‘Hard to put into words’: Cowboys’ Deuce Vaughn leaves everyone speechless in NFL debut

“You never know,” Deuce Vaughn explained.

The Cowboys running back had just come off the field after his NFL debut. The rookie knew full well that there had been questions about his size, about whether he’d be tough enough to play at the pro level, about whether his feel-good draft-day story would be the high point of his journey, about whether his game- even with its electrifying speed- would translate to the topmost tier of the sport.

The 21-year-old admits he was even asking himself some questions prior to Saturday afternoon’s preseason kickoff.

“It’s a question mark coming in whenever you’re about to play your first NFL game,” the Kansas State product told reporters post-game. “It was like that when you were in college- wondering if you can adapt to the speed, wondering if you can do everything and be successful.”

But Vaughn’s debut left no doubt. Though Dallas lost to Jacksonville by a 28-23 score, the sixth-round selection provided plenty of flash in just 20 offensive snaps. He logged 50 yards on eight carries and showed that, at 5-foot-5, he’s not just a hard man to find on the football field, he’s also a hard man to bring to the ground.

“Whenever you get to that second level,” Vaughn said, “I feel like that’s where I excel.”

Vaughn added another six yards in the passing game after catching all three targets thrown to him, and he added a fourth-quarter touchdown on the ground for good measure.

“Hard to put into words,” Vaughn said of his scoring moment. “I can’t take all the credit; those guys up front, they were blocking their butts off all game. To get in the end zone in your first preseason game, that’s just a testament to all the work that’s been put in since pre-draft.”

Perhaps even more impressive is that Vaughn racked up most of his stats behind an offensive line that was less a who’s who of Cowboys blockers and more just a who?

If Vaughn looks the way he did- averaging 6.25 yards per carry and averaging 5.4 of those yards after contact– rushing behind Earl Bostick Jr., Asim Richards, Brock Hoffman, T.J. Bass, and Alex Taylor-Prioleau, just imagine him dancing down a road plowed by the likes of Tyron and Tyler Smith, Terence Steele, and Zack Martin.

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“He played very well,” Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy said in his postgame remarks. “I thought he had a heck of a night. It was a great introduction to the NFL.”

And in seeing for himself that the lights weren’t too bright and the stage wasn’t too big for him, Vaughn admitted that his most important takeaway from the night was a single realization, one that should put the NFL’s other 31 defenses on notice.

Because now they have no excuse not to know.

“That I belong. I feel like that’s the biggest thing for myself, is just coming in and proving people that believed in me right,” Vaughn explained. “And it doesn’t stop now. I go back to work on Monday to get ready for the next preseason game.”

Already spoken like a savvy NFL veteran.

Story originally appeared on Cowboys Wire