Minutemen on Monday Night Football

[Col Hogan]

Big night tonight for three former Minutemen when the Jets play the Giants in pre-season MNF...

Vlad Ducasse , the Jet's second round pick in the last draft, joins three year veteran James Ihedigbo on the Jets roster...

Victor Cruz, who has made quite an impression on the Giants staff as a free agent, is the third Minuteman...

Cruz, UMass' leading receiver the last two seasons, is a native of Patterson, N.J. He signed with the nearby Giants as an undrafted free agent and has impressed so far in camp.

Giants coach Tom Coughlin praised Cruz last week in the New York Daily News.

"Who needs anybody else? We've got Victor Cruz," he said. "Did you see some of those plays he made this morning?"

Cruz felt good about his performance.

"You know, when the coaches start to give you more pointers and start to talk to you a little bit more you kind of feel like you're doing things right," Cruz said in the same Daily News article. "They want to help you out a little more. So yeah, I think I've got their attention a little bit."

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A total of eight former Minutemen are in NFL camps this year. Former UMass wide receivers Brandon London and Jeremy Horne are trying to make the Pittsburgh Steelers and Kansas City Chiefs, respectively.

Jeromy Miles (Cincinnati Bengals), Jeremy Cain (Jacksonville Jaguars) and Matt Lawrence (Baltimore Ravens) are also in NFL camps.

[Col Hogan]

Victor Cruz had a BIG night, especially for an undrafted free agent...scoring three touchdowns for the Giants...

Cruz highlighted his six-catch, 145-yard night with three touchdowns to assert himself on a national stage after weeks of proving to his teammates — and some celebrities watching on television — that he can play in the N.F.L.

Indeed, LeBron James took the time to post on his Twitter feed about Cruz.

“Victor Cruz going nuts on the Jets tonight on #MNF,” James wrote.

“Undrafted rookie from UMass. He’s gonna have a job this year for sure.”

Told that James had noticed his play, Cruz said: “Did he really? Wow, that’s crazy.”

Cruz is a newcomer from the University of Massachusetts, a Football Championship Subdivision program, and a native of Paterson, N.J. He has positioned himself well to make the roster.

“Justice has been served,” Coach Tom Coughlin said. “Young man Victor Cruz really has had an outstanding camp. He works his tail off every day. He’s made a lot of plays this past week.”

Coughlin added, “He was truly outstanding tonight.”

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[danefan]

He torched us last year (6 for 121 yrd and 2 TDs) and I believe he missed the 3rd Q after getting banged up in the first half.

I love Rex Ryan's quote the best:

"I hope they cut him"

[OutlawPete]

great game by Victor last night. Ihedigbo and Ducasse did pretty well too but they don't really play positions where they can stand out. great to hear and see all this talk about a UMass alum.