Disclaimer: As the 2020 football season still is “technically” scheduled to proceed as planned in Manhattan, with the recent delay of our season opener until Sept. 12 against Arkansas State, we will reset and continue this Countdown for just a little bit longer...

#22 Deuce Vaughn

True Freshman | 5-5 | 168 lbs. | Round Rock, Texas

Courtesy Kansas State Athletics

• Position: Running Back
• Previous College: None
• Projection: Redshirt
• Status: On Scholarship

Christopher Matthew “Deuce” Vaughn II (b. Nov. 2, 2001) is a speedy young running back from Cedar Ridge High School in Round Rock, Texas, who signed in the Class of 2020.

Vaughn is likely to redshirt and gain weight, but could easily see some playing time in 2020.

He played under head coach Sam Robinson at Cedar Ridge, where he was regarded as the 17th-best all-purpose back in the Class of 2020 by 247Sports and also named the 2018 and 2019 District 13-6A Offensive Most Valuable Player.

Vaughn, who plans on majoring in business administration, earned honorable mention all-state honors from the Texas Sports Writers Association as a junior and accumulated 5,472 career all-purpose yards for the Raiders with 50 touchdowns, rushing for 4,405 yards and 38 scores to go with 914 receiving yards and 11 touchdowns.

He also returned four kicks for 153 yards and a touchdown, set school records for single-season rushing yardage (1,940) and single-game rushing yards (406), lettered three years in track and field, and was an honorable mention Academic All-State performer.

Vaughn chose K-State over offers from Air Force, Arkansas, Army, Missouri, North Texas and South Florida, as well as interest from Baylor, Kansas, Minnesota, SMU, TCU and Virginia Tech. His chief recruiter was K-State running backs coach Brian Anderson.

His father, Chris, is an NFL scout for the Dallas Cowboys, while he spent 18 seasons as an assistant coach at Arkansas, Ole Miss, Memphis and Texas after playing at Murray State.

Head coach Chris Klieman is very high on Vaughn’s potential as a big-play running back:

“Deuce is an electric guy; he’s a home-run hitter. He’s got great quicks, but he’s got a second gear to take it the distance. He is an excellent receiver out of the backfield, as well. He has really good hands, so he will allow us to do a lot of things. Whether we have him in the backfield, which we plan on, putting him flexed out like we have done with Phillip (Brooks), or the return game. You can’t have enough explosive players, and he brings that to the table.”