goemaw.com
TITLETOWN - A Decade Long Celebration Of The Greatest Achievement In College Athletics History => Kansas State Football => Topic started by: SkinnyBenny on September 12, 2020, 11:51:40 AM
-
Little Little Tank
-
micro machine
-
Water Bug
-
Curly Sue
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
-
1/2 pint
Usage of duece in the name should be key
-
Deuce.
-
Dalton
Tom
Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk
-
Wild Thing
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
-
Muleto Fuerte
-
Dual
-
Ford Powerstroke Diesel
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
-
Von Deuce
-
Loosey Deucey
-
COVID-22
-
Sprinter Vaughn
-
Sandblaster
-
Male Juke-alo
-
Mini Sproles
-
Vaughns Wild
-
Wild Thing
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
yes
-
if someone starts a nickname thread for harry trotter, I submit Molasses
-
Vince
-
Deuces Zazzumblop
-
Vroom
-
Seis
-
Double Deuce (#22)
-
it's sandblaster, gus gets to decide
-
Can gain more than a half yard
-
Deuuuuuuuuuuuuce
-
it's sandblaster, gus gets to decide
right answer. /thread
-
Deuce “the only player worth half a fart” Vaughn
-
Loosey Deucey
Lock the thread we have a winner
-
Ronnie James Dio
-
Juice
-
Deuce Springsteen
-
:drool:
https://twitter.com/Pete_Francis/status/1306314887770013696
-
De Vomb!
-
Mozee is going to be exciting too. Playing freshman early is so cool.
-
Mozee is going to be exciting too. Playing freshman early is so cool.
Was he the other true freshman that played.
-
Needs to get his average over 4 ypc before he gets a nickname
-
Needs to get his average over 4 ypc before he gets a nickname
Did you stop knowing how to read? Gus gave him a nickname, it's over, I don't know why y'all are still talking about the man without calling him the sandblaster.
Also Gus is calling the sandblaster's second game, so that's fun!
-
Mustang
-
Gus said what hotel he stays at. When gE decides on the nickname, ChiCat can see to it that Gus is informed.
-
I like "Wild Thing"
-
Do we know how Gus arrived at "Sandblaster"? I heard him say it during the broadcast, but I don't recall the context.
-
Gus said what hotel he stays at. When gE decides on the nickname, ChiCat can see to it that Gus is informed.
I'm long gone from that place
-
Gus said what hotel he stays at. When gE decides on the nickname, ChiCat can see to it that Gus is informed.
I'm long gone from that place
You can network with somebody there to do it.
-
Do we know how Gus arrived at "Sandblaster"? I heard him say it during the broadcast, but I don't recall the context.
something something about how they always called the small guys the sandblasters. all i can recall
-
Do we know how Gus arrived at "Sandblaster"? I heard him say it during the broadcast, but I don't recall the context.
something something about how they always called the small guys the sandblasters. all i can recall
that's pretty much it. it makes absolutely no sense, which IMO is part of its charm.
-
im with MIR i don't know why you idiots are even still debating this. Gus has christened him. If Jimmy Page tuned your guitar would you be like i dunno Jimmy that low E sounds a little flat? gtfooh all of you.
-
Deuce Big'n'Low
-
Lil Deuce Coupe
-
Lil Deuce Coupe
Hot damn
-
Lil Deuce Coupe
That's a good one, Greg.
-
lil’ squirt
-
https://twitter.com/coachloweryksu/status/1309935169147752449?s=21
-
:Wha:
-
The Magic Bullet
-
The Magic Bullet
Bro!
-
I'm very sad that Gus didn't go back to The Sandblaster. However, did you hear the banter about Hollywood Brown? That could be our little Deuce, let's wait for Gus.
-
I still love Waterbug. I’ve been yelling that every time he gets the ball.
-
Big fat deuce
-
Dalton.
Reference to the Patrick Swayze character in the move "Roadhouse" which was set in a fictional Missouri bar called the "Double Deuce."
-
Roadhouse is.a great movie, it's on my always stop and watch list if I catch it on television. We can't nickname our generational running back after a white boy in a 30 year old movie.
-
Dalton.
Reference to the Patrick Swayze character in the move "Roadhouse" which was set in a fictional Missouri bar called the "Double Deuce."
I'd love an off reference deuce
-
I don't know if this has been mentioned but Double Deuce seems appropriate, since his number is 22.
