More Than A Name

For most young football players, nothing ever tops little league football: oranges at halftime, playing with buddies, dreaming of being the next big start.
Everyone has their sights set on playing college football. Becoming the next Travis Hunter, the next Tebow, the next Heisman winner. For most kids, this dream quickly fades about by the time they reach high school.
Not Zamari Vaughn.
Vaughn, a junior at Highland, grew up in a household with five older brothers who all played football. Xzavier went on to play college football, and one, Zemaiah, is playing for the Minnesota Vikings after four years at the University of Utah.
For the Vaughns, football is everything.
“I’m a football player,” Vaughn said. “I grew up in a football family.”
When Vaughn steps under the lights on Fridays, he is expected to be great simply because of his last name. He just never knew his Friday night lights would be in Utah.
Vaughn’s parents live in Texas, but he wanted to be in Utah with his brother, Zemaiah. But now Zemaiah lives in Minnesota, as a member of the NFL’s Vikings.
Zamari is in Utah without his family, still finishing a football journey that he never saw coming.
“I fell in love with Utah,” Vaughn said. “I knew I wanted to live here.”
Vaughn started his football journey at the age of six, playing flag football in Dallas, Texas. He continued to progress throughout little league football, moving to Beaumont in the fifth grade, where he put on the pads and started to see success.
“All my brothers were playing high school football at that time, so I really looked up to them,” Vaughn said. “I was on my last season of little league out there and I ended up winning the championship.”
Vaughn moved back to Dallas after his older brother Zemaiah graduated high school. After graduating, Zemaiah went to the University of Utah where he made the team as a walk-on. Vaughn continued to work on his own craft back in Texas dominating middle school ball.
“Fast forward to my eighth grade year. I was putting up good stats,” Vaughn said. “We made it to another championship.”
After eighth grade, Vaughn spent a lot of time in Utah hanging out with his brothers and staying with Zemaiah. After the passing of his older brother Zaryus in 2020, Vaughn wanted to be closer to his brothers and be able to see them more. The passing of Zeryus continues to be Vaughn’s greatest motivation to be the best player he can.
While he was staying with Zemaiah, he became friends with Tshireletso Mosimane, or “T”, a senior at Highland now who also plays football. He introduced Vaughn to other players on the team and he quickly felt a bond with them.
“T” and I got cool,” Vaughn said. “And I eventually asked my parents if I could move here.”
Despite Vaughn begging to move in with Zemaiah, his parents said no, and he went back to Dallas for his freshman year. Vaughn played at Carter High School in Dallas, and wasn’t loving it. He just wanted to come to Utah.
Vaughn was always closest with Zemaiah; he always looked up to him as a kid, going to the field with him, trying to get to his skill level, spending time together. So not having him in Texas anymore was hard on Vaughn.
During Vaughn’s freshman year, his family came to Utah again to watch Zemaiah play. Zemaiah had gone all the way from a walk-on to a starting cornerback and was starting to put up numbers for the Utes and get the attention of NFL scouts.
“After his game, my family and I had a family table talk about me moving to Utah for my sophomore year,” Vaughn said. “And eventually, my parents ended up saying yes.”
Vaughn moved in with Zemaiah the summer before his sophomore season, when he started his journey at Highland. He played well his sophmore year, putting up good stats playing quarterback on JV. Because he was a transfer, he had to sit out a few games before he was eligible to play varsity.
While Vaughn was busy playing at the Highland, Zemaiah was having a big season at the U, earning first-team All-Big 12 honors. In April, he eventually signed a contract with Minnesota Vikings – great for him, but a problem for Vaughn.
He would have nowhere to live once Zemaiah left in June.
Vaughn wanted to stay in Utah, but no longer had a place to live. After a promising offseason of winter and spring workouts, Vaughn was just settling in for a big junior year.
Vaughn’s teammates and coaches were also very determined to keep him at Highland. He moved in with a former teammate’s family, and coaches and players arranged to get him to practice every day.
“The coaches had reassured me that he was in good hands, and that they would take care of him,” Zipporah Vaughn said. “So it made me much more comfortable with him staying in Utah.”
Throughout the summer, Vaughn appeared to be preparing for what could be his big breakout season.
He was set to be one of the main targets at wide reciever, but also was taking reps at quarterback and corner to ensure depth.
In the preseason scrimmages Vaughn saw lots of targets at wide reciever, even scoring a touchdown against East.
Fortunately for Zamari, playing multiple positions was nothing new. He knew how to play them all thanks to his brothers.
“My brothers all play different positions, so every one of them taught me different things,” Vaughn said. “They would tell me to come to the field with them growing up, and they all taught me different stuff. Like, uh, my oldest brother, Xavier, he plays quarterback, that’s where I get my quarterback from. Zach plays as a receiver, so he trained me at receiver and Zemaiah helped me play corner.”
Thanks to his brothers, Zamari is ready to make a difference on the field at all times wherever the Rams need him.
Consistently throughout the season he has been one of the main targets at receiver, and been locking down recievers at corner, just like Zemaiah.
Since the season started, Zamari has been living with quarterback transfer Brody Dalton. Dalton and Zamari got close over the summer, and Dalton’s family had recently bought a house, so the move was easy for Vaughn. It was nice to be with a current teammate, especially the one he was catching passes from.
Staying with Brody has been real nice,” Vaughn said. “They make sure I’m good, food wise and health and everything, which is great.”
Despite another move, Vaughn still keeps his mom a priority, staying in touch daily, and talking about his games.
“We still talk all the time,” Zipporah said. “And I have the link to watch his games every week, so we’re always in touch, texting and facetiming.”
Throughout the regular season, Vaughn has
been a key part of the Ram offense. After
starting slow, coming off of a hip injury, Vaughn caught fire as a deep threat.
His emergence in Highland’s passing game has made a huge impact on the Rams’ offense. By forcing defenses to worry about him getting downfield, the run game naturally opened up with the opposing safety’s playing high.
Highland’s playoffs began against Dixie last Friday (results were not available before presstime). Vaughn, along with the rest of the Rams, hope to make a push for the state title. If Highland makes it to the semifinals, they will get to Rice-Eccles to play where Zemaiah once did.
In a breakout junior year, Vaughn finished the regular season tallying five touchdowns over his last six games, along with an interception returned for a touchdown on the defensive side.
After his big season, Vaughn is ready to get to work and have a big offseason to prepare for his last high school season on 2026. After he graduates from Highland, Zemari plans to follow in his brother’s footsteps and try to play college ball.
“I see myself playing college football,” Vaughn said. “I don’t know where yet, but I hope to be at the U.”