Vaughn Running His Way Into Vanderbilt Record Books

Senior running back Ke'Shawn Vaughn is rushing his way up the Commodores record books.

Ke'Shawn Vaughn has been the one consistant performer for the Vanderbilt Commodores offense in 2019.  He's topped the century mark three times in five games played so far this season.

Entering Saturday's home game versus Missouri, Vaughn leads the Commodores ground game with 607 yards and five touchdowns.   

In just his second season at Vanderbilt and with 18 games to his credit, Vaughn has rushed for 1,851 yards, a number that puts him 10th all-time on the schools career rushing list while surpassing Everett Crawford and Cassen Jackson-Garrison each with 1,814 career yards. 

The Commodores have six games remaining this season and Vaughn needs a mere 352 more to move into the top five in Vanderbilt history. It's a mark that he is likely to earn baring injury.

It's no secret that the Vanderbilt offense has struggled through the first half of this season, making what Vaughn has and likely will accomplish even more impressive as teams know him and actively gameplan to stop him. 

Should  Vaughn earn those 352 yards he would pass Rodney WIlliams, Lonnie Sadler, Jared McGrath, Jermaine Johnson and Jamie O'Rourke into the top five Commodore runners of all time. 

It's not impossible with six game left that Vaughn could also pass Carl Woods and Frank Mordica to reach the third spot. Vaughn needs just 639 yards to move past Woods and 781 yards to pass Mordica.  

Neither mark is out of reach, but Vaughn has some work to do to reach the top three. 

Ralph Webb (4,173) and Zac Stacy (3,143) currently hold the top two spots, making it highly unlikely that Vaughn will challenge either of those marks. 

Still being in the top 10 all-time and possibly moving higher is an accomplishment in itself, especially considering how few total games he has played in the black & gold. 

For context, had Vaughn started is career in Nashville rather than at the University of Illinois, and adding his Illini yardage to his Commodores total, he would already occupy the third spot and only need 319 yards with six games left to move ahead of Stacy for second place. 

Regardless of where he finishes on that list, Vaughn has been fun to watch and should have a future somewhere at the next level.