-
I don't know if this has been mentioned but Double Deuce seems appropriate, since his number is 22.
:D
-
Dirtburglar.com fans were calling him Lil Sweet (Dr Pepper) in their game thread today.
Tom
Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk
-
Actually that seems appropriate considering he is going to put us on his back and carry us to a Dr. Pepper four straight years.
-
Actually that seems appropriate considering he is going to put us on his back and carry us to a Dr. Pepper four straight years.
How many young guys stepped up? The future is bright!
-
Question: is “Deuce” a nickname?
-
Dirtburglar.com fans were calling him Lil Sweet (Dr Pepper) in their game thread today.
Tom
Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk
we love those commercials in our household.
-
Question: is “Deuce” a nickname?
Christopher just hits different
-
I think deuce is a good nickname. Not sure why we’d look for something else when we already have a good one.
-
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO it's a message board, be fun! It's fun!
-
I think deuce is a good nickname. Not sure why we’d look for something else when we already have a good one.
Hey buddy, blow it out of your ass! :excited:
-
Yeah I didn't want to ruin the fun, but when a guy already goes by "Deuce" and his number is deuce deuces...
-
Sorry but Deuce is just not that creative and has been done before multiple times.
-
Sorry but Deuce is just not that creative and has been done before multiple times.
Well it is only the second time it’s been done in this case.
-
I love lil sweet haha. Can you imagine a full BSFS singing in unison a high falsetto "it's the sweet one" after he gets a td?
-
“pancho”
-
Yeah I didn't want to ruin the fun, but when a guy already goes by "Deuce" and his number is deuce deuces...
I tend to agree. It's not like he's named Chad.
-
"Ace"
-
Deuces Wild
-
Whole new meaning to "drop a deuce".
-
Deuces Wild made me think of Royalswild.
https://goEMAW.com/forum/index.php?topic=6167.msg133744#msg133744
-
Deuces Wild made me think of Royalswild.
https://goEMAW.com/forum/index.php?topic=6167.msg133744#msg133744
Wow
-
:lol:
-
When he scored on Saturday I did say, "sweet, just laid a deuce!!" :flush: (ftp://:flush:)
-
The Spruce Deuce
-
Whole new meaning to "drop a deuce".
When he scored on Saturday I did say, "sweet, just laid a deuce!!" :flush: (ftp://:flush:)
eff OFF! :curse:
-
Deuce Gone (wrap this thread).
-
Deuce Gone (wrap this thread).
Deuce Gone gives me a mini heart attack. That's the thread title if he enters the transfer portal.
-
Deuce Gone (wrap this thread).
Deuce Gone gives me a mini heart attack. That's the thread title if he enters the transfer portal.
I feel sorry for people who go through life negative and scared.
-
gremlins 3
-
i thought of a good nickname for him the other day called "The Sandblaster"
-
i thought of a good nickname for him the other day called "The Sandblaster"
I like it, makes sense because he's small
-
i thought of a good nickname for him the other day called "The Sandblaster"
it's a little late for new submissions
-
i thought of a good nickname for him the other day called "The Sandblaster"
it's a little late for new submissions
You are right. Lil Deuce Coupe is the winning submission, thanks for playing...
-
Just introDeucing "Lil Tank" into the mix...
-
Mighty Meuce
-
chartrdeuce caboose
-
chartrdeuce caboose
shart deuce. I like it.
-
chartrdeuce caboose
shart deuce. I like it.
Sharts are always unintentional—and embarrassing. People really only reveal they’ve sharted in a pinch or, more figuratively, as a way to characterize something as extremely uncomfortable or awkward in the most inopportune of situations. But hey, sharting happens to everyone.
Only a squawk would stink up this thread. :ROFL:
-
Good article on Duece in the Athletic. I had no idea his dad got a 5 year show cause from the NCAA for recruiting violations while he was at Ole Miss.
https://theathletic.com/2164884/2020/10/28/deuce-vaughn-kansas-state/
MANHATTAN, Kan. — Chris Vaughn remembers the record-scratch moment.
Before doctor visits, he and his wife would call ahead and make a request: Please don’t bring up his height. It’s not that their son was self-conscious about it. They were just being overprotective. His friends were all growing taller. He wasn’t.
One day, when Deuce Vaughn was in the ninth grade, a doctor didn’t get the memo and told their 5-foot-5 teenager the truth.
