Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-10-21
PAST
SOUP ANDF|SH'
COURSE NOW
Ionis Brown Discusses Style Of
1918 Game, Especially Quar-
terback Kick.
Bv Innis Brown.

IN He, football season or 1918 is
settling down to regular bust
ness. and pretty soon local
hugs are to see the real thing as pre-
,cribed by Walter Camp and others,
and interpreted by j. w. Heisman,
Mike Donohue, Alex Cunningham,
Tubby Graves and others. This does
before was not real football, but as
= matter of fact, the fish and soup
have Just been finished, and it is
lime to settle down to the real bust
ness of the season.
In this connection it may be OBJ
served that little has been shown on
a local field outside Of straight foot
ball. In fact, many are inclined to
feel that nothing new may be ex-
peCted AS a matter of fact, changes
in the rules from last year really
allow only one privilege which is like
lv to be used to any considerable ex-
tent Reference is made to the change
whereby punter may kick when and
where he chooses, instead of being
restricted to position five yards be-
mind the scrimmage line.
The Quarterback Kick.
This is what has commonly been
allied the Quarterback kick" The
,lay is almost as old as the game it,
self. although various changes of the
rules have affected it's use consider
ably from time to time. For instance,
last season the punter had to stand
five yards back 70 the line of scrim-
mage when kicking. This practical
hat Of h
we're back of him when he punted.
Hence none were eligible to receive
the ball until it had been touched
by a player of the other team.
To explain the proposition fully, it
may be well to explain first the term
offside," as applied in a game. The
rules say that a player is 'offside''-
that is, he may not recover the ball
except after a fumble-when the ball
has been last touched by a player
Of his own side behind him.
From this it may be seen that the
mere act of kicking the ball does not
put any player of the side in posses
sion Of the Ssll "offside." It is
merely a question of whether or not
the kicker was behind all of his own
men when he kicked the ball. If he
was. then they are all "offside" and
have no right to recover the kick un-
III the ball has been touched by a
player of the other team.
Keeping Three "Onside."
ON the other hand, if he kicked,
say, from the quarterback position,
with the other three backs behind
him. those three men have a right
not only to recover the ball after it
strikes the ground, but to catch it
before it does so, There you have
the quarterback kick The fact that
the kicker may punt from any point
makes the play a possibility under
the rules.
1t may be seen that the quarterback
kick is distinctly different from the
so-called "onside kick The lat
ter is no longer a possibility under
the present rules. 1t was made pos
sible when a rule was incorporated in
The playing code, which provided that
as soon as a kicked ball touched the
around any player of either side ex-
oept the man who kicked, was eligi-
ole to recover 1t. This rule has been
eliminated and with it went the "on-
side kick"
Under the rules of eight or nine
years ago the kicker could put his
men "onside'' by running down the
field past the ball after it had stopped
'DliiiS anu calling OuSluG. Also It
might recover the ball himself or, if
possible, he might catch it in midair
before it even touched the ground.
Roushine the Punter.
This privilege, however, led to
players of the team on defense to
dive into the punter, in order to pre-
vent him from thus putting his team
on side" This practice eventually
reached point where the rules
committee found 1t necessary to pro-
tect the punter, and the rules were
changed so that the unter could
not put his team "on- side" and more
man that. could not touch the ball
himself There is, accordingly, no
excuse whatever for a player rough
lng the punter under the present
lule3
Just how prominent the quarter
oack kick will become this season re-
mains to be seen. For one thing, it
serves to offer a wider diversity of
attack, since the opposition does not
now have a forewarning that a punt
IS to be made. They may not, there
'ore, arrange their defense so readily
m advance, thereby offering to the
ohensive team better opportunity
'pr pulling off some open field play.
"lobster's" Running Kicks.
IN days past, the Jackets have got
,oout as much out of the quick, run