Vlasic played college football for the Iowa Hawkeyes and was selected in the fourth round of the 1987 NFL draft by the San Diego Chargers.
[2] He continued to play football and basketball during his senior year, with performances that included a 36-point effort against Las Vegas Western High School, making 18 of 20 shots.
[3] As a result of his high school career, Vlasic was inducted into the Beaver County Sports Hall of Fame in 1999.
[9] After two more victories, Vlasic went down with a separated shoulder, returning to the lineup after freshmen Dan McGwire and Tom Poholsky took over the starting role.
[11] Despite his injury causing him to serve as a backup most of the season, he was given the start for the 1986 Holiday Bowl against San Diego State University.
[13] Chargers coach Al Saunders chose Vlasic because he wanted to find a young quarterback to observe and succeed Dan Fouts.
[14] He signed with the team in late July, and spent the preseason competing with Rick Neuheisel, Tom Flick, and others for the backup quarterback job.
However, when Fouts was scratched from a December game against the Denver Broncos due to a shoulder injury, Vlasic was called up to be Herrman's backup.
[19] The Chargers also signed Mark Malone and Babe Laufenberg to compete for the starting job, and traded Herrmann to the Indianapolis Colts.
[20] After months of training and the 1988 preseason, Vlasic began the season as the third-string quarterback behind Malone and Laufenberg, who won the starting job.
[21] In November, after Laufenberg was injured, the Chargers decided to make Vlasic the starter instead of Malone due to the latter's ineffectiveness, as well as a six-game losing streak.
[25] Vlasic spent the 1989 off-season recovering form his injury, while the Chargers added another quarterback to the roster upon drafting Billy Joe Tolliver.
[28] After losing the game 17–14, the switch was made back to Tolliver as the starting quarterback, and was eventually named starter for the rest of the season.
He completed nine of 20 passes for 124 yards and threw four interceptions in a 37–14 blowout that marked the end of the Chiefs' playoff run.
[25] As the 1992 Kansas City Chiefs season began, the team's first big move was the signing of quarterback Dave Krieg to compete with DeBerg and Vlasic.
The Chiefs went into training camp and went through the preseason with Krieg, Vlasic, and rookie draft pick Matt Blundin.
On April 30, 1993, Vlasic signed a two-year contract with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, reuniting himself with former teammate Steve DeBerg.