New Britain herald., 1928-09-20
 
ROPER NOT SURE
 Of CANDIDATES
Princeton Coach Fells for Suc- cess When Viewing Prospects

Princeton. N. J., Sept. 2O W = Bill Roper, master in the school of applied football. has formed | habit of molding into champions the 1.-the young athletes who wander down to Princeton in the fall. This year he's none too sure that he won't be broken of the habit. ..
 Yearly. when the tang creeps into the September air. Bill calls the young men of Princeton around him. Sometimes there is weight. speed, power and. best of all. ex- perience. Sometimes there's just numbers but always. despite worri- some reports. the old grads calmly order their tickets for the late fall classics, confident that the Prince ton Tiger will again be clawing at the championship gates before Thanksgiving rolls around. Rarely indeed has Bill failed them.
 This time Bill Roper has a deh- mite problem on his hands. one 8 bit different from any he has tackled in recent years. He has weight, speed, power and exper- fence, but in such small quantities that when 1t is spread out as far as possible there is just enough to go round. He hasn't even numbers. When tho Tiger marshals . full II men on the field this fall. there will be very little of weight. speed. power and experience left Atting behind on the bench.
 Last fall a great sophomore, Ed Wittmer, stormed into Roper's back field to make" the team. He had in Mike Miles one of the finest de- fensive backs in the country. Earl Baruch stepped into the quarterback role to pass kick and think his way to equal ranking with any field gen. eral in collegiate ranks. It was combination that wore well.
 Baruch has left college along with Rcd" Owen, a hne fullback, sub stitute, but the remainder of Roper's youuE stalwarts are back. Phil strubing can step into the quarter back post. but only Holmes Bonnet. . prospective Wittmer from the sophomore ranks: .scarlett. Jones and the fleet but fragile Requardt. seem capable of first string work.
 With this backheld. the Tiger must face a schedule one game more rugged than last year. Between October 27 and November z%. Princeton must battle Cornell. Ohio State. Washington and Lee, Yale. and Navy in that order. It has been many. many years since . Nassau eleven. shooting its all against the Eli. has had to turn and face a team of Nays calibre. Usually the Tiger helps himself to ! Bulldog hide or goes down to glorious de- feat and calls it | season anyway.
 The line prospects at Princeton are not calculated to tighten tho tension round the building of this new Tiger team. Captain "Chuck" Howe must switch from center to fill a guard, berth. Bill Barfield will play one tackle again but his run ming mate last year. Jack Whyte. is waiting for broken wrist to heal. Substitutes of last season and sophomores must fill the line holes.
 To offset the problems rising in the center of the line, Roper has two sterling ends in Johnny stinson and Newman Lawler. The substt- tutes on the wings arc fast. rangy and powerful. Given an accurate passer the nucleus is there for the kind of aerial game that swept the boards clean in 1925.
 There will be no radical changes in the Princeton system this year. The huddle, best method of impart- ing signals to Il excited youngsters in heat and din of conflict. has come to the Tiger lair to stay. Roper was among the first to use that system and he can zee no req son for changing 1t.
 My material is spotty." he said with . smile. "and not we'll bal anced. There is individual strength but . lack of evenness in the qual- tty. We're pretty well fixed in some positions and badly oft in others. The job ahead is interesting"
 It can be added that there ls danger in that smile for opponents who take those words literally. Bill's smile. like the deepest dark ness. comes just before dawn.