PAGE TWELVE Surprise Re Pleasing to Coach Cites Improvement In Drills By VINCE CAROCCI Sports Editor Much to the happiness of Coach Rip Engle and his staff, several Lion footballers have moved from the reserve fore ground into the midst of con tention for a starting berth for the 1957 season. With his squad now only in its 10th day of practice. Engle could not commit himself as to his probable starting lineup come opening game with Penn, Sept. 28 at Philadelphia. It is still far too early for that. However, he did say that he was pleased with the play shown by halfbacks Bucky Paolone and Dave Kasperian thus far in prac tice. Both were used somewhat sparingly last year in reserve. Of both, Engle said: "Both have shown a lot of improve ment .. . they're putting up a real battle. I expect to see them play a lot of football this year." But Kasperian and Paolone were not the only backs to gain praise from Engle. At fullback, one of the strongest depth posi tions on the club, Emil "Babe" Caprara emerged as the leading early-season candidate for the starting role. "Caprara is leading the battle," Engle said, "with Maurice Schlei cher, Fete Shopa and Ben Wil liams right behind." Backfield coach Joe Paterno added that Caprara's faking, blocking and defensive play have been out standing—"almost perfect," as he put it. Engle said that this is why he is the early season leader at full back. Along the line, where guard and tackle loom as the biggest grid worry, sophomore guard Joe Korbini carne in for praise from line coach "Tor" Toretti. Korbini was waging a strong battle for the number two guard spot with Dick Mc- Millen and "Bull" Smith (Wil lard) until he was injured two days ago," Toreiti said. Captain Joe Sabol is expected to be the number one guard. Korbini has been hospitalized for the past two days. According to team physician Dr. Alfred H. Nittany Frosh Mentor Awaits 'Loaded' Gridiron Candidates By MATT MATHEWS Freshman football coach Earl Bruce has come up with another "loaded" squad, but the talent can only be ana lyzed on paper since the frosh will not organize for drills until Saturday. But the team will get plenty of practice under Bruce's tute lage before they host their first opponent, the University of Pitts burgh, Oct_ 19. Their second and last—game will be against the Navy Plebes, Nov. 2 at Anna polis, Md. The nucleus of the "loaded" material is concentrated in the backfield which dominates the frosh press notices. There are three All-Pennsylvania backs on the roster. including one all- America choice, Bob "Red" Worrell. The redheaded fullback weighs in at 215 pounds and stands 5' 10". While at little Centerville High, he led his alma mater to four divisional titles in the tough WPIAL. In one game, he gained 318 yards; averaging 14.8 per The other two all-Staters are Bob Washko and Don Jonas. The THE DAILY COLLEGIAN STATE COLLEGE PENNSYWANIA * * * —Daily Collegian Photo by !dirty Scheer. PAUL NORTH, a strong candidate for a starting end berth, has a bruised spot on his hand taped by Trainer Ed Sulkowski before yesterday's football practice. The Lions are now in their 10th day of practice. Griess, Korbini is at present un der observation after being struck in the abdomen region. He could not as yet determine the severity of the injury. The center situation is especial ly pleasing. At present, a three way fight is going on between senior Charlie Ruslavage—the most experienced of the group—, junior Steve Garban and sopho more Earl Kohlhaas for the num ber one job. And, according to Toretti, sen ior Bob Rice is not too far be hind. Tackle, probably the in o r e serious of the two line prob lems, seems to be developing slowly, but satisfactorily. Ac cording to Assistant Coach Jim O'Hora, sophomore Andy Styn chula, switched from end to t..ckle at the beginning of fall practice. "is breathing hard down Bohart's (Joe) neck." Bo hart at present Is the leading candidate for the number two tackle spot with junior Bill Wehmer leading the pack. O'Hora said the sophomores Charley Janerette and Tom Mul -1 raney both "looked good" until !slight injuries forced them to miss 6' 1", 174-pound Washko played his high school ball at Swoyers ville where he was one of the most outstanding players in the district. Jonas, who stands 5'11" and weighs 190, earned numerous awards while lettering three years at West Scranton High. His top-notch quarterbacking there won the scoring championship in the Lackawanna Football Con ference. Jim Kerr. an imported half back from St. Clairsville, Ohio, was the leading ground gainer and scorer in his section. Kerr is a 6'. 