Evening star., 1955-11-21
MONDAY MORNING QUARTERRAcK
vereb Proved Terps' Secret Weapon
BY MERRELL wHITTLEsEY

who had visited the Atlantic
Coast Conference schools were
winding up their tour with an
Afternoon and evening with the
Maryland team.
The coaches and the tourists
had retire dto the Dupont Plaza
Hotel and Coach Jim Taturn
was speaking. At the time. this
portion was on the record.
Tatun went over the line, po-
|sition by position. The ends he
liked. the tackles he liked. ditto
the guards and he had the ut
most confidence that Bob Pelle-
|grini would make the shift TO
center. He said nobody would
score much on Maryland. and he
was right.
The Terps gave up 81 points
lin 10 games and posted four
|shutouts. Only UCLA and Navy
|blanked more opponents--fiVe--
with Oklahoma having q chance
|at its nth this week.
Dubious About Attacks
After further extolling his
clubs defensive merits. his first
love. he reminded the group that
the remarks were on the record
and then said: Gentlemen,
we're going to have to be good
|defensively. because right now !
don't know where our first
touchdown is coming from.
Tatum reviewed the back
field. He knew what his quar-
|terback, Frank Tamburello.
could do. but Tamburello couldn't
carry the load alone. This was
eight days after he had lost his
regular fullback, Tom Selep. and
|at the time a half-dozen full
backs were scrapping for the job
later won by Fred Hamilton. q
sophomore.
At right halfback 1t was be-
tween Jack Healy. an untested
sophomore. and Howie Dare, Q
fiashy youngster with q weak
ness or two. At left half he had
Ed Vereb. who had carried the
ball exactly II times the previous
year.
That was the backfield that
was succeeding Ronnie Waller.
Joe Horning. Dick Bielski and
Tamburelio. No wonder Tatum
had misgivings.
The first thing the backfleid
lacked was q hreak.away rum
ner. a fact born out as the season
progressed. Maryland didn't have
q home-run play all season.
II Maryland was going to pro-
duce as predicted. 1t would have
to come up with q secret weapon
It did. It was Vereb.
Nine days after Tatum said
he didn't know where the first
touchdown was coming from.
Vereb scored It on a l4-yard run
against Missouri the first time
the Terps had the ball.
Ten weeks later Vereb scored
the last touchdown Of the sea-
son, his 18th. He threw the half
back pass for two touchdowns,
and thus was responsible for 10.
He scored the big one Of the
season on q i7-yard jaunt
against UCI.A.
And In the 642 yards that
Vereb gained there we're many
key first down gains.
Vereb Is not an all-the-way
type Of ball carrier. He didn't
return q punt or kickoff or 60
for any long runs. His longest
touchdown run was 10 yards
against South Carolina.
But Ed gets that ball fast from
Tamburello and it's that initial
burst Of speed that earns him
the big first-down and the touch
down yardage.
Sanduslxy Opens Way
OF course, vereb didn't do It
alone. The block that sprung
him through that line was
made almost every time by Mike
Sandusky. who won most Of his
plaudits for defensive play but
actually Is q great blocking
tackle. It was Mike who bar
relied the opposing lineman out
OF the way to give Vereb day
light. with End Russell Dennis
usually earning an assist.
Both Healy and Hamilton ex-
ceeded Tatum's expectations in
the backfield despite injuries
that hampered both. Healy
didn't even suit up against
George Washington on Satur-
day.
And there was Lynn Beightol.
who gave the Terps q lift when
Tamburello was out and. along
with Dave Nusz, Dare and Phil
Perio. gave Maryland q second
backfield unit that was a key fac
tor in many Of the victories.
This was q different type Of