Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-10-17
Coach Explains Technicalities
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Heisrnan Writes About Plays

the punter of a team after he has
made "A punt has been disqualified
ton Of the rude person. But this in
depreciation committee decided to
give the malefactor a few extra
lashes if his offense was enacted
while the punter was standing be-
hind his own goal line and endeavor-
ing to get off a punt. They have
deCreed that in such case the offender
shall not only retire from the draw
ing room, but the offended team shall
be further solaCed by the award of
touchback on the play, which will
, permit them to take the ball out to
the 20-yard line and kick it again
or sCrimmage it as in other cases
of tOuChbaCk.
Serves him right, too,
WHEN EIGHT MEN ARE ON LINE.
1t is well known that only seven
men are required to be on the line
of sCrimmage when the ball is snap
ped; but sometimes coaches work out
play that calls for eight of their
men to be on the line of sCrimmage
Now. there are a lot of rules as to
how these required seven men shall
stand with reference to that line and
to each other; but the committee de-
cided that when eight are on the
line only seven Of them need con-
form to these reules, while the eighth
if on the end of the line, will be per-
mitted the inestimable privilege Of
locating" at any place on that line
that he sees fit, and of standing on
his head at that, If he prefers such
n posture.
POSITION OF MEN ON DEFENSE.
For years there has been more or
less doubt in officials minds whether
the rule relating to interchange OF
backtield men with Iinemen, and vice
versa, referred to offense or to de-
Tense, or to both. At last the com
mittee has grappled with that ques-
ton and Topped it with a double
nelson. II is now made plain that the
law relates only to positions of play
ers on the offense, and that when
1t comes to defense a team may dump
all Its eleven men into coal bin
shuttle them up and pour them out
like so many dice to play whittier
away they please for all the old rule
book cares.
incidentally the discussion of this
point brought out the fact that play
ers are named with reference to the
positions they play in an offensive
lineup, not from the way or the
places they play on the defense This
has become a fairly important point
of late years, with the neWSpa per
men at least. For instance we see
man playing-lke on the Tech team
right guard on the offense and right
end on defense; or the right half on
offense playing full back on defense.
Take another interesting point. The
quarterback used always to be the
man who first handled the ball from
the snapper back, and as, formerly,
ne could not run with it until it had
first passed through the hands Of
some third player it followed that he
rarely ran with it at all But now
any man Except the guards who
first receives the ball from the snap
per may run with it. Thus the old
time quarterback with his special
functions has passed away, and the
question under systems that do not
use him to pass the ball comes up.
who is quarterback on that team >"
Why, in such a case nobody is quar-
terDaCk any more than the eleventh
man is halfback or fulibaCk or
anything else; and no more than one
of the regular halves is quarterback
Yet the newspaDer men want
lineup, and you are compelled to call
that eleventh man SOMETHING. He
may, in reality. be another fullback.
or third half back; but that is or
would be a juggling with terms and
systems of nomenclature that the
original makers of the game never
contemplated. So you call one man
Of the lot quarterback. and anothc"
fun back, when really their work may
so interchange that they are no more
Ike what the old quarter and full
used to be than is a halfbaCk or an
end. The thing is TO get four good
men in the hackfield and call them
what you will.