“The doctor said, ‘Well, looking at his wrists, the bone plates have closed up. He’s probably his adult height,’ ” Chris recalled.
The father nervously looked at the son, trying to gauge how he’d respond.
“He didn’t,” Chris said. “He just kept going.”
Chris had kept his fingers crossed that a late growth spurt could still occur, but all his years of scouting recruits told him the doc was right. He has learned that high school players who aren’t done growing generally still have smooth muscles. No arm definition, no abs.
“But in ninth grade, my man’s got a full six-pack, he’s got hair up under his chin, he’s got his muscles,” Chris said with a laugh. “And I’m going, ‘That ain’t good…’ ”
Because he recognized it meant that no matter how good of a football player his son became, the chances of him getting a scholarship offer to play for a Power 5 program were going to be slim. So Chris and Deuce talked about what it would take. Deuce couldn’t change his height, but he could control how hard he worked. He would have to be the most prepared, most versatile, toughest player just to have a chance. Deuce took that to heart.
“People are always like, ‘Man, if you were just like five inches taller, you’d be at Alabama.’ I don’t want to be five inches taller. I don’t want to be 5-10,” he said. “This is exactly what I want to be. I’ve always been able to make this my superpower.”
He knows he’s right where he belongs at Kansas State. Vaughn is grateful the Wildcats’ staff believed their eyes when they saw a true tailback and an electric playmaker. The 5-5, 168-pound phenom instantly rewarded their faith by emerging as one of the best true freshmen in college football.
Vaughn has produced 669 total yards, more than any freshman back in FBS, and five touchdowns in five games. He’s the only player in the country with 300 rushing yards and 300 receiving yards. No Big 12 player has more plays of 20-plus yards. No other player nationally is averaging 25 yards after catch. For a No. 16 Wildcats team that has won four in a row, he is instant offense.
And that has quickly made Vaughn a fan favorite who evokes inevitable comparisons to K-State’s undersized legend Darren Sproles. But it’s not just the stats that wow coaches and teammates. It’s the rare work ethic, the magnetic personality and what Chris Klieman calls the unmistakable “it” factor. Days after the freshman’s first college game, Kansas State’s head coach wasn’t shy about sharing what he really thinks of him.
“We know that he’s a generational guy,” Klieman said. “And you say, whoa, that’s a big term to say he’s a generational guy. But I think it’s as much what he can do off the field for our football team as what he can do on the field.”
What makes Deuce special? So much goes back to lessons learned from his father, a former college assistant at Arkansas, Ole Miss, Memphis and Texas. All their preparation for this moment is paying off. Those who know Deuce best back home in Texas aren’t surprised he’s thriving. But even he and his father admit his freshman year is off to a surreal start.
“Whenever I thought about playing college football, I always knew I wanted to be super successful,” Deuce said. “I never really thought it was going to happen this quickly.”
If you happen to meet Deuce one-on-one in space, good luck.
Just ask Kansas’ Gavin Potter. Vaughn took a sweep left last Saturday during the Wildcats’ 55-14 win over their rival. Potter, a 6-foot-2 linebacker, was in position to stop him. Vaughn stared him down, shimmied, faked left and crossed him over. The defender slipped, turned and barely got a hand on him as he fell.
Vaughn says moves like those come from 12 years of playing soccer. He was a striker who was caught offside way too often early on, but he loved it. “My footwork and agility all came from that,” he said. His spin moves were refined by his years of playing flag football. When the Vaughns moved from Memphis to Austin in 2014, his parents finally let the seventh grader start playing tackle football. Even then, the tiny kid with the big helmet knew how to make people miss.
He played basketball, too, through his freshman year at Cedar Ridge High School. Dad says he was a fierce on-ball defender but not much of a shooter. A stint on the JV team brought him closure with that sport.
“I’ll never forget, it was the second to last game of the season,” Deuce said. “I go up for a layup and some dude who’s like 6-foot-5 just takes it off the glass. I was like, ‘This is where my basketball career ends.’ I’m gonna go ahead and hang my shoes up and grab some cleats.”
The football coaches at Cedar Ridge had no qualms about Vaughn’s height. “You really could just give him the ball any time and he was probably gonna score,” coach Sam Robinson said. They considered bringing him up to varsity during his freshman season but initially decided against it when he weighed in around 135 pounds. They waited until the playoffs for his call-up and sent him in during a blowout win. First carry? Seventy-yard touchdown. That’s when they knew Deuce was the real deal.
