The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1917-09-18
COACH KELLY GIVES
FOOTBALL SQUAD
INITIAL SCRIMMAGE
Backfield Will Be Especially
Strong-Number of Prom
Using New Men Trying
for Positions

University, September 17.-(special)
The first scrimmage of the Alabama
football squad was held Saturday and
showed all kinds of bright prospects
for the coming season. Most of the
men who will appear in the Crimson
line this year will be new but they
will be heavy and fast. A number of
men have come to Alabama from the
north and west and are showing very
promisingly in practice. The small
colleges and prep schools have sent
many of their best to the university
and from the whole Coach Kelly will
attempt to build another winning
team.
captain has not been elected to
take the place of Ike Rogers vet and
will probably not be chosen until Just
before the first game, which will be
with Southern university on Septem-
Der 20. There are several veterans Of
many seasons back and one of these
will be elected. Jim Downey is man
ager of the team and Marvin McCul-
Tough is his assistant A cheer leader
has not been elected yet, but the man
ager of the team will call the nrs.
| mass meeting in a few days and one
will be elected to succeed Turkey
Boman
! Alabama is going to have an es-
pecially strong back field this year.
Quarterback is being holly contested
for by Showers, last year substitute,
and Lenore, a product of Marlin, Tex.
! Both men are fast and handle the
team well and both will be given op !.
portunities to show what they have.
| For fullback a new man. Mendelsohn.
! from Pennsylvania, is making a fine
impression. Mendelsohn is one of the
heaviest men that have ever tried for
a backfield position at Alabama as
| he weighs close to 200, but he is very
| fast on his feet and has a record as a
terrific plunger
| Alabama will again be strong in the
i punting department this year The
Kicking was SO well looked after by
Bully VandeGraaff for four years at
the university that when he gradu-
ated there was no one to take his
| place For the last two years the
! kicking has been far below what it
should have been, but this year a new
man. o'Conne1l, who is not only a
punter of prowess but is also a fine
halfback
! There will be pretty fight for cen
| ter between Trammell Sessions of Biz
| mingham and Repitto. new man. SEES
4 sions has been suffering from bron
| chitis and has been out only once He
has been on farm all the summer
and weighs around It's. Repitto has
been showing well in dummy prac
| tice and signal running
/ Coach Kelly is working his men
hard now and permits no slack ers
| Every man is required to be out ev
cry afternoon and must keep in rigid
| training Practice is begun every aft
ernoon with passing the ball and light
limberng up exercises Each man is
| then given turn at the dummy aft
er which signals are run. There are
three and four teams out every after
noon. After the signal practice the
men are given brief scrimmage,
which is followed by hard run
around the field.
Great things are expected from
Red" Brown and Big" Brown this
year. RED" is known as one of the
best broken field runners that has
ever been seen at Alabama and Big
is absolutely unstoppable when he is
given the ball big" Brown will be
used in the line and Red" will be
tried in the backfeld. Four linesmen
from last year are back-Rowe. How
alter. Boone and Johnson. Felix Black
burn, captain Of Marion. is trying for
the end and is making a good impress
sion.
The football sap is Just beginning to
rise. The first mass meeting will be
held in the next few weeks and the
practice of yells and songs will be-
gin The first appearance of the team
in Birmingham is the Sewanee game,
and those who attend the game are
promised something new in the way Of
noise.