175-pounder. Another outstanding back that led his team to a WPIAL title is Jeannette's ace quarterback, Dick Hoak. Hoak ws one of the standouts in the western Penn isylvania-Allegheny All-Star game f at Pittsburgh a month ago. The 15 10, 185-pounder was also want ed by two of Penn State's most ;traditional rivals—Pitt and West Virginia. Bruce's other backs which have reported to campus include fullback Jim Zaino, 6' 2", 240- pounder from •Westbury, N.Y.; halfback-quarterback Bill Kram. serves Engle contact work for the past two days. In looking at his club in com posite, Engle admitted that it has shown steady improvement since opening day. However, he said that the team still had a lot of work on its hands in order to be fully prepared for the opening game. Engle will continue to hold two s session workouts—morning and !afternoon—for the remainder of Orientation Week. However, he expects practice to be handi capped a bit due to registration difficulties. Since the Lions have no scrimmage game with another school scheduled for this train ing year, the coaching plans call for simulated game con ditions between the squad as often as possible. Injury wise, aside from the ex ,pected early-season bumps and bruises, the Lions are in good shape. Along with Korbini, soph omore end Mike M , trphy is the ;only other Lion footballer to be (hospitalized at present. And he is 'down with the grippe r according .to Dr. Griess. er, 6' 2", 180-pounder from Johns town; halfback Sam Sobczak, 5' 10", 185-pounder from Dußois; fullback Denny Schaeffer, 6' 2", 210-pounder from Boyertown; halfback Bob Ghigiarelli, 5' 11", 180-pounder from Old Forge; and halfback-quarterback Lou Luce, 6', 183-pounder from Beilis Prep. On the line. Bruce will have end candidates Dave Alexan der, 6'. 185-pounder from New Castle: Stew Barber, 6' 3", 220- pounder from Bradford; John Rohale y, 6' 4", 195-pounder from Redstone; tackle candi dates Bob Gilmour, 6', 210- po u n der from Haddonfield; Jack Lawhead, 6' 1", 220-pound er from Everett; and Jack Shaf fer, 6' 230-pounder from Wil liamsport: guard candidates Dick Butterfield, 6', 190-pound er from Montclair and an out standing prep schooler, Bill Popp, 5' 11", 185-pounder from Steelton; and center candidate Charles Vogelsong, 6' 2". 230- pounder from Upper Darby. After reviewing his list of players, Bruce concluded, "We need more linemen especially linebackers and tackles." Any volunteers??? , ft • . ;6 , - • , 1 • LET'S TAKE A LOOK AT THE SCHEDULE . . . The opening Penn State football game of the season is still more than two weeks away, but we thought today would be appro priate enough to give a little thought to the Lions' 1957 schedule. With this in mind, we caught Coach Rip Engle in the coaches' dressing room before practice yesterday morning to ask him for his opinion on the schedule—more precisely, on each opposing club. The conversation went something like this: "Coach, we'd like to talk to you a bit about your schedule." His reply was: "What schedule? I can't see past Penn." This, he went on to explain, meant that he was taking each ballgame one at a time in order to overlook no one. This is a pretty good in dication that Engle and his staff are taking all possible precautions to avoid an upset by some of the "weaker" opponents. So on to Penn he went. "Penn should be a real good football team," he said. "I know some of their personnel and they can be tough." That was as far as he went. The conversation then turned to the Lions fall-training progress and we were still without our column. But, thanks to writers like Stan Woodward, Jess Abramson, and a few more professionals, this is what we were able to learn about the opposition. PENNSYLVANIA—Sept. 