What makes a back with his size so dangerous? It’s hard to get a clean hit. Robinson says he gets “so freaking low” when he cuts that you almost have to dive to tackle him. Jalen Brown, his Cedar Ridge quarterback who’s now at Texas Southern, brings up a play against Langham Creek from their junior year. Vaughn hit the hole inside and disappeared into a crowd of defenders. Brown figured the play was over. But Vaughn absorbed a hit, stumbled out of the pile, juked out a safety and found the end zone. “One of the craziest things I’ve seen him do,” Brown said. “He can break so many tackles being that small.”
He did it all the time in high school. It’s easy for linebackers to accidentally lose him in traffic. Robinson says his combination of vision and footwork is uncommon, and he’s always pointed forward as a runner. Vaughn knows he doesn’t have elite speed, but he accelerates quickly. And he knows exactly how to leverage his size and skills against defenders.
“I’ve always been the smallest, so over time, I’ve always been able to have a really good feel for my body as far as being this size, absorbing contact, having a low center of gravity and then using my wiggle that I have from being this size to my advantage,” he said. “I know exactly how my body moves and the type of strain I can put on it in a cut. Being low to the ground is one of the biggest things. Because a lot of dudes try to come down there with you, and they’re not used to playing down there. So whenever you make a cut and they’re too low and their base is too wide, it’s easy to make them miss. And then whenever they go too high, they roll right off of me.”
Vaughn turned all that into nearly 5,500 all-purpose yards and 50 touchdowns in high school. On some nights, when he was really feeling it, he was flat-out unstoppable. Games against rival Round Rock were always heavy on trash talk during the week. Vaughn quieted them down with 406 rushing yards as a junior and 408 total yards as a senior.
“Innate ability would kind of just take over,” he said, “and I’d be in the passenger seat a lot of times.”
Around Cedar Ridge’s campus, everybody loved Deuce.
His coaches say he’s one of those kids who changes the mood in a room. Always smiling, always friendly and humble. “Nicest dude you’ll ever meet,” Brown said. “In school, everybody would walk up to him like, ‘Hey Deuce!’” He had that effect on teachers, principals, parents, everyone.
“My wife always says, ‘I just want to put him in my little pocket just to carry him around with me,’ ” Mark Mullins, his offensive coordinator at Cedar Ridge, joked. “He’s not a stranger to anybody.”
But when college recruiters would visit Cedar Ridge and hear Robinson and Mullins praise him profusely, they’d tend to politely nod and change the subject. That got frustrating quickly.
“You had a lot of college coaches that seemed like they’d made up their mind about him before they ever came,” Robinson said. “They’d be like, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah, he’s really good, his highlights are really good…’ and then they’d start talking about some other kid.”
Vaughn went to Texas A&M, Texas and Baylor camps, but it never made a difference. Fortunately, his father having 17 years of experience in recruiting sure helped. Chris could translate what coaches were telling him and help him understand how this game works. He taught his son, for example, the difference between “Whoa” guys and “Wow” guys.
“The ‘Whoa’ guy is gonna show up and you’ll be like, ‘Whoa, that dude looks good.’ You have to show them you can’t play if you’re one of those guys,” Deuce explained. “He’d always say I have to be a ‘Wow’ guy. You come in and you have to make them go, ‘Wow, this kid can play. Even though he may not be the biggest and he may not be what you want in a college-sized running back, he can play.’ I’m never gonna be a ‘Whoa’ guy. Gotta be a ‘Wow’ guy. That always stuck with me.”
Chris Vaughn says he’s received lots of texts from buddies in the coaching business who congratulate his son and tell him, “Man, we made a mistake.” He tells them no, they didn’t. He gets it. There are always too many skill players, and you can’t recruit them all. Coaches have to use height, weight and speed to narrow their list of targets down to a manageable number. And when you bet on a 6-foot, 200-pound back who doesn’t pan out, it’s not as bad of a miss. The first three schools that did offer Deuce were USF, Missouri and Arkansas. Those came from assistants who had worked with his dad, guys who had watched Deuce grow up and knew his intangibles. The Kansas State offer was different.
K-State running backs coach Brian Anderson was reluctant to even bring Vaughn’s tape to the staff for evaluation last February. He knew cornerbacks coach Van Malone liked him but wasn’t sure how the rest would react. “I was this close to not showing it,” Anderson said. But he was impressed by what Vaughn put on tape, so he sent him a DM and asked: Is your dad Chris Vaughn?
