How Kansas State star Deuce Vaughn learned to run with surprising power in red zone
A Kansas State football player is fighting to score a touchdown. He just slammed into a wall of defenders at the 1-yard line and his back is now facing the end zone, but that isn’t stopping him from churning his legs with every ounce of strength he has to keep pushing forward. It’s not an easy process, but he eventually wiggles through a crowd of bodies and reaches pay dirt.
Who is this skilled goal-line rusher?
Based purely on the description of that touchdown run, you might think it was bruising running back Jacardia Wright or fullback Jax Dineen. But no. The powerful runner responsible for that scoring play was Deuce Vaughn, a 5-foot-6 and 173-pound running back who is better known for his ability to make defenders miss in the open field.
“As a running back, that’s where you have got to get the ball in the end zone,” Vaughn said, “because they’re calling your name inside the five. They’re putting pretty much the entire program in your hands and saying, ‘Go get us six points.’ Every time we’re in there, I feel like I have got to do it.”
Get ready for more.
Vaughn proved he can run between the tackles last week when he scored not one or two touchdowns on short-yardage runs ... but three. It was the first time Vaughn had scored three touchdowns in a college game.
It was also one of the first times K-State used him as its go-to runner in the red zone. That job usually falls on senior quarterback Skylar Thompson, who has rushed for 24 touchdowns during his five seasons in Manhattan. But the Wildcats have no choice but to transfer his duties to someone else while he recovers from a knee injury.
Vaughn, it appears, is the man for the job.
“I told everybody before the season he’s an underrated running back,” K-State coach Chris Klieman said. “People think he’s a terrific scat-kind-of-kid out of the backfield and a jet-sweep guy, but I’ve seen it now for a little over a year. He’s a terrific between-the-tackles runner.”
Believe it or not, his size might be an advantage.
“He’s a powerful guy with that low center of gravity,” Klieman said, “and he finds a way to get tough yards. I’ve seen it since he’s been here, and now I think people are probably saying, ‘Yeah, this kid can be an every down back.’”
There are no good reasons to take Vaughn off the field right now. In the first two games of his sophomore season, he rushed for 124 yards and a touchdown against Stanford and then backed that up with 120 yards with three touchdowns against Southern Illinois.
Add on three catches for 13 yards, and he has quite literally done it all. He will likely be asked to do even more while backup quarterback Will Howard is in command of the offense.
“He’s just so shifty and elusive,” K-State offensive lineman Josh Rivas said. “He can get away from anybody. It’s great to watch him run the ball. Whenever he touches the ball he’s just got this wow factor, and I never get used to it. There will be a guy right in the hole and he can make him miss and score a touchdown.”
Vaughn scored his three touchdowns against Southern Illinois in different ways. The first on was a halfback draw that he took up the middle and beat three defenders to the goal line. He plowed through a wall of defenders for the second one. Then he ran untouched into the end zone on an inside run.
The Wildcats love that. They have scored six touchdowns this season, and all six of them have come via runs.
“We want to score on the ground,” Rivas said, “because then we really feel like we accomplished something.”
Vaughn enjoys few things more than celebrating rushing touchdowns with his offensive line. He says he has learned to run with a completely different style in the red zone than he does in the open field, and that approach is starting to pay dividends.
He is gaining yards between the tackles like a power runner.
“I take big pride in that, whenever they call my number inside the five,” Vaughn said. “You see a little guy in the backfield and you think they’re probably going to throw the ball, then they hand it off and I break an arm tackle and split two guys and get into the end zone. Sometimes I take myself by surprise. But when I get through it’s a pretty cool thing.”
This story was originally published September 16, 2021 at 5:00 AM.