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Show 'Irish Boast Only 187 at . Spring Drill By EARL HDLLIGAN v SOUTH BEND, Ind, March 22 CI Only 17 candidate cam out lor spring practice, th head coach didn't even ahow up and tha Irlih v are in a "losing streak" but don't jump to th conclusion th bottom ha dropped . out pf Notre Dum'i football fortune. For on thinf. you hav Head 3oach Elmer Ley-ien's Ley-ien's word for it hat Notr Dame will hav a team :ome ' next fall, ind a " "pretty rood" one at that. For another, he insists that the inly reaaon he lidn't ahow up at yesterday's "public" "pub-lic" showing of th Irish gridders e' t.,j, was because of a 1 Lwde" iiighr eoid. And lastly, that losing streak ran for just ons gams ths U. S. C. gams last December and tha Irish are going to be very stubborn about Its being extended. The 1ST football hopefuls went through their paces for photographers photogra-phers and news reel cameramen yesterday. yes-terday. While that number might be considered a good sited gridiron army by soms football coaches, it by no means constitutes any record rec-ord at Notre Dame. In the dsye of the immortal Knute Rockne, a soms 300 candidates reported one spring. But Layden, upon learning that . enough players had showed up for scrimmage, promptly issued the statement that tha Irish would be en hand at all their nine scheduled , games next falL "But the opposition Is going to be tough," he insisted. "We open with Purdue and I understand they , hav been hard hit by graduation losing all of fivs men. Carnegie Tech and Southern California also will be strong. Maybe we'll be able to make it interesting. f Just a Habit Notre Dams, somehow, always manages to make It interesting. The Irish, however, would like to make things doubly interesting for Southern California, the team that ' whipped the Irish, 11 to 0, last December , snspplng an eight-came eight-came victory string. Captaia John Kelly, right end, is the only first string lineman will , return. So Layden's big Job will be to find linemen. Topflight backs ars numerous. Such tried stars as Ben Sheridan, Harry Stevenson, Bob Saggau. Steve Sitko, Joe Theslng and Milt Pie-pul Pie-pul give Notre Dame the nucleus of a strong attack. Imposing Schedule ' In addition to Purdue, Notre Dame plays Georgia Tech, Southern South-ern California, Navy, Army, Iowa, Carnegie Tech, Southern Methodist and Northwestern. , A few "dropkicks" over the Irish spring football picture: Any boy turning out for football geta a suit sven if an extra one has to be ordered. But that isn't Ukely. i ... Jack McAllister, custodian of equipment, reports 800 boys can be outfitted ... 21 new footballs were tossed out at th opening practice. . . . About 145 balls will be used this spring and next fall. |