Cowboys Deuce Vaughn: ‘I’m Hardest Worker You’ll Ever Meet!’ Rookie Minicamp Review
FRISCO - “I’m the hardest-working guy that you’ll ever meet.”
If you follow the NFL Draft and then the progress of the careers of the selected prospects, it's a quote you've heard an almost infinite number of times before. That doesn't mean it lacks a ring of truth; It's estimated that only 1.2 percent of college players get drafted, and we can estimate that the number of childhood dreamers who eventually make it big hovers at a number slightly above zero percent.
But when 21-year-old Dallas Cowboys rookie running back Deuce Vaughn from Kansas State says it? The odds against him always seemed so much greater that it makes the pledge seem so much more sincere.
“You get to college and guys kind of question and doubt your abilities because of your size,” Vaughn said last weekend upon arriving at The Star for a rookie minicamp. “It just adds to the chip on my shoulder. That’s why I’m the hardest working guy that you’ll ever meet.”
Vaughn comes to Dallas via the sixth round of the NFL Draft - and via the inside knowledge the team has about him because he is the son of Chris Vaughn, the assistant director of college scouting for the Cowboys. Obviously, this was an emotional thing - the secret audio is something special - but surely not driven by emotion only.
There are some, though, who think the pick hints at nepotism. The Cowboys argument in return is to simply look at his college resume. Vaughn has rushed for 2,962 yards and 27 touchdowns in his last two seasons. Former NFL running back Maurice Jones-Drew in fact, on a segment for NFL Network, ranked the top five running backs out of this year's draft and had Vaughn at No. 3.
The only two in front of him? Bijan Robinson and Jahmyr Gibbs (No. 8 & No. 12 picks, respectively).
Said Jones-Drew: "For him to go to Dallas, I thought, was a perfect fit. ... I think he's going to be a huge addition to the Cowboys.
"Perfect'' is a hyperbolic word here. There is nothing "perfect'' about being a 5-5, 179-pound NFL running back. But can the rookie fit into a backfield role as the backup to Tony Pollard? If it's about work ethic, father agrees with son.
That’s the best (pick) I ever made,” Chris said of his involvement in the drafting of his one. “You know, I told somebody, 'He’s the hardest worker I know; I just happen to be his dad. It’s really refreshing to see that that’s what this league is made up of - of guys that you can’t put a measurement on. That’s what he’s always been.''
And if Deuce Vaughn really is "the hardest-working guy that you’ll ever meet''? Then the league's makeup will include him.
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