i i i'. 4r • • Teittirgian Sports. :0 1 11 Erattm (w„.. ,Sports 'SEPTEMBER 16. 1962 Off and On About this time of the year, when the days get shorter and the air a little - brisk, a young man's fancy turns to football. Football season, with all Pits fanfare and excitement, oc cupies the attention of people across the country. And, while the actual season doesn't start until the latter stages of Sep tember, the pre-season madness that accOmpanies the game seems' to. start earlier every year. • One of the first signs of fall and football is the appearance of a new shelf on magazine stands across the country. Everybody who has ever seen a football game, and tprobably some that haven't, suddenly become gridiron experts and predict everything from 9 All-American teams_ to Coaches of the Year. Football magazines appear In •ever-increasing numbers and even magazines like Saturday:, Evening Post, Playboy and News week get caught up in the late-summer mania of football fore casting. • Before a tackle has been made or missed, these experts have picked . the top twenty teams in the .country and named the indi viduals who will make All-Arrierican. Most of those who make All-American are outstanding football players. Unfortunately, exceptional ability -is not the only . pre requisite for All-American glory. All too often it is the player with the •best publicity agent who draws all the rave notices. Be that as it may, a highipre-seasonranking'can put a great deal of pressure on teams and individuals. ' For the second straight season the experts have given Penn State a high national ranking land near-unanimous support as the team most !likely - to succeed in the •iive-team round-robin in the East this year. • THE LIONS HAVE been picked as high, as fourth in some polls and generally given an excellent chance to finish in the mythical Top Ten. , It was the same story last year, but the Nittanies didn't quite live up to expectations. They: lost early season games to Miami and Army and a mid-season heartbreaker ,to Maryland. ' But Rip Engle's charges finished with a rush, winning sir of their last seven games and finishing sixth nationally in total offense. 1 / With 20 lettermen returning, including the top five, 'rushers, the Lions have - again earned high pre-season praise. / • Two Lions in particular hikve been tabbed for h)Mors on jar lous pre-season All-American teams: ' • Halfback Roger •Kochmant` and end Dave Robinson have re ceived some mention on nearly, everyone's pre ; season All-American teams. ' I Kochman, who combines ipeed and p6wer in .the manner of a runaway stage, has been bidding for ,All-American honors 'since his sophomore season-when he !nearly _beat national champion Syra cuse single-handedly with a 100 -yar d . kickoff return , and 17-yard off-tackle slant. THAT WAS in 1959 ancf*Tracuse eventually won, 20-18, but Kochman had arrived. He looked like a good . bet to make some All-American teams in 1960, .but Dame Fortune_had other ideas. ' The hard-running Nittany ti star injured his knee on the first day-of, pre-season practice- and sat out the entire 1960 season. He returned to the lineup in the fourth game last year after being hampered by early-seasoni injuries. He was nearly unstoppable over the last half of the season and wound up the season as the nation's 13th best rusher wtih 668 yards gained. Robinson was apparently headed for a great season as the -Lions' starting left end last year, but dislqcated his shoulder in the season opener against Navy. He returned late, in the season , for fine performances against Maryland; Pitt and Georgia Tech. HIS PLAY against Tech in the Gator Bowl -before a national television audience has to be one of the biggest reasons he is being considered for All-American honcirs in 1962. ' The cases of Kochman and Robinson point up the difficulty in predicting All-American honors for an individual player. Predicting team showings is 'probably even more hazardous. These pre-season prognostibations are just so much hot air and "printer's ink. The predictions are wrong more often* than they are right. Just how well have. the "experts" rated Penn State's• cluinces? Well, if .. . i • _ Grid Polls Put LiOns on Spot By JOHN MORRIS • Sports Editor 1::3 THE DAILY COLLEGIAN. UNIVERSITY PARK. Pi;NNSYLVANIA Quarterback, Problems