MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Six inches and 42 pounds are easily the biggest differences between West Virginia running back Leddie Brown and Kansas State back Deuce Vaughn, but don’t let the size difference fool you — they are more similar than they appear.
Brown (5-foot-11 and 210 pounds) has been the star of the Mountaineers’ offense through five games, and not just in the run game. He has 592 yards and seven touchdowns on the ground, but he’s also hauled in 19 catches for 138 yards and two scores. As more of a prototypical “between-the-tackles” running back, Brown is breaking the mold as a solid pass-catcher out of the backfield.
“We’ve moved [Leddie] around a lot,” WVU head coach Neal Brown said. “We’ve played him a lot in our empty packages, we feel really confident with him running our complete route tree. They’re using the Vaughn kid in a very similar fashion. Leddie’s bigger, Vaughn probably has a little bit more shake to him, but both are really good players in our league.”
Vaughn, a true freshman, stands at 5-foot-5 and weighs 168 pounds, the smallest starting running back in the Big 12. He’s averaging over five yards per carry and scored four touchdowns on the ground, but his ability in the passing game is a scary proposition to opposing defenses. Vaughn is averaging nearly 28 yards per reception (13 catches for 360 yards and a touchdown).
With his smaller stature, the Wildcats do their best to hide Vaughn pre-play, which makes him difficult to defend.
“They use him in a match up situation, so you have to make sure you match up up correctly,” defensive front coach Jordan Lesley said. “Where you put your pieces has got to match where they put their pieces. Finding him is one thing, but when you do find him and he’s got the ball, the Day 1 fundamentals are really the only thing that’s important.”
Brown and the Mountaineers (3-2, 2-2 Big 12) will face Vaughn and the No. 16 Wildcats (4-1, 4-0) at noon Saturday at Milan Puskar Stadium.
Brown provides injury updates
Linebacker VanDarius Cowan missed a month after suffering a lower-body injury at Oklahoma State on Sept. 26, but he may be slowly working his way back into the rotation, according to Neal Brown.
Cowan began practice last week heading into the Texas Tech game, but it was clear he wasn’t ready to compete against the Red Raiders.
“Just didn’t look like he was ready to go,” Brown said.
Cowan played in just two games in 2019, serving a four-game suspension to start the season and then suffered a season-ending knee injury two games after becoming eligible. The same can be said this year, as well, playing in the Eastern Kentucky win and loss at OSU as the starting bandit linebacker.
In Cowan’s place, Jared Bartlett and Dylan Tonkery have filled the void.
“We’ve been getting good production out of that position,” Brown said.
“We were really using it by committee anyway. Bartlett and Tonkery, even before VD got hurt, they were splitting time at that position.”
Another player who could return from injury, albeit much later in the season, is defensive end Taijh Alston. He played in two games last season, suffering a knee injury in early September that wiped out the rest of the year.
This year, it was an Achilles injury during summer camp that derailed Alston’s season.
“Taijh is really progressing well in his rehab,” Brown said. “We’re going to open his conditioning this week, hopefully, we can get him maybe where he can practice in the next two weeks if he doesn’t have any setbacks. Coming back from an Achilles injury he’s ahead of the curve. Our hope is we can get him some action later in November.”
The team originally thought Alston could miss half the season, but it seems with the extra year of eligibility the NCAA approved for all football players due to COVID-19, it is taking extra precautions.
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