Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-10-22
FOOTBALL PAST
SOUP ANDF|SH'
COURSE NOW
Innis Brown Discusses Style of
1918 Game, Especially Quar-
terback Kick.
Bv Innis Brown.

settling down to regular busi-
ness, and pretty soon local
bugs are to see the real thing as pre-
,rribed by Walter Camp and others,
and interpreted by j. W. Heisman,
Mike Donohue, Alex Cunningham,
Tnbby Graves and others. This does
not mean to say that what has gone
before was not real football, but as
matter of fact, the fish and soup
have Just been finished, and it is
time 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
local field outside of straight foot
| ball. In fact, many are inclined to
! feel that nothing new may be eX
| pected AS matter of fact changes
| In the rules from last year really
| allow only one privilege which is like
" to be used to any considerable eX
.ent Reference is made to the change
| whereby a punter may kick when and
| where he chooses, instead of being
| restricted to a position five yards be-
. hind the scrimmage line.
The Quarterback Kick.
This is what has commonly been
called the Quarterback kick" The
play 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
Ave Yards back 70 the line of scrim-
mage when kicking This practical
y meant that none of his own men
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 fumble-when the ball
has been last touched by a player
4 Of his own side behind him.
From this it may be seen that the
| mere act of kicking the ball does not
| out any player of the side in posses
sion of the ball "offside" 1t is
merely a question of whether or not
he kicker was behind all of his own
men when he kicked the ball. If he
was. then they are all "offside" and
4 nave no right to recover the kick I'M
q the ball has been touched by
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
aim. 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 he 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
slble when a rule was incorporated in
the playing code, which provided that
as soon as a kicked ball touched the
ground any player of either side, eX-
cept the man who kicked, was eligi-
/ bic to recover it. 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
held past the ball after it had stopped
rolling and calling onside. Also Re
might recover the ball himself or, if
J possible, he might catch it in midair
before it even touched the ground.
Roughing the Punter.
This privilege, however led to
payers 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 side and more
man that. could not touch the ball
himself. There is, accordingly, no
excuse whatever for a player rough
ing the punter under the present
rules.
Just how prominent the quarter
PACK kick will become this season re-
= ,1lalhs 10 be seen. For one thing, It
terVes to offer a wider diversity Of
attack, since the opposition does not
now nave forewarning that a punt
~ 10 be made. They may not, there
ore arrange their defense so readily
VI ADVANCE, thereby Offering to the
GIehslNe team a better opportunity
''' pulling off some open-field play.
"Lohster's" Running Kicks.
III Gays past, the Jackets have got
l'''t a s much out of the quick, run
'''V KICK as any other team in this