I go with a half heavy weight half plyometrics style.  Some days are 100% heavy lifting, some 100% plyo, some half and half.  I based it on the vertical jump bible (you can google the PDF), but I've tweaked it more for strength.  I feel better about doing legs twice a week when I mix in plyo and give my back a break from the heavy weight (I have some lower back problems).  Definitely get squat, dead, ham curl, and some sort of lunge type work in though
EDIT: Didn't read your whole post.  I do a warmup set with just 135, maybe 10 reps, then work up from there.  I normally get in 4ish work sets depending on weight and how I'm feeling, and try to do 6-8 again dependent on weight.  You'll have to build up, but once you get to lifting heavy it feels so good
For mass, I did a lot of leg press.  My glutes and quads exploded when I did what basically amounted to jumping press.  Just explosive thrusts on it.  Obviously you have to be careful, but that will get you some mass pretty quickly imo