NEWYORKJETS-It's early in the process. The players aren't in pads. They're going up against other rookies. Everyone's head is swimming with information overload.
"We played some coverages today," said head coach Rex Ryan, "that I've never seen before."
But some things still shined through at this morning's first practice of the rookie minicamp at the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center. For instance, second-round O-lineman Vladimir Ducasse is big, he's fluid and he's physical.
"It was good," the young man from Haiti by way of UMass said of his first pro practice. "We're learning new terms, new techniques. I wasn't nervous. It's the same as college football, pretty much the same process all over again, coming in as a freshman and trying to prove yourself."
Ducasse showed a little bit of what he's about on an 11-on-11 toss, when, lining up at left guard, stood up his man, stayed with him as the play flowed to the right, knocked him off the ball. And when Ducasse's helmet came off, he kept mixing it up until the whistle.
"I don't care," he said of losing his hat in the heat of battle. "It's football."
"He's a big, powerful man," Ryan said of his new 6-4½, 331-pound guard/tackle. "He knocked somebody off the ball 8 yards on one running play. This guy looks pretty good."
Ducasse, sporting No. 62, also false-started once.
"I'm trying to have fun," said "Vlad" of his early jump. "It happens, but I'm going to fix that."
Ryan wasn't too worried about the penalty. For one thing, the coach acknowledged his player might've been a little excited. He's lining up in a new stance, hearing a different kind of cadence than he was used to at UMass. Add to that some quarterback/center exchange issues due to the fact that the one true center in this camp, first-year man Michael Parenton, was sidelined with a back injury.
And Ducasse doesn't seem to be the worrying type, either. Asked how the release of starting guard Alan Faneca affected him, he replied, "It doesn't affect me, to tell you the truth. It's pretty much just go out there, play football and have fun. That's what Coach Rex said."
Source: NewYorkJets
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