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Poge 2-B Th« Red and Block Thursday, Sept. 24, 1970
who decided that the Dogs were a
sixth place team And last year, Ten- I
ll
The Sky-Writers
curse Ole Miss
By BOB GILES
Sports editor
Ever heard ol the Sky-Writers' 1 A
rather harmless looking bunch But
Vince Dooley can tell you about the
awesome power they possess He has
felt both their sling and their tickle in
the past two seasons
The line out on the Sky-Writers
says that it they pick you first, you
can instruct the sports information
director at your institition ol higher
learning U> start compiling a scrap
book to help explain what waylaid the
glorious plans of the late summer
tine reason a Sky-Writer is so dan
gerous is his unpredictable physical
appearance There is no one body type
a coach can alert the student manag
er to keep an eye on Some of them
are tall gaunt men with spider-like
arms It would not be difficult to find
several Mutt and Jeff look-alike pairs
nor are the All American boy types
unrepresented in this group
If a coach hail no fear of being ac
cused ol cronyism and the opportunity
to mingle among the unpredictable
scoundrels, he might note rather
quickly that a Sky-Writer could be
identified by his aggressive outgoing
manner it only there were no such
thing as businessmen and bricklayers
with the- same qualifications.
Georgia's powerful 1UK8 Southeast
ern Conference championship may
have been a gift of the Sky-Writers
over them by being condemned to
middle class citizenship in the stand
ings
At the same time last season, Vince
Dooley's Georgia team, the defending
champs, were pronounced fit enough
to bring the SEC title home to Athens
again
My personal sentiments but not my
vote would have gone to Georgia last
season had I been granted sufferage
Like Dooley, I felt that the writers
were a little unfounded in their opti
mistic reports about the Dogs. The
speed of Kent Lawrence and the
blocking of Brad Johnson may have
been missed more than the Sky-Writ
ers realized
This year one of the Sky-Writers, no
doubt bored at the ease of picking who
would finish where, reported that he
had learned that David Roller, one of
the few Kentucky football players
worthy of note, had been the object of
an intense recruiting battle in which
several schools alledgedly made
handsome offers of some "fringe
benefits."
The whole situation was confused
for a while The schools involved sent
out formal denials By this time, the in
cident had raised a few eyebrows in
the SEC office and it launched an in
vestigation into the matter, the re
sults of which are still pending at this
writing Other than Roller's revela
tions, the tour deviated little from the
mean
Archie Manning and his Ole Miss
playmates got the kiss of death as
expected and the other conference
coaches clapped their collective
hands in glee But, if fools are to be
made of the Sky-Writers again on the
first place choice, they will have the
company of eight of the league s 10
coaches
The Birmingham News poll of
coaches gave the nod to Ole Miss and
relegated Georgia to seventh The
Sky-Writers see the Dogs finishing no
higher than fifth One Georgia player
says he sees no reason why the team
should not go 1(H). Playboy concedes
the eight spot in the nation and first
place in the SEC to Georgia.
So who are you gonna believe' 1
Glad you asked. I cannot see Ole Miss
going undefeated or Georgia going 10-
0. I don’t mean to ignore L.SU be
cause the Bengals of Charley Mc
Clendon are going to handle Archie and
Company on December 5. a Saturday-
night in Baton Rouge
The Tigers lost more than just a
game when the Johnny Rebs nipped
them 26-23 last year They saw the
SEC crown and a bid from several
major bowls snatched from them
They have not forgotten and I don't
think they will.
Now. Georgia Eight of the ten
scheduled opponents are. <n my esti
mation. capable of wipping the Dogs
One can logically rule out Mississippi
State and Kentucky for now but keep
in mind that State had a 4-1 freshman
team including a big win over Ole
Miss and Kentucky decisioned the
Rebs last season. 10-9
The trouble with making any con
crete predictions about Georgia is
that they could have a fine team and
still end up with a 5-5 record. It
sounds like a cop out but Dooley's
men probably won’t humiliate anyone
nor will they be humiliated.
Personally, I tend to be. like Dool
ey. cautiously optimistic. A strong
point of this year's team is the re
ceiving corps. New offensive coach
Fred Pancoast from Florida has de
vised a pro-type offense in which he
can have Billy Brice. Mike Greene
and Charles Whittemore in the game
at the same time
This trio could be the best group of
receivers in the conference After
Dennis Hughes was hurt last year,
teams began to key on Whittemore.
thus signalling the end of any consist
ent passing game that might have
existed. James Ray, the sophomore
starting quarterback that came back
to Athens about 20 pounds heavier and
in great shape has been very effective
in practice in lulling his receivers.
