Page Six C THE MICHIGAN DAILY Thursday, September 19, 1968 THE MICHIGAN DAILY Thursday, September 19, 1968 Gators By BILL CUSUMANO The brutal Southeastern Con- ference, which transforms football from a game to a way of life, will once again provide the nation with several highly ranked teams. Alabama, LSU, Tennessee, and Georgia are as strong as ever and could all challenge for the con- ference championship. None, however, of the tradition- al powers should win the cham- pionship as Florida has a team ready to take over the conference. The Gators are led by 220 pound fullback Larry Smith. Smith is undoubtedly the best running back in the South. -- I prepa Clearing the way for Smith is a fine offensive line led by All; SEC guard Guy Dennis, and tight} end Jim Yarbrough. e to snare, SEC title Florida's strongest w e a p o n, though, is its defense. Coach Ray Graves claims that the defense might just be his best ever. The platoon is big and fast, a trade- mark of SEC teams. Florida has one more asset, and it isa the Gators' best one. That is they only play one tough confer- ence opponent, Georgia. The re- mainder of the schedule is a cake- walk and only a letdown against the Bulldogs could keep Florida from its first SEC crown. Florida will have to be at its best to beat Georgia because they are not about to play patsy for anyone. Tennessee was lucky to escape with a tie in their opener with the Bulldogs. The Bulldog offense is entirely t {4 I i t a (k I ground oriented. Quarterbacks Paul Gilbert and Mike Cavan are both untested but the aerial game won't usually be needed because the running is so strong. Bruce Kemp and Brad Johnson are both power runners, while Kent Law- rence, conference 100-yard dash champ, constantly threatens to break away on the outside. The defense strongly supports the offense by forcing mistakes NATIONAL RICHMOND FLOWERS -m- CHARGE IT! 0 PRESCRIPTIONS " COSMETICS 0 MEN'S TOILETRIES i~o~hcary 1112 South University 'Phone 663-5533 Highest Quality Always University of Michigan JUDO ASSOCIATION will have its Organization Meeting in Room 3D of the UNION at 7:30 P.M. THURS., SEPT. 19th Newcomers and experienced players both are welcome. OUTLOOK and punts, and punting to Geor- gia can turn into disaster with Jake Scott doing the returning. There are more than two tough teams in the SEC and nobody is disregarding Tennessee and Ala- bama. Tennessee's Bubba Wyche lived up to his reputation as a clutch quarterback last week when he passed for a touchdown against Georgia as the final gun sounded and then hit Ien DeLong for a two point conversion to pull out the tie. DeLong and Terry Dalton are Wyche's main receivers and they are good ones. The defense hits hard, and any team coming into Knoxville will come out hurting. Linebacker Steve Kiner and "monster man" I Nick Showalter lead the Volunteer, defenders. Tennessee's biggest hope now is that Richmond Flowers will re- join the team since his attempt to make the Olympic team failed. One man who would not like to see Flowers return is Bear Bry- ant, the legendary coach at Ala- bama. Flowers is the one that got away and came back to haunt the Bear last year. But this is another year and' Alabama could have the stuff to take Tennessee. Bryant will rely on his lean and hungry defense more than ever but they should be good enough to do the job. Seven starters return from last year's unit, led by end Mike Ford.- The passing game could, how- ever, be the downfall of the Crim- son Tide, both on defense and of-I fense. For the first time in yearsI Bryant does not have at Pat Tram- mel,? Joe Namath or Ken Stabler as quarterback. Senior Joe Kelley is known for his running and not much else. The Alabama runners will have to make up for the poor aerial attack. Eddie Morgan, leading rushrer last year, Tommy Wade Larry Helm, Phil Chaffin and Purdue transfer Pete Jilleba could give 'Bama a set of backs as good as any in 'the. South. One other name of note is that of George Ranger a sophomore flanker. If Bryant can ever find someone to throw the ball near him, Alabama could go all the way. LSU is faced with the same problem as Alabama, quarterback. The Bayou Bengals must replace Nelson Stokely, a great clutch per- former for the past two seasons. Fred Haynes steps into the breach left by Stokely, but only with less than impressive creden- tials. For this reason LSU will probably rely on the overland route to score points. Fullback Eddie Ray is a power- ful runner and is joined by two speedy tailbacks, Tommy Allen and Glenn Smith, who was the star of the 1968 Sugar Box(l. Defense is usually the, strong point for the Tigers, but this year WELCOME STUDENTS! 