and made just 5-10 field goal attempts in 2019. The Miami football team used three kickers last season.
Walkons Turner Davidson and Camden Price had varying degrees of success. Davidson made all five of his extra-point attempts, but just 1-3 field goal attempts. After returning from suspension, Price made all 18 of his PATs and 6-7 field goal attempts with all of them coming inside of 40 yards.
After the season it was announced that former FIU kicker Jose Borreagales was transferring to Miami. The addition of Borreagales to the Miami football roster made Baxa’s scholarship dispensible. More than two months after announcing his addition to the transfer portal, Baxa finally found a home with Houston.
Houston is the literal hometown of Baxa. He is from the Houston suburb of Pasadena. The decision by Baxa to sign with Houston created an unusual virtual trade between Miami and the Cougars after the Hurricanes added quarterback D’Eriq King. King was on the Houton roster from 2016-19.
King sat out the 2019 season as a redshirt with Houston after playing the first four games. Heading into the 2020 season, King is on the shortlist of Heisman Trophy favorites according to several sportsbooks. King is rated one of the top transfer QBs entering the 2020 season.
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Baxa was excellent for Miami on kickoffs for Miami. His 63.6 yard average per kickoff ranked 10th in the country in 2019. Baxa is likely to redshirt in 2020. He would have to seek a waiver to play this upcoming season and Houston has senior Dalton Witherspoon who made 20-24 field goal attempts in 2019.