Before every freshman football season, inquisitive fans pester coach Henry Lamar for an evaluation of his team. And every year Lamar gives them the same answer. "We're small," he says in his Virginia drawl, "but we're slow."

Usually he doesn't mean it; he has a Steve Diamond or a Bobby Leo up his sleeve. But in 1964 the traditional quip really rings true.

This year's freshman crop has more than its share of 160-1b, guards. And there isn't the usual stack of press raves about the 5'11" scatbacks who tore up their league with broken-field acrobatics.

But Henry Lamar is a builder of football players, not just a coach, so this year's lack of poundage and high-school credentials is not automatically a cause for despair.

"It's too early to know just what kind of team we'll field," Lamar says, "but I'll tell you this: it will be in the Harvard tradition." The Harvard tradition, for Lamar's squads, adds up to only one loss and one tie over the past two seasons.

The first game is Friday at Tufts, so Lamar is now busy sorting out his boys in search of two or three 11-man units. The job is far from complete, but yesterday's inter-squad scrimmage, the first of the year, turned up several standouts who are certain to figure in the coach's plans.

One of these in Don Chiofaro, a 5 ft., 9 in., 215-1b. guard from Belmont. Chiofaro drew a lot of attention from college scents during his schoolboy days at Belmont High and Exeter, and his alertness and crushing tackles yesterday demonstrated that the attention was well deserved. He's a linebacker on defense.

A second Exeter man, 6 ft., 2 in., 200-1b. Carter Lord, from Lakeland. Fla., is reputed to be one of the best of a strong end corps. He hit well on defense yesterday and should snag a lot of passes--if Lamar can find someone who can throw.

The coach rotated so many backs in the scrimmage that none had a chance to excel. But one halfback with unusually good lateral moves is Ron Kram, a 6 ft., 130-pounder from Regina, Saskatchewan.

There are, of course, other freshman athletic teams. Ed Meehan's cross-country runners have scored lopsided victories in their two meets to date, against Massachusetts and Providence.

The winner both times was Bob Stempson, Waltham. Running for Andover last winter, Stempson won the 1000-yard run indoors against a good Harvard freshman squad.

Dana Getchell's soccer team lost one and tied one last year, and the coach is sure he can do better this fall. "We have three good men at every position," he says. "I couldn't possibly mention five standouts without mentioning 20."

Sports '68 is a weekly column dealing with freshman athletics.