28: Penn should be the strongest it has been under the 3-year reign of Coach Steve Sebo. Sebo has 22 lettermen returning—lettermen who'll give the Quakers more speed, size and depth since Sebo began in 1954. Frank Reipel, a 2-year veteran at halfback, is being experimented with 'at quarterback to improve the Quaker passing attack. Behind him there is still last year's starter, Rich Ross. Co-captain Pete Keblish tops the line from his guard post. Consensus: better, but not better enough. ARMY—Oct. 5, home: Army will be a strong contender for east ern laurels this year but has a patchwork job to accomplish along the line to be so. Center Jim Kernan and guard Stan Slater are the' bulwarks of the-line. The backfield is set with no quarterbacking experiments in store foi Coach Red Blaik this season. Dave Bourland proved he could handle the ball club but - is not a deadly passer. With Gene Mikelonis' knee a question mark, the backfield lacks a break-away •runner of the Bob Kyasky line. Consensus: not an easy opponent, but can be taken: , WILLIAM AND MARY—Oct. 12, home: Not much can be said of the Indians this year since most of their potential is still a ques tion mark due to the return of 25 sophomores. Halfback Charlie Sid well, a 210-pound breakaway runner who is rated as one of the South's most versatile halfbacks, will lead the offense. Bob Hardage, who corrwleted.l6 passes against Army last year, gives the team solid poising. Consensus: not too tough, but may be surprising in spots. VANDERBILT—Oct. 19, home: Halfback Phil King leads Coach Art Guepe's new 'offense which he entitles "kaleidoscopic"—a com bination of offenses involving spreads, buck laterals, sweeps and all sorts of. options. The line is tough, spearheaded by Pat Swan and Mario Wodka at tackles. This could be a dark horse team, Consensus: it may surprise a lot of -opponents. SYRACUSE—Oct. 26, away: The Orange are definitely one of the top teams in the East, despite the loss of Jim Brown. They are not to be taken lightly. Chuck Zimmerman heads an experienced 3-man quarterback corps. Ernie Johnson is being touted as Brown's left half replacement. End Dick Lasse and guard Chuck Strid top the line. Consensus: very tough, but. beatable. WEST VIRGINIA—Nov. 2, home: The Mountaineers are rated as probably the best team in the Southern Conference, led by their great guard combination; Chuck Howley and Joe Nicely. If Mickey Trimarki reaches his potential, the Mounties could be almost un stoppable. Larry Krutko is the top back at fullback. Consensus: They're going to be tough to beat. Almost the same case as Syracuse. MARQUETTE—Nov. 9, away: - Marquette, after a winless 9-game season last year, is rebuilding and can not be expected to be very strong this year. Coach John Druze is depending heavily on sopho mores. The outlook is very dim- in view of the schedule. Consensus: may win a few games, but not very many. HOLY CROSS—Nov. 16, away: Holy Cross should have one of the East's better teams in view of the fact that Coach Eddie Ander son has his key sophomores, from last year's 6-3-1 team back. He is also helped by candidates from an unbeaten frosh squad. Fullback Dick Surrette, quarterback Tom Greene 'and guard Jim Healy will head the offense. Consensus: Not as tough as Syracuse or Army, but tough. PITTSBURGH—Nov. 23, away: Pittsburgh has it again this year. The line, spearheaded by tackle Jim McCusker and center Charlie Brueckman, will average somewhere around 229. End will be the biggest problem along the line. - Bill Kaliden, a junior, must serve as an adequate quarterback replacement for Corny Salva terra. Jim Theodore is tops among a long list of strong backfield men. The Panthers back-breaking schedule will probably prevent them from posting the best record in the East. Consensus: Probably the toughest in the East. That's the schedule for 1957. Penn Slate fans should have some exciting foOtball moments during the year. This year should prove to be interesting for all concerned. - WEDNESDAY. SEPTEMBER 11. 1957 A Glance at . . . SPORTS By VINCE CAROCCI Sports Editor C:=::=3
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