Erk Russell's defense will be as
sound as ever and will have a little
weight this time around Buz Rosen
berg takes the place of injured Phil
Sullivan in the defensive backfield
The ex-N'orthside quarterback is fast,
aggressive, intelligent and makes his
height disadvantage minimal with his
amazing jumping ability.
The other day at practice. Dooley
was recounting how his team had
played well in the disasterous second
hall of last season but just kept get
ting knocked down again "We played
as well as we could have against Ten
nessee and Auburn and we almost
beat Florida, probably should have,”
he said.
But every time we d get ourselves
knocked down and then start to get
back up. we d just get knocked right
back down and it killed us against
Georgia Tech.' he went on.
Well, this year the Dogs have more
size and some top-notch sophs that
can make it big and they won't be as
easy to knock down
I may be a candidate for the Sky-
Writers by the season's end but Geor
gia looks like a second place team
right now
Pancoast rates Dog offense on par with Reaves and Co.
depth.’’
The offensive line includes
Mike LoPatka and Tom Nash at
tackles. John Jennings and
Royce Smith at guards, and
Tommy Lyons at center
THE GEORGIA running at
tack seems to be better than
the 1969 Gators with Jack Mont
gomery and Julian Smiley at
tailback and sophomore Robert
Honeycutt at fullback Ricky
Lake is also counted upon to
boost the strength of die offen
sive backfield when he re
covers from a ligament injury
in a few weeks
Pancoast also stated that
Montgomery, a former quart
erback, is an excellent receiver
which will enable the team to
use numerous flexible forma
tions."
The Bulldogs talented re
ceiving corps enables Georgia
to use a formation which in
cludes all three experienced
ends - Mike Greene at tight
end, Biliy Brice at split end.
and Charles Whittemore at
flanker
It is believed that Brice will
be used primarily at tight end.
Whittemore at split end, and
Rex Putnal at flanker
MEN -
not it yoi n houses ni l you see
FASHIONS IS Cl \vs noi TIQUF.
"THE El.F.C.TRl( MOTHER''
GUNN’S
00WNT0WN ATHENS
Fred Pancnad head offense
roach, has indicated he feel*
the Georgia offense could sur
pass the attack put forth by the
potent record-breaking Florida
offense he guided last season
Pancoast reported he feels
the bulldogs are stronger than
Florida in most areas and im
proving in the weak areas He
said. I think we will continue
to do so. refermg to constant
offensive improvement
The Florida offense aver
aged 4.18 8 yards a game during
the 1989 season for a SEC re
cord
He indicated that Georgia
would have balanced attack
rather than Florida's big play-
offense an I then said "This of
fense will be very capable of
moving the football if it will
continue to improve its timing
between passers and receiv
ers ''
JAMES KAY, the sophomore
quarterback from Columbia.
S.C.. is the man who has been
picked to carry the brunt of the
new pro-type offense with more
emphasis on the passing game
than in previous seasons
Pancoast expressed great
faith in the ability of the offen
sive line, a trouble spot in the
:9ti9 offense He commented
that, they have experience,
size and speed plus good
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No. 2 - Baxter Street Shopping Center-
next to Campus Book Store
MR. HAIRCUT
Packed house assured
for Dog-Auburn clash
SPLIT END BILLY BRICE STRENGTHENS RECEIVERS
Junior mi,led la,t ttaion with bad ankle
John King drops grant
When the Auburn Plainsmen
entertain Ihe Georgia Bulldogs
Nov 14 in Auburn. Cliff Hare
Stadium will be packed The
War Eagles athletic business
manager Bill Beckwith recent
ly announced that the impor
tant SEC battle will be seen by
a capacity crowd at 61 MX)
"it's the earliest we've ever
sold out the Georgia game
since the series moved here
from Columbus in I960. Beck
with noted
The Dogs will be out to av
enge a 16-3 loss last season to
the Plainsmen between the
hedges The Tigers, highly rat
ed in pre-season polls, can tie
the series with a win In past
games, the Dogs have won 34.
lost 33 and tied six
The first Negro athlete ever
signed to a football grant-in-aid
by the University of (Ieorgia
will not go here as originally
planned, it was recently re
vealed
John King, a H-4. 220 pound
fullback from Sparkman High
School in Toney. Ala . was
signed by the freshman team
coach Bvrd Whigham last win
ter but announced to Georgia
coaches shortly before practice
began this fall that he was
going to the University of Min
nesota
Currently, there are three
other black athletes on scholar
ship at the University
In other football news. Geor
gia lost another player recently
when Andy Knox decided to
give up the game due to recur
ring injuries
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