Omaha daily bee., 1898-10-02
GOSSIP FROM THE GRIDIR0N
Big Five Taking stock of Material
and Finding Matters Better
Than Was Expected.

and the games OF the last seven days. The !
annual fall training OF the canvasback |
athletes has progressed a couple of weeks
and more, and this time has sufiiced to
break in the numerous candidates. OF course
it is too early to speculate on the chances Of
the different elevens. AS a matter of fact
it Is never wise to do the pry-into-the
future act in foot BALL The Princeton Yale
game OF last year was an example OF the un-
certainty of the gridron game, for the
cranks did not speculate upon the question
Of whether the Tigers would down the Blues,
but upon the problem OF how big a score
the Nassau contingent would run UP. They
did not run it up very high.
One important fact, however, has been
displayed by the practice Of the week-the
large dearth OF line men. Halfbacks and
fullbacks, particularly the former are de-
cidedly plentiful, but heavy fast men to
occupy the center OF the line are sadly lack
ing Therein lies the great weakness Of both
Princeton and Harvard this season. Cornell
is somewhat better off. Yale, despite that
it has a veteran team on its hands, is some
what afflicted the same way. OF the entire
quintet, Pennsylvania seems to be the only
one that is UP to the standard in the rush
line.
IeuuSy tullle Ctultl 10 ouoNIHb W. IL
great shape-Hare, McCracken, the guards
and Overfed the center. They are certain
to hold their places. 1t would be impossible
to find the equal of this center trio among
present foot ball stars and difficult to dis
cover their equal as a trio in the past.
Goodman, last years left tackle, is out for
his old position, but 1t Is promised that he
will be given a race. There are dozen
good candidates for this and the other tackle
positions. Carnett and DeSilver, both sub
stitutes of last year, seem to have the call.
Captain Outland, who was at right tackle
last season, will be back of the line in one
Of the half positions. Hedges and Folwel,
who played the ends last year, are still in
the same POSITIONS but are likely to be
given a tussle, too. OF several candidates,
Mcmahon is the most prominent He played
in last Saturdays game and did splendidly.
In the back field Gardner has the call
on quarter and Outland will be at one OF the
halves. The other half will in all probability
be Harrison. The latter is speedy runner,
an artful dodger and full of sand In both
the games played so far this season he has
made sensational runs. Walker is sta
tionary at fullback, 1t would seem.
He is punting up to the mark set by
Jack Minds last year and Is good
runner but is weak in drop kicking. All
around Pennsy is in excellent shape. Her
team is practically selected with possibly
| the exception of the ends and the tackles.
and there is a question about them simply
because there is SO much good material to
| pick from.
Although Coach Forbes of Harvard has
| given it out that no professional trainer
was tn help him out in preparing the team
for the big games, the Crimson has neverthe-
| less secured the services of Jack McMasters,
| the old Princeton trainer. Jack" for years
was a fixture at Nassau, but the overtrain-
ing of the Princeton eleven that resulted in
the last years defeat by Yale was charged
to him and as a consequence he was dropped.
Formerly good athlete himself Jack has a
stock of training principles that are founded
largely upon experience and with their as
| sstance he has turned out number of win
ming teams. While possibly there were
| flaws and defects in his system, every
| Princetonian who has passed through his
| hands will regret that the genial Scotch
man Is gone, for he was ever ready with a
| word of encouragement and all the assist
ance in his power to help along any fresh
man with athletic ambitions.
Both Forbes and McMasters appear to have
an easy foot ball future before them this
season, for as usual the Crimson eleven has
| started out we'll. While men like Doucette,
Cabot Bouve, Wheeler, Haskell, Shaw and
Garrison will not be back on the team there
| is said to be host OF good material on
hand. AS with all the others OF the big
elevens, there is plentitude of good men
for back OF the line positions and the places
towards the ends of the line, but the center
and guards are rather weak. In fact, in
| thia reSnert tho Grim 10 nd he ntb tbar
teams, for there is not man certain Of one
OF these middle places. Several candidates
are being tried out, but none of them are
proving highly satisfactory.
At old Nassau the late dlscouraging out
look has frightened considerably and 1t is
predicted that despite the manner in which
| Princeton is handicapped at the opening
of the season, she is quite likely to give as
! good, II not better account of herself with
new men and the new methods that have
been inaugurated than occurred last season
at New Haven. Nassau has one OF the best
foot ball machines Of the country. Her stu
dent attendance is hardly more than half
OF that of the remainder of the big five uni
versities and yet she has always given a
good account of herself. They live, eat and
sleep foot ball in that little Jersey town.
They have good advisers and are not afraid
to play the game in a fierce way and plush
and silk are not common goods there. But
Princeton holds the unique and unusual
position OF having lost the most OF her old
men. Her beefy center of the line has dis
appeared and her quarter and halves have
chased the pigskin for the last time under
the orange and the black.
Hildebrand at right tackle, Booth at CEN
ter, Edwards at right guard and Reiter al
right half are the old men who seem to be
fixtures. Craig, who played left end last
year, has returned, but will be given @
fight by Oglesby, who tried for the place last
season. The other end is undecided. Mills
freshman from a prep school, is the
most likely candidate for left tackle, ant
Filson, graduate student from Lafayette
is picked for the other guard to replace
: Crowds, for the bulky guard of last veal
, will not reappear on the girdiron this fall
These men give prospect that strong line
will ultimately be formed, and back OF the
rushers things look even more encouraging
Ayres, hard line hitter and good punter
will be at full. Reiter, and either LathroI
or Crane, are picked for the halves, and thu
fight for quarter has already narrowed dowI
to Suter and Watkins, both tried and ole
scrub men. The coachers are not many
but such as they are have been stars II
: past seasons-for example, Nloffat, the noteC