A request for informative perspective - who remembers Jon Vaughn?
I'm young enough that I just missed being aware of Jon Vauhgn's playing days at Michigan. I stumbled across his stats and a bit of information about his playing career, and it made me curious about how he is remembered by fans. Is there a degree of similarity to Poole - a wish that he had stayed one more year to become truly dominant, and to create more fantastic moments?
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and perspective.
He was a good player replaced by better players. I don’t remember any ill will towards Vaughn.
I remember just one odd incident. After leaving, Vaughn complained that the coaching staff made him call up the O-linemen to be credited during postgame ceremonies after UM's bowl game victory over Ole Miss. Apparently, he felt it took away from his moment of recognition.
I think he might have been leading the country in rushing early in a season, but wasn’t able to keep his backup (maybe Ricky Powers?) from taking reps at some point.
He got hurt in I believe the UCLA game. Wasn't completely healed until the bowl game.
Went for 60 something yards on the first or second offensive play in that UCLA game.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sh9CIIp_IuE
That was the first home game in over two decades with no Bo on the sidelines.
Even crazier if you say first one since the 60s.
My recollection is that he had over 400 yards of rushing after the ND and UCLA games. But basically got beat out by Ricky Powers over the course of the season.
And then the next year, Ricky Powers got replaced by Tyrone Wheatley.
Jamie Morris, Tony Boles, Jon Vaughn, Ricky Powers, Timmy B. Leroy Hoard. Those were some solid years.
Wheatley?
Jesse (the housecat) Johnson blew up at the same time. I think Vaughn didn’t want to be a part of a stable. He was good.
He was a solid player who started at running back the year after Leroy Hoard. Had a nice year in 1990 with some nice performances against Notre Dame and UCLA. Ricky Powers also came on the scene that year and took some carries from him.
Nice performances? He ran for over 200 yards against both teams. That Notre Dame game was as fine a performance a Michigan running back has put up against the Irish. I remember that game well. He was unstoppable that night. He was also Big Ten Offensive player of the year. He was undersized, but shifty and fast. He's also the all-time leader in yards per carry. I think another year would have been interesting.
Imo, he made a very smart decision. He was leading the nation in rushing and still got beaten out of his starting job by freshman Ricky Powers. Another year wasn't going to help his draft prospects as much as it might hurt them.
This was my freshman year and I recall thinking he lost his role to Ricky Powers. And the next year Wheatley was coming to AA and he was FAR better than either Powers or Vaughn. He would not have had nearly as many carries in 1991.
I remember, though not all that much. Toward the end of Vaughn's last season at UM, Ricky Powers was emerging as UM's workhorse RB.
Ricky Powers was the top RB out of Ohio the year before and we landed him in a bitter recruiting battle with OSU. We were eager to see him as a freshman and he didn’t disappoint.
I don't remember him but an acquaintance of mine bought an 89 Lebaron from him.
I do - started the 1990 season on fire. Something like 288 against UCLA followed by 201 vs ND.
Went pro after that year as a redshirt Sophomore. Opened up PT for Ricky Powers and Ty Wheatley, IIRC.
1990 was a weird season. Brief #1, strange last second losses at home to Iowa, MSU.
Had a crazy 2-3 game stretch to start the season, then got hurt. He came back at less than 100% and it showed. He was great in the bowl game once he was completely healthy. That was during an era where we churned out some great O-linemen and blocking TEs, so who knows how much of his numbers were his talent or the blocking.
One thing to remember is that was Grbac's first year behind center, and our first wishbone free offense IIRC. We may have surprised some teams early in the season with our new offensive attack.
That OL was historically good. They gave the MVP trophy in the bowl game to the entire OL.
I also think he wasn't a RB recruit either, and played another position--safety?--before being tried at RB and excelling. But my memory's a bit cloudy.
Had the monster home game against UCLA. You ask an interesting question, but not sure how to make the comparison between sports and 25 or so years. My stab: not a good comparison; Poole had one of the best in Beilein M has ever had, especially in money sports, at developing individual talent. Lloyd, not so much (granted this is from someone outside--although very interested in--the program).
Lloyd Carr was not head coach that year. Gary Moeller was.
Jon Vaughn was much better than Ricky Powers.
I remember him, and he was good. But as I recall Ricky Powers was behind him, and Ricky was better.
I remember him having one big game in the pros, against Steelers I believe. I was too young to remember him at UM.
I remember him slicing ND to ribbons. Lost the game but it sure wasn’t his fault
Back then, you could go on the field after the game. I went out on to the field after his breakout UCLA game and stood right next to the cameraman as he was being interviewed on TV.
He seemed like a likeable guy, and just as much surprised by his "Where did that come from?" performance as everybody else.
UCLA was an elite national power back then, and he ran all over them.