Evening star., 1942-06-12
500 Expected on Grid
When Fall Drills
Are Started
Students Like to PIuy
Come, Once They Learn
1t, Coach Discovers
By GRANTLAND RICE.


College football plans and aims
seem to be obscured in number OF
fogs and mists so far as the public
is concerned. But 1 can give you
one that isn't This is University OF
Maryland, where Clark Shaugh-
messy, late of Stanford and the t
formation. is the man on the job.
We have known Shaughnessy for
q brief matter Of 27 years, since he
started coaching back around 1918.
Outside Of Lonnie Stage, now with
the College of the Pacific, this makes
Clark either the dean OF present.
day coaches, or close to the mark.
And I doubt that football has known
any better all-around coach, or any
coach with a finer influence on his
football pupils.
The main point is that Shaugh-
messy and Maryland, with the full
support of President Curly Byrd, has
set up a 1912 plan that is we'll worth
looking at
In this last spring practice"
Shaughnessy said, we had 81 men
out who were divided into teams
and matched together in games.
Wants 500 Out in Fall.
But this is only starter. Next
fall l expect to have at least 500
MARYLAND students playing football.
And l might say I've been spending
more time on fellows who never have
played the game than on those who
have. And it's surprising how many
of these like the game and want to
play it, once they get the general
idea.
"All together in this country We
should have over 100000 young fell
lows playing football this fall, even
though most of them never WILL
make any first or second team
In the course of an evenings con-
versation it is only natural that
few arguments should develop. One
was the matter of the greatest full
back and the greatest running hall
back
Clark's selections were Norman
Standlee of Stanford and the Chi
cago Bears for the fullback job, with
Bears on the running side.
Our two nominations were BronKo
Nagurski at fullback with Cliff Bat
ties as the top ball carrier.
T-Formation Games Best.
The Maryland mentor was willing
to admit that Nagurski was the best
all-around football player he ever
saw. But he refused to concede the
point that any line-battering back
could wreck an entire defense the
way Standlee could McAfee was
great ball-carrying back, but III still
string with Battles.
Coach Shaughnessy offered three
solid reasons in support OF foot
balls T-formation.
First" he said. "it is the type
of game the players all want, since
it depends more on speed and
smartness than mere crushing bulk
and power. Z
Second. it is the type of play that
appeals to the public since it 5
much more in the open.
Third, it is the best type of play
with which to win games. 1t is the
most effective winning formation
football ever has known. 1t is al
most an unlimited threat against
any form of defense. You will find
the T-formation used more and
more. wherever the material Is in
any way adapted"
Supports Mass Football.
One of the main complaints
against college football from many
outsiders is this that football largely
is q game in which some 25 or 80
trained athletes perform for the
benefit of some 10000 to $4,000 spec
tatorS.
Shaughnessy's idea is to fill all
open fields full of football players.
to bring them out by the hundreds
in every college and to match most
Of these according to their size and
ability. This is the job he hopes
to put through at Maryland.
He may not have the best 80
football players in the country-he
doesn't look for anything like this.
But he'd like to have the best 500
players, much more important idea
for the general good of all con-
cerned, including the country at
large. And to this football arrange
ment Shaughnessy also has added
an all-around conditioning program
for the entire student body, which is