DEUCE McALLISTER, New Orleans Saints

BORN: Dec. 27, 1978 (Lena, Miss.)
SIZE: 6'1", 222
KEY STATS: 582 yards, 5 TDs

March 7, 2002. Deuce McAllister was fidgeting on the couch, half watching an NBA game, waiting for his cell phone to ring. When it did, he answered it so quickly he nearly pulled something. "You've shown us," said head coach Jim Haslett. "Now go show the rest of the league." That was his way of saying that the Saints had traded Ricky Williams -- a player Mike Ditka bet was worth his entire draft in 1999 -- and handed the ball to a second-year kid named Dulymus Jenod McAllister. Deuce has been answering the call ever since, starting with the off-season workouts that Ricky always skipped. Seven months later, the Saints were off to their best start (5–1) since 1993, and Deuce was the NFC's top rusher. But can he keep it up and make Saints fans permanently forget about the Dreadlocked One?

	Deuce is making fans say, "Ricky who?"

TOY STORY

For McAllister, the fourth quarter is like fourth grade. "Time to play with the toys, baby!" he says. The "toys" are the Saints' deadly offensive weapons. As McAllister sees it, Haslett is like a kid with a bucket of Matchbox cars. "Joe's the Lamborghini, Donte' is the Ferrari and Jerome's the Porsche," Deuce says of wideouts Horn, Stallworth and Pathon, who have amassed 937 yards and 10 TDs through six games this season. With a little prodding, No. 26 reveals his own make and model. "I'm a Mercedes," he says. "Rides easy and smooth."

BIG EASY

At heart, he's a laid-back kid who grew up in Ludlow, Miss., a town so small the Census Bureau doesn't even acknowledge it. And he's got a running style to match, with long, lazy strides that tease tacklers into thinking they can catch him. Turns out that's not so easy. Last year, LB (and fellow rook) Sedrick Hodge took a look at Deuce's loping gait and challenged him to a race. As they walked out to the practice field with a C-note on the line, Deuce warned Hodge he was making a mistake. Then Deuce dusted him, backpedaling the home stretch of the 40-yard race to get a better view of his vanquished teammate. Says Deuce: "Nobody's challenged me since."

TOUGH LOSS

Deuce was all-everything at Ole Miss -- and a Heisman candidate until a series of nagging injuries hobbled him in his senior year. But for all the yards he gained in Oxford, there was one loss he'll never get over. In November of his last season, after a game against LSU, his brother Demetrius spent the night at Deuce's Oxford apartment. Deuce woke up the next morning; Demetrius didn't. A sufferer of chronic respiratory problems caused by scoliosis, Demetrius had died in his sleep. On Nov. 12, the anniversary of his brother's death, Deuce and Horn will visit his grave. "I never got the chance to say goodbye," Deuce says. "That's something that will always be with me."

UNSAINTLY BEHAVIOR

The second half of last season, the Saints started behaving like the cast from Real World: New Orleans. First, Kyle Turley put a helmet into orbit. Then, rumors flew about Horn being the father of lineman Willie Roaf's child (a charge both deny). Deuce also got blindsided by some drama: Veteran wideout Albert Connell was caught taking more than $4,000 from McAllister's car and locker. The DA dropped the charges at McAllister's request -- "I didn't want to hurt his name any more than he already had" -- and the Saints released Connell at season's end. But the incident stung Deuce, then a little-used rookie. "I don't hold a grudge against AC," he says. "But if you want something, just ask. I'll be happy to help."

SEEING DOUBLE

Deuce's rushing stats this season fall into two categories: Yards and Yards Compared to Ricky. Fair or not, Deuce will forevermore be linked to Williams. Still, the Saints are pulling for their former mate, and not just because they like the guy. The 2003 conditional draft pick the Fish owe the Saints gets more valuable depending on how many yards Williams amasses. With Ricky on pace for 1,800, right now it's a first-rounder.

BREAKING AWAY

Fullback Terrelle Smith is one of Ricky's best friends. But for a few hours every Monday morning, Smith thanks his lucky stars the Saints went with Deuce. "I don't have to bash guys as hard as when I was blocking for Ricky," says Smith. "I have to hold my block a little longer, but I don't get banged up as much." That's because while Williams is a between-the-tackles grinder, McAllister is a shiftier, turn-the-corner back. Deuce has runs of 52 and 62 yards this year; Williams had only one rush of over 30 in three years in New Orleans. "Deuce does more out of the backfield than Ricky," says Horn. "And he's more elusive in the open field. That's why he's the better back for this team." And get this: Deuce does interviews with his helmet off.

This article appears in the October 28 issue of ESPN The Magazine.