0 DISTINCTIVE COLLEGIATE HAIRSTYLING for Men-. And Women-- OPEN 6 DAYS THE DASCOLA BARBERS Near Michigan Theatre } could be different. John Garling- ton and Sammy Grezaffi have graduated and.Jerry Kober flunk- ed out of school. The substitutes are good, but opponents might find the going easier than in pre- vious years. The rest of the conference can only look forward to a long season. Mississippi looks to be the best of the lot but they must use soph- omore quarterback Archie Man- ning, which means deep trouble in a conference this tough. Auburn doesn't have quarter- back problems because Loran Carter led the SEC in total offense last year. The rest of the team is weak and the schedule is mur- derous. Kentucky can be called the best of the worst, but only because they have Dicky Lyons the most versatile player in the conference. Vanderbilt is rebuilding and is not even fortunate enough to pos- sess anyone of the stature of Lyons. However, Vanderbilt can take solace in the fact that they ~hould finish ahead of Mississippi State, a team with nothing but hope I and prayer. BACKFIELD BACK: Complete secondary returns to pin hopes on experience IM ATHLETE OF THE YEAR Junior Robert Filler (center) accepts the annual Intramural Athlete of the Year from Daily Sports Editor Dave Weir (right) and Intramural Director Rod Grambeau. Last year Miller, repre- senting Sigma Alpha Epsidon, took part in twelve sports, hid favorites being basketball and tennis. I L I! I POWERLESS? REGISTER TO WHY? V OT CITY HALL-Huron and Fifth Ave. for information on eligibility call By BILL DINNER Starting shakily last season, with minimal experience on the field and little training as a team, the defensive backfield hid their potential with unfortunate suc- cess. But by the middle of the season their talent was emerging. Team work, however, was still around the corner. By the end of the season the backfield was working as a well oiled machine, and they were a prominent factor when the Wol- verines won three of their last four games. The defensive backfield, togeth- er with their offensive counter- parts are the only squads return- ing intact. Hank Fonde, defensive back- field coach, feels that the backs should be a strong section of the team, "The squad worked very well last year, and I expect them to pick up where they left off." However, there already is an injury problem with the starting squad of Gborge Hoey, Brian Healy, Gerry Hartman, and Tom Curtis. In practice Hartman, a two time letterman and a solid preformer,. injured one of his ankles and then proceded to hurt his other one. Coach Fonde has high for Wedge, "he has very speed and I think he willc excellent season." hopes good see anr Hartman is still hampered by his leg injuries and will not start against California. Replacing Hartman is senior Bob Wedge. He was injured in the spring and consequently missed the spring drills. Last year Wedge played as a linebacker but was switched to right safety this sea- son. voter registration SGC-763-102 The other safety position will be' patroled by Curtis. As a safety Curtis is concerned with the run- ning, game as well as an airborn attack. Curtisdid a good job with both and managed to snag seven opponents passes, equalling a Big Ten record. Curtis, the biggest of the small backs (6'1", 192 lb.) proved to be a very adept tackler, ranking sixth among the Wolverines' At right corner back will be Hoey. Though small (5'10", 170 lb.), Hoey more than adequately makes it up with speed and ag- gressiveness. Many of the men he faces tower over him but his size has not been a detriment. Splitting his time between track (a 9.6 sprinter) and football Hoey showed his versatility last season when he led. the Big Ten in punt returns and placed very well na- tionally. Coach Fonde called him "the fastest man on the team." Rounding out the quartet is Brian Healy, a junidr from San- dusky, Ohio. Healy is a good tack- ler and also nabbed twointercep- tions last year. With no playing experience at the beginning of last season Healy has progressed into a solid cornerback. Backing up Hoey and Healy at the corners will be Barry Pierson and, Mark Werner. Coach Fonde was pleased with them, "In early practices both Mark I and Barry showed excellent improvement and should add good support to the corners." Helpingat the safeties are sophomore Tim Killian and Bob White. Killian showed promise as a freshman and in addition to his safety chores he may also do some placekicking. Last year he kicked four field goals in two freshman games. In all coach Fonde has been generally pleased with the back- field. 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