As By JOHN MORRIS According to all reports, Rip Engle's main task in prepar— ing the Penn State football team for Saturday's season opener against Navy was find ing a q uarterback to replace Galen Hall. Finding a top-notch signal caller to run State's multiple of fense was -given top' priority dur ing spring practice and remained the main job on thel agenda as pfactice got- under way this fall. ' • Slowly, and all too surely, the , list of five candidates to fill Hall's shoes—Don Caum,. Pete Liske, Ron Coates, Gary Wydman and Frank Potter—is being cut down. But quarterback still has to rank as the biggest question mark in the Penn State football picture. - Last spring Caum, Hall's num ber one understudy in 1961, seemed to gain an edge in the quarterback scramble. But then Coates and Wydman ,cathe on to z. star in the Blue-White game that' marked the Culmination of spring,, drills. Potter was the first to be elimi-• nated . from contention. Potter's" speed ,and all-around running, ability forced the coaches to, switch the shifty sophomore to' halfback. Then fate stepped in to nar-' _ row the field even more. Both' Wydman and Caum have been hit by injuries that have caused, them to miss the bulk of prac tice thus far this fall. ROGER KOCHMAN Neither Wydman, with a badly 2 . . . All-American half back twisted knee,' nor Caum, with a - sprained shoulder, can be counted' quarterback of the caliber of Milt on in the first game: -1 Plum, Tony Rados, Al Jacks, * * * Richie Lucas ... or Galen Hall. WHILE LISKE has been run-1 * * * ning the first unit, Coates has .1 END" RANKS as another c riti- been directing the "Reddy" unit,i cal position despite the presence 01 4 second team in Engle's two-i of Dave Robinson and Dick An team tradition. !demon two of the finest ends in ;Both Liske and Coates have! ' been doing capable jobs, but En-I the East. gle and Penn State football fans I Robinson is a definite candidate are used to q uarterbacks who are! for All-American honors and An more than capable." I demon is a strong, steady per- The search continues for a former, biit the Lions still have to • ... FL L• f• FOR A SERER PENN STATE 4 End Spots Pose '62 Opener Nears DAME ROBINSON ... outstanding flanker ~....r~ :i."' , ' 'i,..0 -. ' 111 ' 1 - s. We P • ` 5 1 t04. 5.4: ,...W /6,...!...116.,A.kiAt';-::1•1J. PAGE NINETEEN come up somebody to hack up this pair. • Bill Bowes and Bud Yost, two untested sophomores, appear to, have the inside track in the corn-' petition for the Reddy unit end berths. The first unit line remains In tact as probably the best forward; wall in the East with Robinson; and Anderson at end, 250-pound! Chuck Sieminski and Gorry Far-; km at tackle, Joe Blasenstein and! Harrison Rosdaht at the guard] spots and team captain Joe Ca.! lardi at center. * * BARRING INJURY, those seV-; en Lion linemen are sure bets to start at their respective positions.. Veteran Bob Hart is hobbled! with a ,knoe injury, but the rest of the' Reddy •unit line hal been improving steadily. Bowes and Yost or Ted hit:device will be the Bankers, Ron Tietjens4 and Terry Monaghan are capable veterans at tackle arid Ralp h; Baker has adapted well to the!' center position after 'a switch from end last spring. Bernie Sit— bol, John Simko and Frank Ware- 1 sak have all shown well at guard.' In additiOn, this year's squad has} what may be the finest corps ofc running backs in Penn State his-i tory. The top five rushers from laid. year's tram return, led by All- American halfback candidate', Roger Kochman. KOCHMAN'S PROGRESS this fall has been hindered by the re moval of two impacted wisdoms teeth. He 'is just reaching top running form and is running with the second unit. < ' An. indication of junt how strong the Nittany running garnet will be this fall is the difficulty Engle and his aides are having in finding a place.in the first unit backfield for Kochman, a poten tial All-American. Big Al Gursky has been the most impressive runner in, the Nittany camp this year front Kochman's left halfback post. Hal Powell has been almost equally impressive at right half. Buddy Torris has picked up where he left off last season is the Lions' first unit fullback and Frank Hershey and Tom Urbanik , have been Impressive u offenslvli halfbacks.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers