Word: backfields
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...finishing with a magnificent November. Coach John Yovicsin faced what? a totally inexperienced line and a what? a powerful array of backs when he what? opened drills in early September. The 1962 Harvard experience seemed to settle an old football argument: Is a good line or a fine backfield more important to the success of a football team? Operating without the protection of a dependable forward wall during the first part of the season, Harvard's backs looked rather ordinary. When the line had begun to respond to the coaching efforts of Yovicsin, Jim Lents, Jim Feula, and Paul Mckee...
...most glaring absurdity is the presence of three quarterbacks (Dartmouth's Bill King, Cornell's Gary Wood, and Columbia's Archie Roberts) in the first string backfield, and none in the second. If there is to be any pretense to choosing by position, then these selections are unreasonable. To be consistent, the coaches should have just chosen the best 11 players in the League regardless of position. The current system has coaches vote for linemen by position, and for four backs...
Placing three quarterbacks on the first string conceivably could be defended if there was a great dearth of talent at other backfield positions. There wasn't this year, and this resulted in another mistake-the omission of Harvard's halfback Bill Taylor...
Yovicsin began the season with only five lettermen in the line, and injuries quickly began impairing the efficiency of the sophomores and JV hopefuls. But despite these difficulties, Harvard eventually built a wall capable of protecting its excellent backfield, and the coaching staff and the team deserve applause for that feat alone...
...this stage of the game it is hard to say much about the backfield except that it should be the best in the League. Bill Taylor will be missed, of course, but not desperately. Hobie Armstrong and Hank Hatch also leave, creating the need for another fast back...