It was just like old times down at Soldiers Field yesterday afternoon as football practice opened with 120 young hopefuls, coaches all over the place, and a general air of let's-get-down-to-business.

There were differences, of course. The old familiar faces--Dick Harlow, Lyal Clark, Earl Brown, and almost all the lettermen--were gone, and the session was held on the House field, rather than the boarded-in enclosure of past years, but it was football practice.

It was really a get-together affair, with the coaching staff meeting most members of the squad for the first time, and most members of the coaching staff meeting Harvard football for the first time, and learning the plays along with the players at signal drill.

Martin Over Tackies

Over in one corner with Coach Dale Martin were the tackles, headed by George Hibbard of last year's Varsity and Steve Mallett, '44 Freshman captain. The guards, near the middle of the field, were taught by Head Coach Henry Lamar.

In the middle of the line Chief Specialist Frank Naumetz, co-captain at Boston College last year, coached Ed Donovan, second string last fall for Columbia, and Rick Woodruff, who made the Varsity squad here. Twenty-five ends tossed the pigskin around at the end of the field under the watchful eye of Ensign Ray Adkins.

The center of the stage, however, was held by the backs, who labored with Coaches Floyd Stahl and Frank Swirles. Though there were no experienced tail-backs reporting for duty, their absence was made up by a strong set of fullbacks.

Among the fullbacks were Paul Garrity, J.V. last fall, Paul Perkins, who scored last year against William and Mary, and Leo Lauderback, who received an invitation to the All-Star game after a year at Minnesota as second string fullback.

Swede Anderson and Jed Goldberg, the latter hailing from Johns Hopkins, led the blocking backs. Anderson weighed in at the surprising figure of 180 pounds to be the heaviest of the experienced backs. The wingbacks were headed by Ray Eder.

Of the 120 candidates, over 70 are in the V-12 program. Sixty men who reported yesterday are Freshmen, and cannot be used until after November, while several of the veterans are due to finish their college courses this summer.