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One of the major projects for Tony Sparano and Dave DeGuglielmo is to get Vlad Ducasse to realize his enormous potential.
Ducasse was the Jets second round pick in the 2010 draft out of the University of Massachusetts.
His name has been in the news this week due to Victor Cruz. The Giants wide receiver claims he caught the attention of NFL scouts who were up in Amherst looking at Ducasse.
Ducasse was one of the best prospects out of UMass in years. He was better and bigger than your typical 1-AA lineman.
But he wasn’t that attuned to the world of recruiting, after moving to Connecticut from Haiti at the age of 14.
UMass showed the most interest, so he signed there. He could have gone to a Division I school. UConn wanted him.
He started for three years at left tackle at UMass, but not many NFL scouts viewed him as an NFL left tackle. He was viewed as either a right tackle or guard.
When the Jets picked him, Mike Tannenbaum said he would either player left guard or right tackle.
And the last two years, he’s bounced all over – left guard, right guard, right tackle.
And that is where the problem lies. They have moved him around too much, and it’s messed with his head.
Last summer, after Ducasse was struggling at guard early in camp and the preseason, Rex Ryan said the team was going to let him play tackle, where he’s more comfortable.
But then the Jets continued to play him at guard. And this is another example of something Rex needs to fix. The offensive coaches were doing things like they were on an island, like benching Santonio Holmes, or putting Ducasse in games at guard, and Rex seemed oblivious. He needs to coach the whole team, not just the defense.
If Rex wanted Vlad to just focus on tackle, why did he allow Bill Callahan to continue playing him at guard?
We asked a source close to Ducasse, who has known him a long time, what it will take for the kid to turn it around.
“If he stays in one position, he’ll be fine,” said the source, who has coached offensive line on the high school and college level.
And this position is right tackle. They need to put him there, and leave him there. Expect the Jets to have Wayne Hunter and Ducasse battle for the starting right tackle job this summer.
There is a major reason why Ducasse needs to stay at one position right now – he thinks in his native Creole, the language of Haiti. So when you tell him something, he needs to translate it to English in his head.
So right now, he’s not a guy you want playing multiple positions.
If you leave him at one position, he should be fine.
And having a whole off-season to work with Tony and Dave should work wonders for him. Not having an off-season last year, to work with Callahan, due to the lockout, really set back Vlad’s matuation process.
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