#22 Deuce Vaughn — Perhaps it’s a day early to honor this legend, but could incoming freshman running back DeVon Rice be the next elite scat back in the bold tradition of such greats as Deuce Vaughn (22)? | Photo by Nick Tre. Smith/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

In which BracketCat counts down the 23rd day until the 2024 kickoff with a profile of Kansas State running back DeVon Rice.

#23 DeVon Rice

True Freshman | 5-9 | 179 lbs. | Las Vegas, Nevada

Position: Running Back
Previous College: None
Projection: Redshirt
Status: On Scholarship

DeVon Rice (b. Oct. 21, 2004) is a talented, speedy young running back from the legendary Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas who plans on majoring in kinesiology.

Rice arrived on campus in time to participate in spring camp and has an outside chance to see some carries this year if he picks stuff up quickly, but I still think he ends up redshirting.

He prepped under head coach Brent Browner at Bishop Gorman, where he was regarded as the 66th-best running back in the Class of 2024 by ESPN, while the organization viewed him as the fifth-best overall player in the state of Nevada.

Rice was rated as an athlete by 247Sports, which ranked him 92nd in the nation, in addition to ranking him as the fourth-best prospect in the state.

He was named to the 2023 Nevada Preps All-Southern Nevada football team after helping the Gaels to capture three state championships during his career. (They finished the season ranked No. 1 in the nation by USA TODAY and also won the 2022 ESPN GEICO Bowl.)

Rice rushed for 1,679 yards and 25 touchdowns during his prep career, in addition to hauling in 18 receptions for 350 yards and seven scores.

He had multiple two-score and three-score games (displaying some nice juke moves, too), and he is the first K-State scholarship signee from the state of Nevada since at least 1989.

Rice chose K-State over scholarship offers from BYU, Colorado, Hawai’i (from which he de-committed), Portland State, San Diego State, Texas A&M and hometown school UNLV.

His father, Rodney, played football at BYU before spending the 1989 (New England Patriots) and 1990 (Tampa Bay Buccaneers) seasons in the National Football League, while his brother, Quenton, is an incoming transfer wide receiver (also from BYU) for the Wildcats.