The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-09-18
COMMODORES ARE BEING WORKED IN
 OVERTIME STYLE
McGugin Needs More Weight in BackfleId and Must De-
 velop a Punter


 (Special) Out on Dudley Field, Coach Wallace Wade. former Brown university star and allAmerican guard, is putting the advance guard of the Commodores through with what, perhaps is the hardest series of early workouts ever experienced by Vanderbilt outfit Morning and afternoon practice, coupled with in- struction work at night, is being of fered the aspirants to the team, and to say that they are getting stren- uous proposition in the thrice daily sessions i putting 1t mildly.
 Although Monday was the open ing day of practice, many of the men who are looked upon as fine mate rial have failed to put in an appear ance Several of them will not be on hand until next week, owing to the fact that they are scattered all over the country As it stands now. about 45 to 50 mem are in harness
 Weight Needed
 Weight in the back field and on the ends appears to be much need ed requirement just at present. There is some prospect of having fairly heavy line, and if the proper pound age can be worked into the Hanks and the secondary defense there. is hope of the Commodores flying high in grid circles this fall. Otherwise, the Gold and Black vii have fight to stack up against such teams as they have to encounter.
 Need Punter
 Another gaping hole in the Com modore ranks is the lack of punt CT. In Scotty Neill and Frank Goar the Commodores had two of tue pre- mier boot artists of many years in the southland, and with both of these men gones it's a momentous prop lem. Julian Thomas. backfield man and veteran of last year, will be given careful consideration for the job when he shows up as well as Wakefield, kicker who haseshown quite bit of ability on the spirals since coming to Vanderbilt from prep ranks. But an experienced man is lacking.
 On the Backfield
 Percy Conyers. hzell Wilson, Red Rountree and Frank Nixon, of last years squad, are being shifted about with view of determining whether or not they can best be utilized at end or backfield positions All four are fast and are valuable men. In the backfield Frand Godchaux and Doc Guhn are looked upon to handle the regular quarterback roles, with Alvin Bell and others as substitutes. The absence of Frank Berryhlli an Swayne Latham from the squad, the shifting of Pink Wade from, fullback to the line, and other / backfieid losses are making the proposition of nf>r e one. Jess Neiliey. tn king of for ward passing, will miss his old run ming mate, Gink Hendricks, who be fore he turned his attention to pro fessionai baseball. gained quite bit of attention as recipient of Neilley s forward passes. He will undoubt- edly prove one of the most valuable men in harness. Last year, as a freshman, ne created an enviable record as backfield and end man. Ali Sharpe alone remains at center both Jim Farley and Horace Hill be- !, ing missing
 Sharpe has been bit young for the pace of college ball and~wilted after quarter or so in his appearances last fall. With another year added to his age and the experience gaineo ! to last years contests he should show vast improvement in his play Fatty" Lawrence has build that l is suited to the center job and is put ting out to the limit of his strength, May Lose Ryan
 Coach Wade and Dan s-McGugin,- ,di- rector of athletics, are much con cerned over the possible loss of Tom Ryan, star tackle of last years var sity. Tom Is working in the Texas oil region and has good job tha, ! he hates to leave. Indications. how ever, are now pointing to Ryan's re- ] turn to the Vandy line.