Evening star., 1924-08-10


conversation is foot ball, or 1t does
foot ball
Last year the Marines had material
that would have been the delight of
university coach, but it is said
that this fall the material is going
to be far better than that which took
the field at the beginning of practice
in 1928. No official announcement
has been given out about the mate
rial that is expected to get in uni
form within the next few days, moth
ing official has been said about the
men who are to be out for the first
time, but it is known that not only
will the men of last year, Goettge in
cluded, be on hand, but also several
others who never have worn Marin e
suits.
Get Groves and McQuade.
Johnny Groves and Jack McQuade,
quarterback and fullback, respective
1y. of the University of Maryland
squad for the last three seasons, have
gone in the Marine Corps and will be
out for practice with the squad when
the daily grind is begun. Both men
viii supply factors in play that the
Marines did not possess last season.
McQuade will produce a brand of for
ward passing so far better than any
thing accomplished by the Marines
IN 1928 that there will hardly be any
comparison. Another thing, the Ma
rInes had no drop-kicker and no
punter, and Groves should fill the bill
Tor both without the least trouble.
One thing that marred the play of the
Marines against the Third Army
Corps a year ago VISA poor punting.
Groves will punt well and also will be
very accurate as drop kicker any
where within the 30-yard line.
In addition to these players, it is
rumored that two ends who played
college foot ball on the Pacific Coast
are available for the Marine Corps
squad. In fact, it probably will not
be known by the Marines themselves
just who they will have nor just how
good their material will be until the
whole squad takes the field.
Certain it is, though, that anybody
who is a all in touch with foot ball
In Uncle Sans prize military outfit
does not doubt that the foot ball ma
terial from which the team is to be
selected viii be much better than al
most any college or university might
hope to have.
And while this is hot August, it
Will not be SO very long before the
crack of shoe leather against pig
skin will be heard the length and
breadth of the land. 1t will not be
long after the first of September
only three weeks away-before col
lege and university squads get out
lhelr equipment and watch heroes
and near heroes of the gridiron cross
and cris-croSS over white lined fields
Already letters are going out to mem
bers of squads carrying notices of
when to report for the opening prac-
tlce and giving some hints of what
IS expected of the men in the way of
physical condition when they return.
College foot ball, while it goes
through a season of three short
months, really has developed, after
all, into almost an aIl-year PROPOSE
ton. With its schedule arrange
ments, the necessity of dealing with
the constantly changing problem of
officials, constantly changing rules
and difficulties surrounding their in
terpretatton, the necessity for keep
ing foot ball players in some other
sport to keep them hard and, there
lore, less susceptible to injury, foot
ball finds itself occupying the at
tention of athletic authorities of the
various institutions off and on during
the entire year.
Virginia Military Institute, Geor-
gta Tech, North Carolina State Col
lege, and Clemson College usually
have been the earliest of foot ball
squads on the field in the South and
grow under their feet in getting
started this year. All have hard
games early in the season, Virginia
Military Institute and Georgia Tech,
for instance, being due to meet at
Atlanta the first Saturday in Octo-
Der, October 4. This means that if
their men are to be in the kind of
condition they should be to go
through as hard a game as that prom
ISes TO De the squads must be on the
neid at the very earliest moment pos
sible. All probably will begin right after
the first of September In previous
years Virginia Military Institute has
started practice the last week in
August, but the Southern Conference
rule IN regard to practice was
changed last Winter at the meeting
IN Washington and this Fall practice
may begin after the first Monday in
September
The first Monday fails this year on
september /, which probably means
mat V. NJ: l. and Georgia Tech at
the I'd. Probably the great majority
of schools will not begin to practice
until the following week. Monday,
september 8, but it is safe bet that
no school will wait longer than that
to get its men on the field
Just few years ago there was con-
siderable opposition to beginning foot
pdll pI dCllCG early, Out lately JUST
the opposite tendency seems to have
developed. Hardly a criticism has
been raised in the last year or sc
about getting foot ball squads out
for practice a couple of weeks before
the beginning of school. 1t generally
is realized that foot ball is going to
be played and that the men playing
it must get themselves In condition
to play. Also it is realized that q
goou deal is accomplished during the
long hours the men may be gotten
together during the pre-school prac-
tice, which eases up on them after
school opens and gives them a far
better chance for a good beginning
in their regular scholastic schedule.
Foot ball practice in the first few
days is far different from the foot
ball practice of later. Early in the
practice season, while the weather is
too hot aud muscles too soft for
hard physical contacts. coaches aim
mainly to teach effectiveness in those
departments of play which call for
Individual expertness, the ability to
handle and throw passes, to punt
and catch punts, to acquire that
physical dexterity so necessary to
successful accomplishment on any
field of athletics. In other words
the first few days, possibly weeks, OF
practice are spent in teaching the in
dividual members of the squad the
things that later they must put into
practice as a group. Making a foot
ball team is pretty much the same
in its early stages as making an
automobile-first built perfectly fit
Al Io,, \, ha e.<