Evening star., 1939-09-06
Southern California
Must Rebuild Line,
Plug Backfie|d
Mentor Is Put on Spot
By Opponents Proise
Of His Material
BY ROBERT MYERS,
Associated Press Sports Writer.

LOS ANGELES, Sept. e.-Now
that virtually every rival coach
in the Pacific Coast Conference has
conceded" the pigskin champion
ship to the University Of Southern
California, there is little left for
Headman Howard Harding Jones
to do this fall.
All the gray-haired veteran has
to accomplish is:
l. Bowl over, in order, Oregon,
Washington State, Illinois, Califor-
mia, Oregon State, Stanford. Notre
Dame, Washington and U. c. L. A.
2. Rebuild the entire right side
of his line, bereft of the men who
were the seasoned starters of his
1888 machine.
3. Find out what to do with no
less than a half dozen very efficient
quarterbacks, on the one hand,
and fill a yawning gap at right half.
4. Win the Pacific Coast Confer
ence championship.
Jolted at Start Last Year.
Strange part of the 1899 outlook
for the Trojan warhorse is that
last year, before the season started,
Jones rivals in the far West gra-
ciously put him on the same spot
as this year. They said he couldn't
lose.
But the Trojans did lose-handed
whopping defeat by Alabama in
the seasons opener. The experts
quickly decided they had been mis-
taken, and the Jones critics de-
manded his job.
1t wasn't until later in the sea-
son. when the Trojans continued
their uphill struggle, winning game
by game, that another reversal pre-
sented itself, and when the climax of
the Rose Bowl victory over Duke
was achieved, the Jones-U. S. C..
bandwagon once again was loaded
to the gunwhales. It's still loaded.
which is fine with every one except
the headman and associates close
to the situation.
Material Is Unbalanced.
There is no doubt U. S. c. has a
world OF material, but it is un-
balanced. He has requirements for
the jobs vacated by graduation, but
1t Will be difficult to replace, for
instance, Red Morgan, the big right
halfback, or Capt. Don Mcneil, his
center. Ray George, at right tackle:
FISHER. regular starting guard, and
Stanley, senior end, were experienced
men in the Jones system.
Just who will fill their respective
shoes remains to be seen. The other
side Of the line is intact. He has
good end material, but Jones would
feel better If he knew for certain
that AL Kruger, pass catching hero
OF the Duke conquest. would be ready
Tor action after a knee operation
this spring.
Barring the right halfback posi-
ton, U. S. c. Is well fixed with Bob
Hoffman at the blocking left half
spot, and Sangster and Peoples at
full.
Quarterbacks Are Good.
FOR the quarterback role-most
any coach would be willing to boast
any two of the candidates. Ambrose
SCHNEIDER, 1887 star, is back, ap-
parently well from knee operation
which was rested last year (the same
operation Kruger underwent, in
cidentally). Grenville Lansdell, dar-
ing signal caller, pass-tosser and
broken field runner, is another. And
Doyle Nave, the lad who fired the
four passes that brought Duke to its
knees, won't sit on the bench again
all year for another dramatic ap-
pearance such as occurred last
January in the Rose Bowl.
Maybe the rival coaches are right
about U. S. c., but there's one coach
willing to wait awhile to find out.
His name is Howard Harding Jones.