They happened to go way back. Chris was a grad assistant at Arkansas in 1999 when he first met Anderson, a coach at Coffeyville Community College. That connection made Anderson want to dig a little deeper. When he did decide to present the tape and the case for Vaughn to his fellow assistants, they liked what they saw and agreed the diminutive back merited an offer.
But first, the head coach would have to perform his evaluation and sign off on it. How much film did he need to watch to make up his mind?
“About four snaps,” Klieman said. “We said, OK, that kid can play in the Big 12 and be an impact guy. Then you have one conversation with him and you say, OK, he has that ‘it’ factor. He’s mature beyond his years. He’s got his priorities in check. He loved the game of football. You can just tell watching the kid play how much he loves to play. So it did not take long for us to decide that he would be an exceptional football player.”
Six weeks later, Deuce and his mother, Marquette, made the 10-hour drive up to Manhattan, Kan., for a visit. When they were done there, she was impressed enough that she called Chris and assured him, “This is the place.” Deuce knew he’d found his home and committed three days later. K-State’s staff genuinely wanted him and believed in what he could become. “The thing I told him was we don’t have to change our offense because of your size,” Anderson said. He was going to play tailback. He was going to run power and inside zone. And he was going to be a difference-maker.
“Coach Klieman told me, ‘You’re not gonna be a gadget player where we try to get you a sweep or a little screen pass. You come in and we’re gonna put you right in our offense and get it rolling,’ ” Deuce said. “And that’s exactly what they’ve done. I thank them for having that much faith in me. I don’t want to let them down.”
The play that won everyone over at Kansas State happened in a scrimmage on Aug. 13.
Vaughn ran an option route out of the backfield and cut inside. The backup linebacker never stood a chance. And the freshman ran away for a 75-yard score.
“I knew he had good hands,” Anderson said, “but once he got here, you saw how well he caught the ball. And it was like, ‘Wow.’ It’s hard to find a running back with ball skills like that. We were all fired up about that.”
Deuce sent the clip to his dad right after practice. About 10 minutes later, Anderson shared it with Chris. The next day, a mutual friend of theirs on Memphis’ staff sent the clip over. Clearly, it got passed around a lot more. Because later that day, he heard from another buddy in the coaching business: New York Jets offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains.
“Dowell texts me and he sends me the clip,” Chris said, “and he goes, ‘Man, I hear Deuce is tearing it up!’ I said, ‘Thanks. But how did you find out?’ ”
K-State fans have already seen this play. Deuce caught an option route against Oklahoma, made four defenders miss and picked up 35 yards. Getting him the ball over the middle with room to run has worked out fairly well so far. Vaughn split out to the slot and turned a similar route against the Sooners into a 77-yard gain that sparked a second-half rally and a stunning 38-35 upset. He did the same thing the next week against Texas Tech, turning a crucial third down catch into a 70-yard touchdown that clinched the 31-21 victory.
The legend of Deuce started there, but he generated plenty of buzz during preseason camp. Senior running back Harry Trotter calls him the smartest, most mature freshman he’s ever been around. After the season-opening loss to Arkansas State, Klieman praised him as the “best player on the field.” But it’s not just his uncommon talents that created these opportunities to shine. It’s his preparation. He does not work or think like a freshman.
Vaughn tries to get all his homework done on Mondays and Tuesdays so he can focus on football the rest of the week. All but one of his classes are online, and the pandemic has prevented players from having much of a social life. This has made for a strange freshman year experience, but it has also helped him stay focused on practice, watching film and getting better.
“My dad always tells me it’s about what you put in the ATM on Monday through Friday,” he said. “And then on Saturday, you cash everything out.”
When Deuce got his team-issued iPad with the playbook in February, he broke it all down into chunks and worked hard to learn the formations, run schemes and route concepts. Through his NFL scouting job, Chris had access to the game tape from K-State’s 2019 season. Together, father and son went through everything he needed to know. Deuce charted plays, filling up a binder with notes and questions. “We’d be in there for hours just talking ball,” he said, “and then we’d veer off and talk about life.” When gyms shut down in March, Deuce and Chris worked out together in the garage with dumbbells, a bench and a punching bag. Chris put him through individual drills to keep him quick and agile. And he gave his son all the intel and tools he’d need to be successful in college.
