Former K-State all-American running back Deuce Vaughn was selected in the sixth round of the NFL Draft by the Dallas Cowboys with the 212th overall pick. Vaughn is drafted by his hometown team, continuing the trend of K-Staters to go to their hometown teams in the 2023 Draft. Vaughn’s dad, Chris, is a scout for the Cowboys as well.
Vaughn came to K-State as a freshman in 2020 and quickly took control of the starting running back job for the Wildcats. By 2021 Vaughn became one of the biggest sensations in college football, ripping through defenses with his small stature. He ran for 1,404 yards and 18 touchdowns as a sophomore. His numbers got even better as a junior, running for 1,558 yards, even though the touchdown total dropped to 9.
In total, Vaughn had 21 games of 100 yards rushing or more out of the 37 games he played in his career at K-State. He finished his career at K-State second all-time in rushing yards, finishing just behind former undersized NFL Draft pick of the San Diego Chargers, Darren Sproles.
Vaughn was one of the best running backs in the Big 12 in his three years in Manhattan, and if it wasn’t for No. 8 overall pick of the Atlanta Falcons, Bijan Robinson, he would have won more than just all-Big 12 second-team honors in his career. He was the 2020 Big 12 Freshman of the Year.
At each step of his football career, Vaughn has proven evaluators wrong and will try to do it again at the NFL level. He is aware that he won’t ever be a feature back in the NFL, so he has worked on his pass-catching and punt/kick returns in the build-up to the NFL Draft.
Vaughn is the first Wildcat running back drafted since Bryce Brown in 2012 by the Philadelphia Eagles in the seventh round. He also becomes just the third Wildcat to be selected by Dallas, joining Terence Newman in 2003, and Don Barlow in 1965.
As the fourth player drafted in 2023 for K-State, it becomes the most draft picks for K-State since the 2002 draft when K-State had six selections.
.@dallascowboys scout Chris Vaughn gave Stephen Jones & Jerry Jones a big hug when they drafted his son, Deuce Vaughn. ❤️
📺: 2023 #NFLDraft on NFLN/ESPN/ABC
📱: Stream on NFL+ https://t.co/D3EqkrKLy4 pic.twitter.com/yVqPz6soaQ— NFL (@NFL) April 29, 2023
