Ducasse
John C TX
horrible. It is always great to see a guy from a lower division
program make it.
http://blog.nj.com/jets_impact/print.html?entry=/2011/03/jets_vlad_ducasse_spent_rookie.html
Jets' Vlad Ducasse spent rookie season learning many positions,
including right tackle
Published: Tuesday, March 08, 2011, 3:45 PM Updated: Tuesday,
March 08, 2011, 4:35 PM
Jenny Vrentas/The Star-Ledger By Jenny Vrentas/The Star-Ledger
At last month's NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, Jets general
manager Mike Tannenbaum said trying Vlad Ducasse at right tackle was
"something we've talked about."
The second-year offensive lineman said he hasn't had that explicit
conversation with the team -- but that he spent his rookie season
mastering both tackle and both guard positions, so he could step in
wherever the team needs him.
"That was the whole point of learning all those positions, so I could
be ready to go out anywhere," Ducasse said today at TEST Sports Clubs
in Martinsville, where he is set up to train in the event of a
lockout.
Trying Ducasse at right tackle could make sense, particularly since
the Jets cut 33-year-old Damien Woody last week. Wayne Hunter, who
stepped in as the starter when Woody was injured late in the season
and played well, is due to become a free agent.
Ducasse, the Jets' 2010 second-round pick, was active for only a
handful of games last season and saw limited time after Matt Slauson
beat him out for the starting left guard job in training camp. Ducasse
played at right guard in the season finale against the Bills, when the
Jets had already locked up a postseason bid and subbed in many of
their back-up players.
He said he took reps in practice at four positions -- right guard,
left guard, right tackle and left tackle -- to be a versatile back-up
in case any of the starters went down and also to give different looks
to the Jets' first-team defense.
"Last year, you just had that feeling that you’ve got to be ready,"
Ducasse said. "If they said, 'We need you on the left'; I was ready if
they said, 'We need you on the right.' Every practice I was getting
reps at tackle and guard."
Ducasse said his major hang-up as a rookie was learning the Jets'
playbook, a complicated task under renowned offensive line coach Bill
Callahan. He admitted he struggled at times to apply what he learned
in the classroom to the practice field.
Once he lost out in the battle for left guard, Ducasse took time to
slow down and go back over his mistakes. Callahan was a willing
teacher, Ducasse said, staying late with him after meetings or
watching extra film with him early in the morning.
"It’s different now," Ducasse said. "As a rookie, it's just like
everything comes down on you, that’s the hardest part. I pretty much
took a year off, but I was still learning all the other positions. I
don’t know how to explain it, but I feel comfortable now."
His focus now is staying in shape and maintaining the weight he was at
all through his rookie season, 330 pounds.
Ducasse, a three-year starter at left tackle at UMass, is perhaps a
best fit at the tackle position. He says he is ready to prove what he
can do, after a year in the background, and would be happy if that
chance came at right tackle -- or anywhere.
"Last year the main thing I did was learning, not only right tackle,
but all the other positions," Ducasse said. "I'm very much excited
about going in there and showing everybody what I learned in that year
off. I'm just ready to go."
Michael
> I wrote before that the 2010 could be a good one. It also could be
> horrible. It is always great to see a guy from a lower division
> program make it.
>
watching vlad up to this point, i always felt his best place would be
RT. he has tremendous tools. size, arm lenght, leverage, feet and
great coordination. when he makes contact, he uses his arms like a
modern tackle. tremendous leverage. the down side was he did not
know how to play. he looked confused. some of what he said in the
article bodes well. he's not a cement head.. he had probably had too
much on his plate too soon as far as learning the game. once he
catches up, he has all the makings of a top guy.
Harlan Lachman
<fe82833d-995d-4fdc...@z27g2000prz.googlegroups.com>,
Michael <mjd...@verizon.net> wrote:
> > "Last year, you just had that feeling that youąve got to be ready,"
> > Ducasse said. "If they said, 'We need you on the left'; I was ready if
> > they said, 'We need you on the right.' Every practice I was getting
> > reps at tackle and guard."
> >
> > Ducasse said his major hang-up as a rookie was learning the Jets'
> > playbook, a complicated task under renowned offensive line coach Bill
> > Callahan. He admitted he struggled at times to apply what he learned
> > in the classroom to the practice field.
> >
> > Once he lost out in the battle for left guard, Ducasse took time to
> > slow down and go back over his mistakes. Callahan was a willing
> > teacher, Ducasse said, staying late with him after meetings or
> > watching extra film with him early in the morning.
> >
> > "Itąs different now," Ducasse said. "As a rookie, it's just like
> > everything comes down on you, thatąs the hardest part. I pretty much
> > took a year off, but I was still learning all the other positions. I
> > donąt know how to explain it, but I feel comfortable now."
> >
> > His focus now is staying in shape and maintaining the weight he was at
> > all through his rookie season, 330 pounds.
> >
> > Ducasse, a three-year starter at left tackle at UMass, is perhaps a
> > best fit at the tackle position. He says he is ready to prove what he
> > can do, after a year in the background, and would be happy if that
> > chance came at right tackle -- or anywhere.
> >
> > "Last year the main thing I did was learning, not only right tackle,
> > but all the other positions," Ducasse said. "I'm very much excited
> > about going in there and showing everybody what I learned in that year
> > off. I'm just ready to go."
