From present indications Yale's 1916 football team promises to be the heaviest in several seasons. No team since the giant combination captained by Gordon Brown in 1900 has tipped the scales for more pounds. Three of the rush line weigh more than 200 pounds each, and one of the backfield is close to that weight. Zenner, from the freshman team last year is the champion heavy-weight of the combination, weighing 225 pounds. Zenner is rated as companion guard to Captain Black, another of the 200 pounders. The rush line alone averages 194 pounds.
Baldridge, right tackle, and Yale's heavyweight wrestler, is the third 200 pounder. Behind the line Hutchinson is within five pounds of the 200-pound mark. During his career at Exeter and on the Yale freshman eleven he has been fast as well as a remarkable plunging back, and he has reported with promise of proving one of Yale's most powerful line-breakers. His brother, Guy Hutchinson, was a lightning quarter-back at Yale 10 years ago.
The average weight of the Yale rush line is 194 pounds, backfield 173 pounds, and the average weight of the entire team is 186 pounds. Nothing is, of course, settled of the makeup of either combination, but, since the signal rehearsals started last week, there have been only two changes, and Yale will begin the playing season with a makeup in which most of the present players will probably figure. The approximate weights are as follows: Gates, left end, 175 pounds; Taft, left tackle, 180 pounds; Captain Black, left guard, 220; Callahan, centre, 185; Zenner, right guard, 225; Baldridge, right tackle, 200; Rosener, right end, 170; Robinson, quarterback, 160; Le Gore, left halfback, 175; Bingham, right halfback, 165 pounds; Hutchinson, fullback, 195 pounds. There is more 200-pound material on the side lines, Galt, freshman tackle last year, weighing 220 pounds, and McGrath, of last year's second eleven, 200 pounds.
The Princeton football candidates have been practising at Lake Winnewaska, New York, for the last two weeks. Coach Rush has been playing particular attention to drop and place kickers of ability, and recent cold weather has given the coaches an opportunity to hold scrimmages. In the backfield of the first eleven were Haas, Moore, Driggs and Mathiasen, and these men showed up strongly on both the offensive and defensive.
Princeton's Policy Analyzed.
Commenting on the work of the Princeton team, the Evening Post comments:
"The Tigers start their season with one asset that has been lacking in past years--a tested running offence. This means more than might appear on the surface. In the two big games of 1915 the Tigers gained more ground and made more first downs than either of their opponents; there is no gainsaying the impressions aroused by this unusual fact. Here is the interesting table of ground gained, relative punting distance, and first downs made by running in the Harvard and Yale games:
"As will be seen the scores do not in any way reflect Princeton's greater ability to gain ground through carrying the ball, nevertheless facts to be adduced from these comparative figures are significant. Chiefly they bring John Rush, the coach, into relief. In one season this man, who came from a secondary school in the Middle West, who had not seen big Eastern teams in action in many years, gave to the Tigers something they had lacked since 1899, a dependable ground-gaining system. It would be blinking the situation to assume that Princeton, win or lose, will have an attack which will give pause to her strongest opponents. Certainly, he has the material to work with. In Driggs he has a punter good for any distance up to sixty yards, and a man who showed late last season that he knows how to turn the ends. In Tibbott he has a dangerous open field-runner and an expert drop-kicker. In Moore he has a fast, elusive back. We shall see Princeton this year making a lot of use of her backfield in the way of returning kick-offs. The Tigers last season showed a very interesting protective system for a man coming back with a placement kick or punt, and no doubt it will be built upon this year. Last season the short, sharp forward pass came into view in the latter games, and will unquestionably be developed this year. The plays calling for quick turns off tackle, operating from a masked thrust, will be improved, and there will be in the latter games one or two novel offensive formations. On defence it should be recalled that no eleven was able to punch its way over Princeton's goal-line by direct thrusts last season. Lessons taught by methods through which opponents did make their scores against Nassau will, no doubt, prove effective this season. All in all the Tigers will be an interesting eleven to watch this autumn, and on the face of things, they promise to go far, provided a quarterback suitable to Rush's needs can be developed."
Virginia Loses Heavily.
The Evening Post, speaking of the University's opponent on Nov. 4, says:
"The University of Virginia eleven faces a difficult schedule of games, and she does not feel that she is overly equipped to make the best of it. There is but one backfield veteran available Captain Sparr, the fullback. Mayer Anderson and Rhodes, who made such an impression at New Haven and Cambridge, are not in college, and Tippett is not expected to return to the University. This leaves an array of substitute material, Pace, Churchman, Goodwin and Kinsolvin, to fill the missing places. In addition to backfield men who have been lost through one cause or another, stalwart forwards, such as Bergley, Stillwell, Calhoun. Brown and Coleman, are missing; in all four letter men are expected to try for positions on the eleven. As assets, there are Barker, a transfer from the University of Missisippi; White, the veteran linesman; Coleman, the All-Southern guard, and Ward. Carrington, Gooch and Wagenknight are three candidates for the empty quarterback berth; all of them are accomplished players."
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CROSS COUNTRY TEAMS REPORT THIS AFTERNOON
