OUR FOOT BALL OUTLOOK.
STATE opens the year with a supply of foot hall material that
has not been surpassed for several years. Heavy line men
of good activity and speedy backs, some of them experi
enced players; are at her disposal. Captain Murray, with Ran
dolph, Scholl and Ruble, make a tried and seasoned centre and
left side of the line that, in point of actual ability, it would be
possible to better at but few colleges in the country. On the
right side of the line the Miller brothers have served an appentice
ship of a year on the scrub, and in the game against Gettysburg
fully demonstrated their ability in breaking through, in “hole
making,” and in running with the ball. At right end, Curtin
and Farr are both hard tacklers and plucky runners and either
should take care of that position very creditably. Behind the
line, the prospects are just as bright. Heckel, at quarter, passes
the ball and tackles well; Cure, at full-back, is invaluable in the
interference, a good punter and one of the hardest men on the
field to bring to the ground; while Shoffstall, Hewitt, Platt and
D. Miller all have in them the making of first-class half-backs
with plenty of speed and pluck. In addition to these men, there
are on the scrub a number of men who are ’varsity material, and
would seem to make it impossible for any position to become
weak.
Up to this point, this forecast has been decidedly optimistic, pos
sibly absurdly so. The writer does not shut his eyes to the fact
that there are many glaring defects in the team. It is true that
some of the line men fail to play low enough, that some of the
big men tackle too high, that the eleven does not get into every
play as a team, that the backs do not always shut quickly enough
and do not follow their interferences, when there is any, that in
the Gettysburg game there was a great deal of unnecessary
fumbling and wretched goal kicking, and too much talking when
a play miscarried. No attempt is made to lay these things at the
door of individual players, first because this is not the place to
do so* and secondly because, for the present at least, the fault is
not theirs, and still less is it the fault of Captain Murray, who is
doing his very best for the team..