UNDAY, MAY 20, 1951 THE MICHIGAN DAILY THE MORNING LINE Green Wins Morton Award To Head List of Promising By TED PAPE Gridder V I THE SPRING PHASE of Michigan's Western Conference football title defense is over, and yesterday's scrimmage has started type- writers humming.with comments and predictions on what to expect from the Wolverine gridders next fall. Actually there is little basis for any serious prognostication at this time of year, especially under the system of head coach Bennie Oosterbaan who is anything but a taskmaster in the vernal season. We cornered the genial mentor after his white and blue teams had battled it out for over two hours on the stadium turf, and he served up an amazing assortment of generalities on his observations. He was quite emphatic about his choice for the Meyer Morton Award, however. The trophy, which signifies the most improved player in spring practice sessions, went to Merritt (Tim) Green, a junior end from Toledo who won his letter with last year's Rose Bowl club. Oosterbaan commended Green for his all-around performance both on offense and defense. In addition to his mechanical ability at blocking and tackling, his general attitude toward the game has made him a standout among the flankers. He is a six-footer and weighs 185. Green follows Don Dufek and Roger Zatkoff on the Morton list. * * * * - the new men a chance to show what potential they have for future reference. ' An analysis of the roster reveals that eight of the 22 return- ing lettermen were in action this month. That shows why it's so difficult to speculate from spring performances as to how the Wolverines will fare as a team. The fine details of the game were ignored to a great extent during the past six weeks. Little attention was given to punting or kickoffs or pass defense. Those elements receive their polishing in the fall when practice becomes much more intense and concentrated. * * * * EvEN OOSTERBAAN had to admit that there have been some sig- nificant indications coming out of early practice. The difficult problem of replacing such backfield standouts as Dufek, Chuck Ort- mann and Leo Koceski has been the most formidable. At the tailback slot Captain Bill Putich looks particularly good. He and rookie Don Zanfagna have been sharing that posi- tion and quarterback all spring. Ted Kress, another sophomore, also has done well at left half. All three are capable passers and should provide some much needed depth in the key single-wing position. Russ Rescorla and Dick Balzhizer split fullback duty for the Blue Team yesterday. and neither is another Dufek although they certainly show encouraging promise. Rescorla kicked all five of his team's extra points and he figures to handle the place-kicking next fall. He was an understudy to Harry Allis in the last campaign. IT WILL BE recalled that the right halfback spot was Michigan's biggest headache because of a, series of injuries last year. The many substitutions which resulted gives Oosterbaan a quartet of re- turning wing backs with competitive experience. In yesterday's game Don Oldham and Wes Bradford were the main attraction at right half. Tom Witherspoon and Frank Howell are also set for action. Practically the entire defense must be rebuilt since there are only two veterans of the Rose Bowl returning, Tom Johnson and Zatkoff. Coaches singled out several linemen as top fiighters in the scrimmage yesterday, among them Emil Morlock, Wayne Mel- chiori, Jim Balog, Dick Strozewski and Dick Belson. Ends Bob Topp and Thad Stanford played well on offense and should figure into varsity plans. Topp made a real circus catch of a Zanfagna pass to set up the final Blue touchdown. Stanford put forth obvious effort at his position to make up for any lack of exper- ience. He snagged an aerial in the end zone which had bounded off the hands of intended receiver Witherspoon to register six Blue points. All in all the showing was quite successful and indicates that as usual the Wolverines will be very much in the midst of things when firing begins in the Big Ten. The champion still must be dethroned and no one has been able to do it for four years now. Present at the contest yesterday were such former Michigan notables as Len Ford, now of the Cleveland Browns, Gene Derricotte and Al Wistert. Harry Stuldreher and his wife were also on hand to watch their son, Harry (Skip) Jr. take his turn at quarter for the Blues. He backs up the Putich-Zanfagna combination. ANNOUNCING -Daily-Roger Reinke END MERRITT GREEN, MOST IMPROVED PLAYER * * * * Both players went on to become bright stars after winning the spring trophy as sophomores. * * * * AS LOCAL AND DETROIT newsmen gathered around Oosterbaan outside the stadium, he expressed surprise that there was so much interest in his early results. He explained to me the other day that Michigan's off-season practice has traditionally been a rather informal promotion by the coaches. There is no pressure put on outstanding varsity players to report for spring workbuts. He gave two reasons for not calling up the proven stalwarts, one that it permits them to concentrate on school work at a critical period before examinations. That fits in with the professed philosophy of Michigan sports directors who place scholastic achievement in pri- ority over athletic activity. The second reason is purely psychological. He claims that idle veterans get itchy to return to action when they see the others slugging it out under the warm sun. Theoretically this works them up to a high pitch for late summer and fall drills. The system also allows coaches to stress fundamentals where they do the most good-among the rookies and median players. It gives Iii J1 1k 1 41 ROSE BOWL W& " ""I * r- £ A . - . I 7 c .r w L.. 1I~ AKIn A ! Y/AVC i t : t 1 £ I A (El 2 / -"- r f.;/ .SJ / r , f k, d j. .I i ty °l :rt l ;1I . " .. 9 fiM. to 5 LI' Ensian Office ,o OMEGA Lifetime gift for a most important occasion -a handsome Omega, holder of the world's record for wristwatch accuracy, and winner of more im- portant accuracy awards than any other watch in the world! For her: a watch of artful design, 14K gold-filled, 17 jewels, 18K gold applied figure dial. $71.50, Federal Tax included. For him: an Omega automatic thinnest sIf-winding watch Student PublicatiolS 1 i