How will Kansas State Wildcats replace star running back Deuce Vaughn next season?
Chris Klieman is ready for the challenge.
Difficult as it may be for the Kansas State football coach to replace a star player like running back Deuce Vaughn next season, it’s something he has been thinking about for a while now.
Two weeks ago, as the Wildcats were preparing to play Alabama in the Sugar Bowl, Klieman said he had the utmost confidence in redshirt freshman DJ Giddens moving forward by saying: “I think DJ is a tremendous, tremendous football player.”
Adding depth to the position via player development, recruiting or the transfer portal was among his top priorities in December.
“We’re keeping our options open there,” Klieman said. “This bowl prep has been important for us to see the depth we have behind DJ. ... So we’re really trying to evaluate all those other guys that aren’t true freshmen like Jordan Schippers or any of those other guys. We just have to see we’re at.”
Moving forward without Vaughn, who declared as an early entrant in the 2023 NFL Draft, won’t be easy. The 5-foot-6 junior from Round Rock, Texas, departs K-State as one of the most accomplished playmakers in program history, ranking among the top two running backs in program history along with Darren Sproles.
In just three seasons, he piled up 4,884 yards of all-purpose offense and scored 43 touchdowns.
This past season, he rushed for 1,558 yards and nine touchdowns to go along with 378 yards and three touchdowns as a receiver.
You can’t just snap your fingers and replace that kind of production. But the Wildcats do have several intriguing options, both within their current roster and on the recruiting trail.
Let’s start with the in-house candidates to replace Vaughn as K-State’s starting running back. The list pretty much starts and ends with Giddens. The 6-foot-1 bruising runner from nearby Junction City made a strong first impression on K-State fans when he was trusted to play this season.
Giddens rushed for 518 yards and six touchdowns on 89 carries while filling in for Vaughn at various times, including when he eclipsed 100 all-purpose yards on 12 touches against Alabama in the Sugar Bowl. Giddens scored a touchdown in six different games and rushed for as many as 78 against West Virginia. There wasn’t a huge dropoff from Vaughn to Giddens whenever he took command of the backfield.
The biggest difference was in their running styles. Giddens is a powerful back who can fight for yards between the tackles. Vaughn is at his most dangerous in space.
Vaughn has been one of his biggest fans.
“I was his biggest cheerleader on the sideline, because I understand all the work that he has put in over the past two years to get himself ready for this opportunity,” Vaughn said earlier this season. “You see the way he runs with his pads. He is powerful, he is a big, strong kid. The way he totes the football, it was one of those things where the entire team was like, ‘Oh yeah, this guy can run the football.’ We can’t wait to see what he turns into over these next couple years.”
Who will serve as the primary backup behind Giddens next season? That is an excellent question. It’s possible K-State could ask several players to run behind Giddens. Historically, Klieman likes to spread carries around between as many as five runners. Vaughn hogged most of them for himself the past two seasons because he was a dominant force in the backfield.
The main current candidates to see backup carries next season are Anothony Frias and Schippers, who scored on a one-yard run against Alabama. But both players only saw one carry this season.
Other possibilities: Evan Cantu, La’James White and incoming freshman Joe Jackson, a 5-foot-10 and 195-pound running back from Haines City, Florida. Jackson is a three-star recruit who rushed for 1,143 yards and 20 touchdowns in seven games a senior for his high school team.
“Joe has got a chance to play early,” Klieman said on early signing day last month. “He is an exciting kid who is a speed kid but also an explosive player between the tackles.”
It’s also possible that K-State will look to the transfer portal for a more experienced running back to help at the position.
No matter what happens, Klieman and the Wildcats were prepared for this.
This story was originally published January 3, 2023 at 2:11 PM with the headline "How will Kansas State Wildcats replace star running back Deuce Vaughn next season?."