Using Darren Sproles' blueprint, Round Rock native Deuce Vaughn fuels the Kansas State offense

After just two seasons at Kansas State, junior running back Deuce Vaughn ranks 11th among his school's all-time leading rushers with 2,046 yards.

Vaughn needs just 137 yards — a total the Round Rock product exceeded in three of the final five games of KSU's 2021 season — to bypass Isaac Jackson and move into the top 10. With 440 yards, Vaughn will bump current Kansas State offensive coordinator Collin Klein from seventh place. A 948-yard season would allow Vaughn to claim silver status on the Wildcats' rushing chart.

And if he moves into second place in the school's record book, he will trail only Darren Sproles. A 2021 inductee into the College Football Hall of Fame who spent 15 years in the NFL, Sproles ran for 4,979 yards while starring at Kansas State from 2001 to 2004.

At last month's Big 12 media days, Vaughn was asked about being compared to Sproles. Like the 5-foot-6 Sproles, the 5-6 Vaughn is small in stature. And like Sproles, Vaughn has loomed large in the box score.

"It's unreal, that comparison," Vaughn said. "I've always said this: He's the blueprint for a 5-6, 5-7 running back that wants to be successful."

Vaughn has studied his predecessor. He has picked Sproles' brain when given the opportunity. Vaughn says Sproles is "somebody that's been in my corner for quite a bit of time now."

That relationship dates back to when Vaughn's father ran into Sproles at the 2020 NFL combine. Chris Vaughn asked Sproles to FaceTime his son, who had signed with Kansas State a few months earlier.

Back then, Vaughn was an All-Central Texas honoree who had rushed for 1,938 yards, recorded 589 receiving yards and totaled 25 touchdowns during his senior year at Cedar Ridge High. In one game against Round Rock, Vaughn rushed for 375 yards. In another game that season, he gained 302 yards on the ground and scored five times in a win over Westwood.

As a junior, Vaughn totaled 2,196 yards and 21 touchdowns for the Raiders' offense.

But while the coaches in District 13-6A took notice of Vaughn — he was twice named that district's offensive MVP — many recruiters did not. A South Florida program led by Charlie Strong, who once employed Chris Vaughn on his coaching staff at Texas, gave Vaughn his first scholarship offer. Arkansas and Missouri joined Kansas State as the only Power Five schools to offer a scholarship to Vaughn, who was rated as a three-star prospect. Air Force and Army also expressed interest.

"The chip I really have on my shoulder is from just being an undersized guy that was looked over in high school," Vaughn said. "That will always be my chip on my shoulder. I'll carry it probably for the rest of my career."

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Vaughn committed to Kansas State in April 2019. He liked the vision that head coach Chris Klieman and running backs coach Brian Anderson had for him in the Kansas State offense. Vaughn said this summer that he was thankful Kansas State took a chance on him. Due to his loyalty to the Wildcats, he later added that he has never entertained the idea of entering the transfer portal.

And while Kansas State has been good to Vaughn, Vaughn has been just as good to Kansas State.

Last season he became the 11th consensus All-American in school history. He was KSU's first Doak Walker Award semifinalist since 2010.

Vaughn has scored a touchdown in 14 of Kansas State's last 15 games. The 24 points tallied by Vaughn against LSU in the most recent Texas Bowl was a school record for bowl games. He's touched the football 439 times on offense and special teams but has lost just one fumble.

"I feel very lucky to be able to play with Deuce Vaughn," said quarterback Adrian Martinez, who transferred to Kansas State after spending the past four years at Nebraska. "He's a tremendous receiving threat, running threat."

Noted Devin Neal, Vaughn's contemporary at rival Kansas: "He's just overall the perfect mold of a running back. He can just do it all."

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Vaughn enters the 2022 season on the watch lists for the Doak Walker, Walter Camp and Maxwell awards. He is considered a long shot for the Heisman Trophy. Vaughn, though, insists he is more focused on being a "great player, a great teammate and a great leader" for a KSU team coming off an 8-5 showing in 2021.

At the Big 12 media days, the Kansas State contingent raved about Vaughn's humble nature. Martinez mused that "if anyone had the right to walk around like he was the man, it could be him, but he doesn't do that."

Meanwhile, Klieman recalled a story about a youth camp that Kansas State hosted in the spring. A 30-minute window was allotted for autographs before there was a scheduled break for the players. Vaughn instead signed autographs and took pictures with all of the campers for 90 minutes.

"He knows the gig," Klieman said. "But that's a credit to him, a credit to his parents, because of the way they raised him. He's appreciative of what Kansas State has provided him, and we appreciate him sticking with K-State because it's a great fit."

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Round Rock football's Deuce Vaughn eyes Darren Sproles at Kansas State