“I love ball. He loves ball,” Chris said. “Some guys go golf with their kids or have a hobby together. Our hobby is football.”
Deuce growing up around it has helped in immeasurable ways, too. Dad started bringing him around the facility more when he was in middle school. Deuce remembers getting to sit in on a meeting with Texas’ Quandre Diggs as they dug into film of a receiver he was about to face. He was awed by the thick binder of notes the defensive back had for just one week of prep.
Diggs only spent one year with the Vaughns, but they made him feel like family. So the Seattle Seahawks starting safety has always kept an eye on their son.
“When Deuce would come around, you could tell he was going to be a little athlete, just the way he walked and bounced around,” Diggs said. “I always watched his highlights and checked his stats and I’d be like, ‘Golly, he’s killing.’ ”
Diggs knows Sproles well, too. His older brother Quentin Jammer played with Sproles in San Diego for six seasons. The 5-foot-6 back trained “like a maniac” in the offseason, he said, to turn himself into an All-Pro. He knows Vaughn will, too. “It’s crazy because Deuce reminds me so much of him,” Diggs said. From a young age, Deuce got a chance to closely watch so many talented backs – Darren McFadden, Felix Jones, Dexter McCluster – thanks to his father’s job. Chris also taught him plenty about the players who didn’t pan out and the mistakes they made. He got a level of exposure to college football that few kids ever get. For Anderson, that was a factor in his evaluation. As he put it, “You can’t deny the background.”
It’s all the little details that impress K-State’s running backs coach. One of his favorite Deuce plays? He brings up that 35-yard catch and run against Oklahoma. Pay close attention, he says, to the ball. Vaughn kept it high and tight and repeatedly used a cross grip through contact while pinballing off Sooner tacklers.
“He had the best ball security in that situation that I’ve ever seen in a college football player,” Anderson said.
That’s the sign of a freshman who’s paying attention to teaching. Anderson preaches the cross grip in practice and they work on it daily. But where did Deuce first hear about that technique? His dad noticed Ezekiel Elliott doing it and showed him why it’s effective. So Deuce became determined to master it.
“You’d think kids would burn out just being around the game your entire life,” Deuce pointed out, “but my love for it has just grown every single day.”
When the Vaughn family drove up to Manhattan this summer for Deuce’s college move-in, Chris Vaughn had a lot on his mind. He gets emotional just thinking back on it.
“I don’t think he’d ever seen me cry,” he said. “My wife says she’s only seen me cry twice. This was one of them.”
On the night before they left, he sat his son down for a one-on-one talk and he opened up. He wanted Deuce to know how proud he was of the young man he’d become, how appreciative he was that the boy never gave them any problems, how inspired he was by Deuce beating the odds. But he also wanted his son to know the regret he’d carried for years, the pain of knowing everything he’d missed.
“He just kind of spilled everything,” Deuce said. “Not being able to be there hurt him so much more than anything else.”
For the first 14 years of Deuce’s life, Chris dedicated himself to being a rising college football assistant. He always felt he was working to keep his job. And when that’s the case, you can never do enough. “My dad was never really around whenever I was younger,” Deuce said. During the season, he’d see his dad on Saturday and a bit on Sunday. But on Monday, Chris would be back at the office before his kids were even up. Even when he’d come home from a 16-hour work day, he’d still be on his phone recruiting.
“It’s like you’re living parallel lives,” Chris said. “When you have some time, you pop in and then you have to pop back out.”
Marquette has always run their household and kept the family on schedule, dropping off and picking up their three children from school, driving them to all their practices and games, even taking videos so her husband could see what he’d missed. “Without that woman, I’m not the young man and everything that I am today,” Deuce said. She was always there. He never knew how much it pained his dad that he couldn’t be there, too.
For all the advantages that come with being a coach’s kid, it can be a tough life. Chris knew he spent more time with his players than with his own family. He thinks back to one of his players at Arkansas, the son of a coach, and how he’d lament how much he missed his dad. Deuce never said it, but Chris wondered if he felt it. He fondly remembers showing up just in time to see Deuce’s first touchdown in tackle football in the seventh grade. He only made it to one more game while Deuce was in middle school.
