University of Massachusets Athletics
Ducasse Highest UMass NFL Draft Pick Since 1968
April 23, 2010 | Football
April 23, 2010
STAMFORD, Conn. - UMass All-American offensive lineman Vladimir Ducasse was selected by the New York Jets in the second round with the 61st overall selection of the 2010 NFL Draft on Friday night. Ducasse and his family and friends celebrated at Morton's Steakhouse in his adopted hometown of Stamford, Conn. UMass football coaches Kevin Morris, Brian Picucci and Guido Falbo were on hand to join in the joyous occasion.
He joins fellow UMass alum safety James Ihedigbo with the Jets. The team's general manager, the man who called Ducasse to inform the team of his selection is also a UMass alum, Mike Tannenbaum.
"I'm happy, I'm very excited," he said tonight on a conference call with reporters. "The Jets are a good team. My family will be coming to watch my first game. I'm very excited."
"I feel like I'm still a student of the game, still learning," he said. "From last year until now, I feel like I learned a lot from that. From the Senior Bowl, I learned a lot from that."
Ducasse, a Haitian native, never played football until coming over to the United States and participating on Stamford High School's team. While also excelling on the basketball court and in track and field, Ducasse started the final 20 games of his high school career and earned Connecticut all-state first-team honors from the Connecticut High School Coaches Association.
Even though he was a college tackle, some have projected Ducasse as a guard on the next level. At the Indy combine, he ran a 5.21 in the 40-yard dash and had 29 reps on the 225-bench press.
"He'll start out at right tackle and left guard," said Tannenbaum. "We're going to keep playing around with that. We feel we have some flexibility on the line with Rob Turner and Wayne Hunter, and Matt Slauson played some center at Tampa Bay last year."
Ducasse is the highest NFL Draft pick out of UMass since quarterback Greg Landry was the 11th overall selection by the Detroit Lions in 1968. He is the third all-time highest draft pick out of UMass with only Landry and Milt Morin (first round in 1966 by the Cleveland Browns) being selected higher.
He is also UMass's first selection in more than a decade with the last pick being Khari Samuel by the Chicago Bears in the fifth round in 1999. Ducasse is just UMass' second selection since Sandro Vitiello was taken by the Cincinnati Bengals in 1980.
Ducasse had a decorated career at UMass as he earned All-American honors from nearly every outlet. He was a first-team All-Conference pick each of the last two years. Over his 35 career games at UMass, the Minutemen allowed just 39 sacks and UMass' running backs had 23 100-yard rushing games.
Here is his complete profile & videos:
Career Honors
Feature Stories
On Ducasse: Preseason First-Team All-American and Preseason All-CAA selection at left tackle ... Being looked at as an NFL Draft selection in 2010 ... Incredibly hard-working player ... Comes to work every day with a purpose to get better individually to make the overall team better according to Coach Morris ... Has improved to become an offensive leader ... A high-level player with a big upside ... True senior, playing as a freshman and starting his final three seasons ... Can also play guard, where he played early in his career ... Was the team's top offensive line recruit in 2006 ... A large offensive lineman and great athlete ... Has done extensive work with Offensive Coordinator Brian Picucci to improve his game and has reached that next level.
As a senior in 2009: Game-by-Game Statistics
• Senior captain left tackle, viewed as an NFL prospect.
• 2009 Consensus Preseason First-Team All-American.
• Senior captain left tackle, viewed as an NFL prospect.
• 2009 Preseason All-CAA pick by Coaches and Phil Steele.
• In his 35 career starts, UMass has had a 100-yard rusher in 23 of those games. In his 35 games, UMass has allowed just 39 sacks.
• UMass allowed 17 sacks (1.4 per game), 38th in the NCAA, 3rd in CAA.
• UMass had a 100-yard rusher in seven games this season (five by Tony Nelson and two by Jonathan Hernandez).
• Offense has gained more than 470 yards in three of last five games including a season-high 500 vs. Stony Brook (9/26).
As a junior in 2008: True junior lineman, who earned starting nod at left tackle as a sophomore ... Native of Haiti ... In his 24 career starts, UMass has had a 100-yard rusher in 16 of those games. In his games, UMass has allowed just 22 sacks, less than one a game ... Only lineman to start every game this season, and each game at the same position ... Part of offensive line that has allowed just six sacks, the fewest in the CAA (0.5 per game) and second in the NCAA ... UMass allowed ZERO sacks in final five games of the season ... Offense has five games of more than 400 yards of total offense including season-best 593 yards vs. Bryant (10/25) ... Part of Tony Nelson's six 100-yard games this season including career-best 204 vs. Hofstra (11/22) ... Helped offense to 468 yards of offense including 395 passing in win at Holy Cross (9/6), not allowing any sacks ... Started at left tackle in opener vs. Albany (8/30) as Tony Nelson gained 171 yards on the ground ... Started 12 of 13 games in 2007 and aided UMass' line in allowing just 15 sacks in his 12 games. Matt Lawrence gained more than 100 yards in 10 of his 12 games.
As a sophomore in 2007: True sophomore lineman, who earned starting nod at left tackle in camp ... Started 12 of 13 games in 2007 and aided UMass' line in allowing just 15 sacks in his 12 games ... Matt Lawrence gained more than 100 yards in 10 of Ducasse's 12 games ... UMass allowed just one sack in four weeks from Nov. 3-24.
As a freshman in 2006: Played as a true freshman, seeing action in four games as a reserve offensive lineman ... Played against Rhode Island (10/21), at Towson (10/14), vs. William & Mary (10/7) and made college debut vs. Stony Brook (9/23).
Before UMass: Started 20 consecutive games at Stamford High School for Head Coach Kevin Jones ... Was a dominating run blocker who was named First Team All-State by the Connecticut High School Coaches Association ... Earned First Team All-Fairfield County by the FCIAC Coaches ... Selected to play in the Governor's Cup All-Star Game against Rhode Island ... Also starred in track & field and basketball at Stamford ... Captured League championship in the discus and was runner-up in the shot put.
Personal: Vladimir Ducasse ... Born Oct. 15, 1987 in Port Au Prince, Haiti ... Son of Delinois Ducasse, who still resides in Haiti ... Guided in America by his aunt and uncle Virginia and Lezanoro Ducasse ... Moved to the United States in 2002 ... Brother of Macarthur, Jeffrey and Gemima ... Majoring in African-American Studies.