>
> watching vlad up to this point, i always felt his best place would be
> RT. he has tremendous tools. size, arm lenght, leverage, feet and
> great coordination. when he makes contact, he uses his arms like a
> modern tackle. tremendous leverage. the down side was he did not
> know how to play. he looked confused. some of what he said in the
> article bodes well. he's not a cement head.. he had probably had too
> much on his plate too soon as far as learning the game. once he
> catches up, he has all the makings of a top guy.
Sometimes it takes time for an OL prospect to adjust to the pro game.
But for a second round pick, it better happen this year.
harlan
Michael
> X-No-Archive: Yes
>
> :)
>
> I imagine guard & tackle must get more & more different as you advance
> from HS - college to pro.
>
> Papa?- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -
i have seen some HS games where it looked like you could swap the CB
for the offensive guard. What is just as interesting... As the pro
game has evolved, so has the differance between the Guard and Tackle
positions. It is pretty much an arm wresteling match now at the Tackle
position. You can get by with shorter arms and less speed and
athleticism at the Guard position, but no way can you be a really good
Tackle in the pro ranks unless you are built for it like Vlad, Brick
and Clady are.
MZ
There are a couple. Light comes to mind. If you don't have the arms,
you better have the feet! Ducasse was supposed to have both. This
could get verrry interesting. So what's going to happen with Hunter?
Michael
>
> - Show quoted text -
Rex might actaully have done the Jets a finiacial dissservice by
calling Hunter "the best back-up" in the league. The way Hunter
neutralized Peppers and played in general.... He's probably well
thought of in the eyes of other teams GM's and coaches as starting
material. I like the way that Rex is a player's coach and is candid
about praising good players, but he should alter his choice of words a
bit. Instread as "Hunter is the best back-up in the league" it
should be "Hunter did good work when we called on him". Instead of
"Revis is the best football player in the leage" "Revis makes a big
contribution for us." Instead of "Mangold is the best center in the
leage" "Mangold played like a Jet" I hope they keep Hurner becuse is
is good enough to be a starter. Robert Turner is also a excellent
back-up. They need at lest two top quality back-up's for that line.
As always, I feel the o-line is the most important unit on a team by
far. One that can pass block and run block. It works offensivly and
defensivly by giving you the ability to extend the lenghts of your
offensive drives. If I had 1mm to spend on a 22 man starting
offensive and defensive roster, 325m would go to manpower for the o-
line.
Harlan Lachman
<9e06b3f8-7d4e-411c...@k15g2000prk.googlegroups.com>,
Michael <mjd...@verizon.net> wrote:
Michael, I think your post is silly.
Do you really think other GMs and coaches care more about what Rex says
than the film they watch? Everyone gets to watch the nationally
televised games and probably gets scouting film too.
They know what Wayne Hunter can and cannot do.
I am amazed that people think anything a HC says about player influences
other team's signings (unless, perhaps, the HC calls a player a cancer
and even then there are usually other players who played with a guy who
can verify such remarks).
harlan
Michael
> In article
> <9e06b3f8-7d4e-411c-b461-76dd1bad8...@k15g2000prk.googlegroups.com>,
what a surprise...
> Do you really think other GMs and coaches care more about what Rex says
> than the film they watch? Everyone gets to watch the nationally
> televised games and probably gets scouting film too.
where did i suggest rex would be tipping coaches off to things they
could not see with their own eyes ??? When coaches use superlatives...
especially with players who have contracts coming to an end... it may
just give that player the idea that they could get more from their
organization... and... put themselves on the market to increase the
leverage that the extravagant compliments have already given them. or
perhaps you think that is "silly" too ???
feel free to pontificate at length
MZ
> In article
> <9e06b3f8-7d4e-411c-b461-76dd1bad8...@k15g2000prk.googlegroups.com>,
>
>
>
>
>
It gives agents extra ammo to be sleazy with. Probably not a big deal
in the long run, because ultimately the price of the player will be a
product of how bad the team needs the player relative to what other
teams would give him (and the player knows these figures, because
tampering probably happens every day). But I could see an issue where
it could go to a prima donna's head and he directs his agent to go to
great lengths to up his contract value, and agents will usually
oblige. I think it's possible that Revis's actions could have been
influenced by this. Let's see what Hunter does.
Harlan Lachman
<314693d7-7064-442d...@z3g2000prz.googlegroups.com>,
Michael <mjd...@verizon.net> wrote:
Yes, I do. If this idea were true, there would be evidence of
complimented players holding out for more money with the players coming
in with their tales between their legs because they were tempted to go
for more money than their market worth.
My only point is that coaches blatherings have almost no impact on
market worth.
harlan
Michael
and so i agree with you on that point. take gholston... we all know
what rex said about gholston... he was going to make him a star...
said he was getting better... and so on... no way in sam hell did that
increase is market value...
the point im making is... rex might give a player or his agent the
idea that they are valued by the team beyond what they are being
paid. hence... "lets talk deal". part of such a negotiation would
of course involve exposing a player to the market... players demanding
more pay or trade... infections taking hold... pete kendall wants a
trade, this one wants a trade... a culture of cocks running the coop.
what rex says is blather to another coach or gm, but it is not taken
as blather by a young player with an ego or a rapacious agent with a
pen