Louis Vasquez
From NCAA College Football Information & Resource
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Louis Vasquez (born April 11, 1987, in Corsicana, Texas) is an offensive lineman for the Texas Tech University Red Raiders in the NCAA college football tournament. Behind all prolific passer is a lesser-knowned offensive lineman willing to sacrifice his body to protect his more heralded QB. Such is the case of Vasquez who rose to become one of the most dominant O-liner in the nation in 2007 as one of the Red Raiders' instrumental pieces in their Gator Bowl-winning season. As the leader of the less-experienced Tech O-line, Vasquez anchored his unit that yielded only 18 sacks while not allowing a sack himself, in the process aiding Graham Harrell's breakout year in only his second year as starter.
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Personal Life
Louis is one of Beatrice and Fabian Vasquez's five children. He has two brothers and two sisters. He majored in general studies at the Texas Tech University.
High School
Vasquez played high school football at Corsicana High in his hometown of Corsicana, Texas where he saw action as an offensive lineman under head football coach David Henigan. As a junior, Vasquez was named as a second-team all-district selection after helping Corsicana finish with a 10-2 record. During his senior year, he became one of the top-rated offensive linemen in the state of Texas after finishing the year with 56 pancakes and a 91 percent grade while preventing any sack to help the Tigers post an 11-2 record in the standings. His efforts that year were rewarded with a first team all-District 14-4A selection, a Lubbock Avalanche-Journal State Fab 44 selection, a spot at the Dallas Morning News All-Area Team, as well as a Class 4A First-Team All-State pick from the Associated Press. He also did pretty well in the scout's rankings with Rivals.com naming the three-star recruit as the No. 24 offensive tackle prospect in the nation and the No. 47 overall prospect in its Texas Top 100, while Scout.com listed him as the No. 40 overall prospect in its Texas Hot 100 and the No. 50 overall prospect in its Southwest Hot 100 chart. In addition, the Texas Sports Writers Association Class 4A All-State Second Team pick, who received another three-star rating from TheInsiders.com, also made it as one of the top 300 overall prospect in the nation in Max Emfinger Recruiting's list and in CollegeFootballNews.com's Top 50 Offensive Linemen in the nation list.
During the combine, Vasquez clocked at 5.2 in the forty, benched 385, squatted 450, and had a power clean of 310.
College
Vasquez, the No. 18 overall prospect in the Dallas Morning News Area Top 100, also received scholarship offers from other schools (mostly from the Big 12) such as LSU, Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas State, Nebraska, Oklahoma State, and Texas A&M, but in the end decided to become one of the 21 players signed by coach Mike Leach on his 2005 class.
2005
As a true freshman, Vasquez played behind the likes of E.J. Whitley and Manuel Ramirez at the offensive guard position. He made his collegiate debut against Florida International and came off the bench, helping the Red Raiders to a 56-3 win as the team gained 653 yards of total offense, including 135 on the ground. Against Indiana State, he also earned some minutes and helped the team rush for 242 yards and pass for 296 more while not allowing any sack enroute to a lopsided 63-7 victory. Against Kansas State, he made another appearance and helped Tech gain 669 yards through the air, although the team did allow 3 sacks, but nonetheless still went out unscathed with a 59-20 win. In the 56-17 win over A&M, Vasquez aided his team gain 627 yards of total offense, including 433 through the air but still gave up two sacks for 17 yards loss. His last taste of action that season came in the regular season finale against Oklahoma where the Red Raiders gained 144 rush yards and 232 pass yards but had four sacks allowed for 28 yards losses in a last second win.
2006
With the departure of Whitley, Vasquez took over at the starting left guard spot. He made his first career start against Southern Methodist and helped the team gain 501 yards of total offense, including 363 from passes, while allowing only a 7-yard sack in the 35-3 season-opening win. In the 3-point cliffhanger of a win at UTEP, the line allowed no sacks and helped the offense generate 376 passing yards and 479 yards of total offense. However, the following week at TCU, the offense struggled after being outgained, 242-281, with the line giving up 3 sacks for 25 yards loss which eventually led to a 3-12 defeat to 20th ranked Horned Frogs. vasquez did not play in the wins over Southeastern Louisiana and Texas A&M after sustaining an injury against TCU but returned to start against the undefeated Missouri team, helping Tech gain 378 passing yards only to give up a season high 4 sacks for 22 yards loss en route to a 21-38 defeat. At Colorado, the team got upset by the Buffs, 6-30, after the Red Raiders got outgained 276-380 while giving a pair of sacks for 12 yards loss. But at Iowa State, the offense made it up by racking up 368 yards passing and 107 yards rushing with the line giving up only a 6-yard sack in the 42-26 victory. Against Texas, Tech did a pretty good job protecting Harrell who threw for 364 yards in the first half alone (most since 2003) but the offense could not sustain its strong start and ended by giving up a 3-TD lead to lose, 31-35. The Red Raiders gained 518 yards of total offense and gave up only an 8-yard sack in that game.
