It's a nine-week season for football fans, just a bit longer for sports-writers. But for John Tyson, it began in early July.

Tyson, a sophomore safety who has performed surprisingly well, knew last Spring that Coach John Yovicsin considered him in the Crimson's defensive plans. So Tyson got together with Ron Burton, now a sophomore star quarter-back for Colgate, and worked daily on the fundamentals of pass defense.

"It was difficult at first," Tyson said, "because Ron plays offense, and we had to work out a training program that would benefit us both."

They began with running and weight-lifting, just as they did as backfield mates at Montclair (N.J.) High School two years ago. Soon, they were out on the high school field for an hour and a half before dark every weeknight. Tyson would start backpedaling, and Burton would fire the ball a few feet to one side of him or the other. Over and over again.

Sometimes, Tyson would play offensive end in their two-man game. It gave him a chance to see how receivers think and move, and most of all, "I got plenty of chance to catch the ball."

Football drills can get rather dull after a while, but Tyson kept himself alert by spending his days 40 stories high over Madison Avenue in Manhattan, doing construction work on the New York Life Building. It's the kind of work that adds creases to Yovicsin's brow.

By August, a number of other college players joined Burton and Tyson on the the Montclair field, including Rick Craw of Lafayette, who has since spent a sad day in Cambridge. Now, as Harvard practice drew near, Tyson got a chance to defend for real, with Burton throwing to another receiver.

"We had a game going, Ron and I, to see how many times he could beat me," Tyson chuckled. He wouldn't say who won, but after three weeks of the season it looks like they both did.

The husky sophomore quit his construction job and stepped it up to two practice sessions a day. He was determined to return to Cambridge in perfect condition.

When it was time for Burton and Tyson to go back to school, the two "best buddies in high school" decided not to write to each other during the Fall. "If you want to find out how things are going, John, you can read about me in the papers," Burton quipped.