Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1907-10-15
HARVARD FOOTBALL TEAM.
Eleven Which Will Meet the Mid
shipmen Is Strong Something
About the Players

rs view ~ the fact that Harvard
vii play the Navai Academy eleven
next Saturday, the following com
meBfs on that team taken from the
New York sun, are ~ local interest.
Harvard is reported a. being very
strong This season and the BJidsblpn,en
viii have % play hard 10 make good
showing. TIrc game - decidedly the
best of be local season. TiIeSDa's ar
iiclc ~ ~ follows:
"Tbe development ~ the Harvard
football team may nOw be said 10
have passed its preparatory stage.
The material has been sorted out and
the experiments iu the line Of new
plays have ncarIyal beer. made. Now
that The Williams game Is over the
coaches will devote themselves to the
real work Of the season peTfcciiDg the
individual work and the team play Of
the men whom they expect Will face
Yale.
The football work at Harvard this
year has gone on very quietly. with
oai eHy fuss or flourish, bot ~ thor
oUgbjy and perhaps more efficiently
than ever before. The Harvard
coaches arc doing no talking, but are
cOnGning their energies 10 the deyei~
opment Of football players. Although
ibe Cambridge football authorities
are inclined 10 be pessimistic the
football situation Is really far more
favorable than Harvard men expect
cd.
The progressive policy which the
coaches have adopted with regard to
Haryard's plays Is most encouraging.
They have been steadily at work
evolving new formations and have
never hcsitated to try out these for
nations 1T any time IN tho practice
games which up till nov made up
Haryard's schedule. All sorts Of va
rialiOns Of the forward pass and on
side kick have been tried and the de-
tail work In the execution Of these
plays has been perfected from day to
day. Haryard's forward pass early
in the season WAS weak, 10 say the
least. The pass was executed on
wrong principle and there was no at
tempt made to afford the player who
WAS 10 make the catch any protection.
The same was true Of the quick kick.
But he defects have been Temcdfd SO
that in the Bates game, against men
who were very fast ia open field work,
the quick kick was recovered no less
than five times, while the forward
pass worked successfully twice. and
Harvard was not once VenaIized the
fifteen yards on account Of the ball
hitting the ground without previously
being touched by some player.
lone good reason for the increased
success Of the new open plays is that
the Harvard players receive constant
opportunity TO use them. Coach Crane
IS willing To take his chances Of
Yale being able to evolve defences
against them which will render them
Ineffective. lie believes that lack of
familiarity with them in actual play
on the part Of his own men will con-
stitute a far greater barrier to their
success.
Another most important change
which the present regime of football
has introduced at Harvard is the use
Of the first substitutes To play against
the varsity. This has for years been
felt by men familiar with Harvard
football to have been a crying neces-
isty, rs under the cid system the reg
uIars were forced by a so-called sec
ond team composed Of the rilfTafi of
the squad. from the point of view Of
football ability. oliver Cutts, who is
coaching Harvard S tackles, has been
in no small manner responsible for
this change. lie has had the line men
working away against each other
every day in the preliminary practice
and their Improvement is noticeable
from day to day. Cults is planning
TO put half the varsity line against
the other half in actual scrimmage
this week, as he believes the players
will laern nothing unless worked out
against men who have at least their
equal strength, science and football
reputation.
''Harvard's line from tackle to
tackle should be fairly strong. At
centre for the first time in years will
be found light but active athlete.
Grant and Nourse, one or both OF whom
will almost certainly play against
Yale, are men of between 40 and
$50 pounds in weight. But they are
each of them fighters and very fast on
their feet. Capt. Parker has been
moved from his old place at centre
which he filled for three years, and IS
now playing at left guard, BuTr's old
place. The change was in the nature
of an experiment but il has worked
so well that II will undoubtedly be
permanent. Parker ia spite of his 230
odd pounds is one of the most active
men in the line and tower OF strength
on the defense. Waldo Peirce, who
played left tackle last year, is now
ut right guard and doing better there
than he ever did at his former posi-
tioD. Peirce is too slow for tackle,
bu he makes = very aggressive guard,
and with Parker on the other side.
backs up the light centre in great
shape.
Tackle is likely To be as we'll
looked after l,y the end Of the season
as any positions in the line. Burr
has been moved out 10 left tackle from
his old place at guard and is doing
well there. Burr does all Harvard s
puntiDg except her quick kicking and
punting from line formations aud is
kicking as well this year as he ever
did in the past.
For long time the coaches were
IN doubt as TO the best man for the
other tackle. They have not unite
made up their minds even yet, but il
Is because there are three very likely
looking men for the position. These
are Inches, Hoar and Fish. The first
named was considered at the opening
Of the season as the best man for the
vacant tackle, but his lack Of weight
is a most serious drawback. HOar
came up very well in the first few
weeks Of practice. He would OH the
position very well were ii not for
the unexpected development Of Hauf1-