Against Baylor, Tech's offensive firepower was back on display with 507 passing and 175 rushing yards while giving up only a 9-yard sack in the 55-21 win over the Bears. At Oklahoma, Vasquez helped the offense to another strong start but once again faltered in the finish, gaining only 281 yards (250 passing) while giving up a pair of sacks for 10 yards loss in the 24-34 setback. Against OSU, Tech gained 353 passing yards with the line allowing only a 9-yard sack as the Red Raiders escaped with a 30-24 victory. In his first bowl game appearance, Vasquez aided in Tech's monumental 31-point comeback and helped the offense gain 445 passing yards while allowing only a total of 7 yards loss on a pair of sacks in the 44-41 overtime win over Minnesota at the Insight Bowl. He concluded his sophomore campaign with a Big 12 Conference Honorable Mention as the Tech offense ranked in the top 10 in passing, scoring and total offense while helping running back Shannon Woods earn first team All-Big 12 accolades. The O-line also allowed only 18 sacks in 656 pass attempts that season which was the least number of sacks per attempt in the Big 12 (an average of 1 sack allowed per 35.4 pass attempts which topped in the nation). The 18 sacks also was a huge improvement from the 36 allowed the previous year.
2007
As a junior, Vasquez was actually the lone returnee in the offensive line which automatically made him the line's most experienced blocker. During the fall camp, the Tech coaches attempted to tinker with the O-line, moving Vasquez outside to the left tackle position in order to address the situation the previous year with the left side attracting the most attention from defenders. In the end, he was placed back on his natural LG position since the coaches thought it was where he was most comfortable.
In the season opener at SMU, vasquez helped the Red Raiders gain 553 yards of total offense while preventing any sack in the 49-9 win over the Mustangs. In the home-opener against UTEP, Tech came back from a 14-point deficit and gained 561 yards of total offense while yielding only a 7-yard sack in the 45-31 win. At Rice, Vasquez helped Harrell threw for a personal best six touchdown passes and allowed only an 8-yard sack as the Red Raiders dismantled the Owls, 59-24. Against OSU, the Red Raiders lost a 45-49 shoot-out to the Cowboys despite a career-best 646 yards passing from Harrell with the O-line allowing a pair of sacks for 11 yards loss. Against Northwestern State, the line helped Harrell threw for 338 yards and five touchdowns while preventing any sack to the Demons in the lopsided 75-7 victory. In huge victories over ISU and A&M, the line helped Harrell pass for 425 yards in back-to-back games, but allowed a season high 3 sacks for 27 yards loss against the Cyclones, and another sack for 10 yards loss to the Aggies. In losses to Missouri and Colorado, Tech started slow and could not recover, finishing with only 388 yards of total offense against MU before rebounding with 470 against CU. The line also allowed 3 sacks on both games, losing 28 yards against the Tigers and 12 yards against the Buffaloes. At Baylor, Harrell eclipsed the 4,000 yard mark for the second straight year after passing for 433 yards with the O-line preventing any sack in the 38-7 win. At No.15 Texas, the offense could not overcome a sluggish start and ended up losing 43-59, despite gaining 466 yards through air and allowing only a 7-yard sack.
In the regular season finale against Oklahoma, the Red Raiders came up with a stunning 34-27 upset with the line helping Harrell post his third-straight 400-yard game and 10th overall in 12 outings. In the process, Harrell became only the 47th quarterback in NCAA history to pass for 10,000-yards. In the Gator Bowl, the line helped Harrell rack up Gator Bowl records for yards, completions and attempts enroute to a 31-28 come-from-behind win over No. 21 Virginia. By the end of the season, Vasquez was named as a Big 12 All-Conference Selection after not allowing any sack all season and helping Tech to its fifth NCAA Passing Title while averaging 40.9 points per game (2nd-highest total in school history) and 529.6 yards of total offense per game (also 2nd-highest in school history). The Red Raiders also allowed only 18 sacks in 763 pass attempts for a national-leading average of one sack per every 42.4 pass attempts.
2008
Entering his senior year, Vasquez was named into the Outland Trophy Preseason List and was one of three Tech players on the All-Big 12 Preseason team.
Achievements
2008
- All-Big 12 Preseason team
- Athlon Sports Preseason First Team All-Big 12
- Athlon Sports Preseason Second-Team All-America
- Outland Trophy Watch List
- Phil Steele Preseason All-American Second Team
- Phil Steele Preseason All-Big 12 First Team
2007
- All-Big 12 Conference Honorable Mention
- Collegefootballnews.com Preseason All-Big 12 First Team
- Collegefootballnews.com's No.11 Guard in the Preseason
- Phil Steele All-Big 12 Second Team
- Rivals.com All-Big 12 Second Team
2006
- All-Big 12 Conference Honorable Mention
References
- Louis Vasquez Scout.com Profile
- Louis Vasquez Texas Tech Profile
- Tech's offensive line a big factor
- Texas Tech Trio Named to big 12 Preseason Squad
- Under construction: Coach Mike Leach says starting positions 'not set in stone'

