Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-09-02
KICKING TO Be
FOOT BALL FEATURE
Yale Has Advantage in Point of
Work-SmaII Scores
Probable.

Kicking will be one OF the features OF
foot ball under the new rules. A long and
consistent punter will be about the most
valuable man on team and a man who
can out kick all his rivals is virtually
sure of place, even If he does happen to
be inferior in other respects. To make
certain that this sort OF game would be
properly developed the leading institutions
last spring held special punting contests
for their players, and many of the men
were instructed to take foot balls home
with them on their summer vacations and
practice punting and drop picking.
The real reason for emphasizing this
kicking game is not that good kicking is to
be rewarded any more than it ever was,
but merely that the new rule requiring the
ball to be advanced ten yards in three
downs will so frequently put team in
such plight as to require accurate punt
Ing. 1t Is to be regretted that there are so
few first-class punters in the eastern COL
leges. The east has not been able to boast
of any good kicker since the day of John
Dewitt the old Princeton captain.
The poor supply of kickers is due to the
lack of attention paid to this department
of the game. Now that there is a premium
on good kicking host of good kickers
will probably be out in all the eastern col
leges. Furthermore, the rise in the stand
ard of punting will be followed by SINH
lar rise In drop kicking. Both Of these
changes will be welcome to the followers
of the sport.
An unusual amount of interest Is dis
played by coaches In the games other
coaches are formulating for the new rules
Because of the radical changes there will
probably be more plays and formations
sprung this fall than in the entire previous
history of the game. The new rules will
make it necessary for the coaches to use
their inventive ability, and good many Of
them have been laboring over new plays
a n hpir
good many of the new plays will have
to be discarded useless, for their availa-
bility cannot be properly tested except in a
real game
Yale Working New Ones.
The Yale coaches seem to have taken the
most advanced steps in solving new plays
for this fall. The team held an unusually
long and thorough practice last spring and
the players mastered a good many points
Of the new style of foot ball. The presence
of Walter Camp, the editor of the new
rules. gave Yale an advantage. Something
has leaked out concerning one peculiar for
nation on which considerable time was
spent last spring In this formation there
were ten men in the line of scrimmage
the only one behind it being the quarter
back. This play Is intended as trick and
is capable of more variations than the IA
nous wing-shift used to such advantage by
the Carlisle Indians. This formation was
just as feasible unueT the Ola rules as
under the new.
Coaches everywhere are looking for small
scores this year. The new ten-yard rule
will cut down the scoring ability of team
nearly one-half This is not theory but has
been demonstrated in games played under
the ten-yard rule. The Michigan team,
which was accustomed to rol! up scores of
100 points and more in single game and
more than SEQ in a single season, will not
repeat those performances. Yost's men
must now content themselves with small
scores, and II the teams are evenly match
ed it may be no score at all.
Every well-equipped university eleven
this fall will have one or two coaches whose
duties 1t will be to invent new plays. At
Yale this office Is performed by Walter
Camp. who also does a great deal of the
actual coaching. At Princeton the strate-
gist is Prof. ]. B. Fine, who has had much
success In the invention of new plays and
formations for the Tigers At the Univer-
sity Of Pennsylvania DR.. Carl Williams, the
first player to and make famous the
quarter back kick, thinks out new plays
He is assisted by George Brooke, the old
full back. Deland once performed similar
service for Harvard. but he has been super
seeded by the head coach, William T. Reid
jr. At Cornell Glenn Warner thinks out all
the freak plays, In addition to doing the ac-
tual coaching.