MANHATTAN, Kan. (Kansas State Athletics) – Kansas State saw three of its football players named All-Americans by the Associated Press as the organization announced on Monday its top college football players for the 2022 season.
Running back Deuce Vaughn was named to the first time as an all-purpose player, left guard Cooper Beebe was named to the second team, while defensive end Felix Anudike-Uzomah was on the third team. It is the most AP All-Americans by the Wildcats in one second since the 2012 season when Collin Klein (second team), Arthur Brown (second team) and Ty Zimmerman (third team) were honored.
It was Vaughn’s second First Team All-America designation having already been named an all-purpose player by The Athletic. Beebe, who was named the Big 12 Offensive Lineman of the Year by the league’s coaches, picked up his fourth All-America honor, being named to the first team by The Athletic and the second team by CBS Sports and Pro Football Focus. Anudike-Uzomah has now been named an All-American four times, as he was named to the second team by the Walter Camp Foundation, Football Writers Association of America and CBS Sports.
Vaughn, a product of Round Rock, Texas, is the first Wildcat to earn First Team All-America honors from the Associated Press in consecutive years since cornerback Chris Canty did so in 1994 and 1995. He enters bowl season ranked 10th nationally and second in the Big 12 with 136.9 scrimmage yards per game. He is also 11th nationally with 1,425 rushing yards, as he became just the third player in school history with consecutive 1,000-yard rushing seasons (Darren Sproles: 2002, 2003, 2004; Daniel Thomas (2009, 2010).
The 2022 season marks the first time that Beebe has earned All-America honors, while the Kansas City, Kansas, native has picked up All-Big 12 First Team accolades each of the last two seasons. He has not allowed a sack among his 395 passing blocking snaps this season according to Pro Football Focus, as the organization has not credited him with a sack allowed in each of the last 28 games dating back to 2020.
A native of Kansas City, Missouri, Anudike-Uzomah was the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year by both the league’s coaches and Associated Press, while the coaches also named him the Big 12 Defensive Lineman of the Year. A finalist for the Lott IMPACT Trophy, he enters bowl season ranked second in the Big 12 in sacks per game, while his 0.66 career sacks per game ranks fourth nationally among active players. He leads the Wildcats in both sacks (8.5) and tackles for loss (11.0), as 25.0% of his 44 tackles this season have been for lost yardage. Anudike-Uzomah has registered at least a half tackle for loss in nine of 13 games this year and at least a half sack in seven contests.
Ninth-ranked Kansas State, which picked up its third Big 12 title with a 31-28 overtime victory over No. 3 TCU in the 2022 Big 12 Championship, takes on No. 5 Alabama in the 89th annual Allstate Sugar Bowl on Saturday, December 31, inside Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. The game kicks off at 11 a.m., and will be televised by ESPN.
