Deuce Vaughn has bright future at K-State ... for more reasons than you may think
It’s rare for a freshman to lead Kansas State in rushing yards and touchdowns during his first game with the Wildcats.
It’s even rarer for K-State’s football coach to single out that freshman as “the best player on the field for us” and vow to play him more in future games after his college debut.
Deuce Vaughn clearly has a bright future in Manhattan after rushing for 47 yards and a touchdown, plus making one catch for 24 yards against Arkansas State last week. Anyone that watched him bounce to the outside, make cuts in the open field and provide a much-needed spark for K-State’s offense could see that. But his on-field talent fails to truly explain why Chris Klieman and his coaching staff were “jumping up and down when we were able to get his commitment, because we know that he’s a generational guy.”
Klieman is confident Vaughn can live up to high expectations because of the maturity level he has displayed since the moment he arrived on campus.
“He’s an electric player,” Klieman said, “and not only is he an electric player, but he’s a better person, which is what I’m so excited about for his future.”
The son of a current NFL scout for the Dallas Cowboys and a former college assistant coach, Vaughn dived into K-State’s playbook with unrivaled energy and quickly made it onto the depth chart as a backup to starting running back Harry Trotter.
Mastering the offense helped. But he didn’t stop there. He also studied opposing defenses.
Vaughn certainly sounded wise beyond his years when he was asked to dissect Arkansas State’s run defense on Saturday. He broke things down like Tony Romo on a NFL broadcast.
“They were switching in and out of their three-and four-down front,” Vaughn said. “We knew that they would do that, because we’re a pretty power-run, heavy team and they would always screw down No. 7, who was their free safety. They had a pretty stout defensive lineman, so whenever we tried to run power or anything like that, we have to sure up and practice whenever we get back out onto the field on Monday and get to practicing and everything just things we are going to have to look at and correct.”
A mixture of speed, talent and brains has helped the 5-foot-5 and 168-pound running back from Round Rock, Texas make an immediate impact.
It’s hard for K-State fans not to compare him to Darren Sproles.
“Without a doubt diving into the playbook as soon as I got it,” Vaughn said. “I signed my letter of intent around December and I ended up getting the playbook and my iPad and stuff in February, so just right then I took it day-by-day, chunk-by-chunk, and just looked at everything and didn’t get ahead of myself. I looked at all the installments they had in 2019 camp, and I knew if I did that I would give myself a great opportunity to be able to play early.”
Vaughn did more than simply play against Arkansas State. He brought the crowd at Bill Snyder Family Stadium to life every time he ran through a hole and earned the nickname “Sand Blaster” from Fox play-by-play man Gus Johnson.
He thinks a few other nicknames suit him better, like “Jitter Bug.” That’s something he can build toward in his next game of what appears to be a promising career at K-State.