‘He is a special player’: Why K-State legend Darren Sproles is a fan of Deuce Vaughn
Kansas State will honor Darren Sproles as one of the finest football players in program history on Saturday when he enters the school’s athletic Hall of Fame at a ceremony during a much anticipated game against Oklahoma.
But that’s not the only reason Sproles is looking forward to spending a weekend at his alma mater.
The former K-State running back who went on to play 15 seasons in the NFL is also eager to get his first up-close glimpse at current Wildcats running back Deuce Vaughn.
“He is a special player,” Sproles said. “To be so young and to already be so focused and locked in, you can tell he is going to be a special player. He wants to get better each and every week. That is a lot like me.”
It is understandable for Sproles to see parts of his own game in Vaughn. Everyone else has been comparing them since Vaughn arrived on campus.
They are both small running backs who stopped growing once they reached 5-foot-6. They are both shifty runners who defenders struggle mightily to tackle. They both catch passes and return kicks. They both view their size as an advantage.
“When the offensive line stands up, you can’t see us,” Sproles said. “Not until the last minute, but you’re already up on them. We use that. We hide behind the linemen a little bit. That is actually better for us.”
The only real difference between them is age.
Sproles, 38, shattered the K-State rushing record with 4,979 yards while playing for the Wildcats from 2001-04. To put that number in context, no other player in school history has eclipsed 2,818 yards. He was a Heisman finalist and a NFL draft pick. Earlier this year, he was selected for the College Football Hall of Fame.
He was such an electric player with the Wildcats and then the San Diego Chargers, New Orleans Saints and Philadelphia Eagles that Vaughn grew up idolizing him.
As soon as he realized he was done growing, Vaughn said he stopped modeling his game after Barry Sanders and Adrian Peterson and began watching Sproles.
“I saw here is this guy who is not very big making a super big impact in this game,” Vaughn said. “The way he ran the football, the way he caught the ball out of the backfield, the way that he returned punts, he was so versatile. That is something that caught my eye real quick.”
Vaughn, 19, gave K-State fans flashbacks to the Sproles era when he eclipsed 1,000 all-purpose yards as a freshman.
He kept them coming when he rushed for more than 100 yards in all three of K-State’s nonconference games this season, becoming the fifth fastest player in school history to reach 1,000 career rushing yards. He needed 183 carries to reach that milestone. Sproles only needed 147.
Still, Sproles thinks Vaughn is further along than where he was when he was a young sophomore at K-State.
“Where he is now and then where I was in college he is actually ahead of me with his route running and stuff like that,” Sproles said. “When I was in college, we ran the ball and we ran option. They didn’t have me running routes.”
Sproles met Vaughn for the first time on Thursday when K-State coach Chris Klieman invited Sproles to attend practice and speak to the team.
It’s fair to say they were both excited to shake hands.
“The more that I learn about him, the more fascinated I become because he is not only a fantastic football player but a fantastic person,” Vaughn said. “Just to listen to all the stories that our people have about him is pretty cool.”
This story was originally published October 1, 2021 at 2:47 PM with the headline "‘He is a special player’: Why K-State legend Darren Sproles is a fan of Deuce Vaughn."