All that changed on Feb. 11, 2016. Texas parted ways with Vaughn after he’d been implicated in the NCAA’s lengthy investigation into Ole Miss. The NCAA alleged that Vaughn and another staffer arranged for three Ole Miss recruits to qualify with fraudulent ACT scores in 2010. Ole Miss did not dispute the claim. Vaughn eventually received a show-cause penalty from the NCAA in 2017, banning him from working in college athletics for five years. Nearly five years later, Vaughn prefers not to discuss this chapter. “I’ve moved on,” he said. Over time, he’s gained a different perspective on those difficult times. As painful as it was, he’s now grateful.
“It’s amazing because it’s turned out to be one of the best things that ever happened,” Vaughn said. “That’s the silver lining. I get to be there. It ended up being a blessing.”
Deuce got his father back. Chris refocused his attention on his family. He got to go to Cedar Ridge football games. He’s making it to his daughters’ gymnastics meets and dance team performances. For Deuce, it’s been the little stuff like offering a pep talk, dropping off a meal or even just driving around together that’s been meaningful.
“He’s embraced all of it,” Deuce said. “Before I knew it, he turned into a dad more than a coach as far as football went. At the games, he was Dad.”
Vaughn started over professionally. With the help of one of his mentors in the coaching business, he was able to get in the door with the Cowboys. It was an hourly role at first, cutting up tape and consulting. But within a year, he became the organization’s southeast area scout. He calls scouting “recruiting on steroids.” He’s enjoying it, especially because it provides a much healthier work-life balance. The family has been driving to each game this fall, and he’ll only have to miss two while traveling for work.
He’s tried to stay calm every step of the way during Deuce’s rapid rise at K-State, reminding his son to keep putting in the work and staying prepared. He’s usually quiet and cerebral during games, always focused on the next play. But after those long runs against Oklahoma and Texas Tech? “I wasn’t able to contain myself,” Chris said with a laugh. “I hopped up and I was like a fan, like a dad.” Over the past few years, he took all the things he’s seen in 17 years in college coaching – the good and the bad – and passed down what he’s learned. And it has brought father and son closer together than ever.
“Unbelievable. I could never replace that time. Ever. I could never get that opportunity back,” Chris said. “The time on the field, in the garage working out, watching tape and it’s with my son? There’s not a better feeling. For every kid that I’ve ever coached, I’ve enjoyed every minute of it and I’m still close with a lot of them. But I can’t replace that feeling that I had this summer and the last couple summers with him. Because he’s mine.”
They talk every day after practice. Chris calls Deuce on Friday nights to go over the game script. There will be many more lessons along the way to becoming one of college football’s most exciting young talents. It won’t always be this easy. But the kid who just kept going is just getting started.
“I’m so grateful for him and everything he’s done for me to prepare me to be able to do this,” Deuce said. “Now when he calls me, he’s like, ‘You know what to do.’
“And I tell him, ‘Yes sir. I’ve got everything I need.’ ”
-
Guess the Athletic staff writers don’t need to feed their family this month
-
YES! SANDBLASTER!
-
His name is The Waterbug. And he's had some highlight runs today.
-
That's a terrible nickname. I think he'd take his glove off and back hand you with it if you called him that.
-
Apologies, but he’s The Waterbug. It’s perfect. Dgaf what he thinks of it, I started the thread and therefore I get to choose. Them’s the rules.
-
Vetoed, sorry that's how it goes, friend.
-
Vetoed, sorry that's how it goes, friend.
Hold the L SKINNY
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
-
:frown: currently holding the L :frown:
-
Actually, in re-reading this thread, Curly Sue is a hilarious nickname. I guess that's what I'll call him next season. WHAT IF HE HAS A DIFFERENT ADORABLE NICKNAME EVERY SEASON??? Just spitballing here.
-
MIR has the best nicknames historically so while I appreciate your efforts I’m going in another direction.
-
Curly Waterbug, it is!
-
Sorry if Luk’d but you can’t overstate how blessed we are to have Deuce as a KSU Cat. What an absolute treasure he is:
https://twitter.com/KStateFB/status/1458968285404286981?s=20
-
He's a great player, and you're incredibly fortunate to have him.
-
I'm excited to see if lil deuce can pack on a couple of more biscuits and match sproles thickness while also keeping his speed/agility etc.
Whoever it was that used to talk about recruits hips/frame (manhatter?!), we need his expert opinion on whether or not deuce can put on some extra weight and keep his skills.
-
1 vote for sandblaster.