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Show Few ever pay any particular attention at-tention to the center, a star guard or a brilliant tackle. Few ever fix an eagle eye on a smashing blocking block-ing back. The crowds, and this also Includes In-cludes most of the football writers. are watching the ball carriers, the passers and the pass receivers, who are usually out in the open, who supply most of the color and action in any game. The men who are just as important, who have to handle Brennan bnJnt o c0. flict, usually are overlooked. For this reason, the football campaign cam-paign of 1947 is almost an exact duplicate of other years. The headlines head-lines and the laurels are going to the backs, to the passers and the receivers. It is difficult to recall a season where so many backs have drawn this age-old citation "He can't be left off anybody's all-star team." What they forget, as far as any all-star backfield selection is concerned, con-cerned, is this you can't put 15 or 20 men Into four pairs of cleated shoes. Here are just a few of the men who "can't be left off": Lujack of Notre Dame, Layne of Texas, Walk-j er of S.M.U., Conerly of Mississippi, 1 Scott of Arkansas, Minisi of Penn- sylvania,- Brennan of Notre Dame, ! Evans of Kansas, Chappuis and Elliott El-liott of Michigan, Self and Girard of Wisconsin, Cloud of William and Mary, a fine fullback, McCardle and Doll of Southern California, Gilmer Gil-mer of Alabama, Bailey of Virginia, Burns of Rutgers, Nadherny of Yale, Gossides of Columbia, Taliaferro of Indiana and too many others to be mentioned. In any event, here are 21 fine backs rated high in the nation's ranking. There are other unlisted nominations from the Northwest. Each section sees only its stars in action and knows what these stars can do, with little knowledge of stars from other sections. The Local Vieivpoint This is only natural. You watch a Conerly, a Gilmer, a Layne, a Walker, an Evans, a Scott from the South and the Southwest alone, and you feel quite certain that anyone of these is the star back in the country. coun-try. And you may be right, then again you may not be right. Maybe no one will be right. The high level of class doesn't leave much margin. There are too many outside factors to consider such as time, experience and all-around all-around versatility. A great football back should be able to run, pass, block and tackle especially tackle the final word. Only top rankers can block and tackle. Football is studded with passers and ball carriers. It lsn'l studded with blockers and tacklers. This is an unselfish job. Ask any coach. In the argument that concerns the best backs of the year we can take you to the South and the Southwest. The deep South Insists that Conerly Con-erly of Mississippi and Gilmer of Alabama are two of the outstanding outstand-ing stars. Many scouts that J? respect re-spect rank both over Layne of Texas and Walker of S.M.U. Gilmer can pass, run, block and tackle. He is an amazing football player who weighs about 158 pounds. Now equally smart football players play-ers write me that Walker of S.M.U. and Layne of Texas belong with any top four. Layne is a brilliant passer. pass-er. Walker, a sophomore, can do everything a coach wants. But three coaches from the Southwest South-west write me that Smackover Clyde Scott, formerly with Navy, Is a better all-around back than Layne or Walker. He is a star on a weak ball club, who has picked up more ground than either Layne or Walker. Then word comes from off the trail that Ray Evans of Kansas outclasses out-classes Conerly, Scott, Layne, Walker Walk-er or Gilmer. Evans has had four or five brilliant years of college and army football. All the Kansan can do is run, pass, kick, block and tackle. The pros want him more than anyone else. Other Headliners In the meanwhile, there Is Minisi Min-isi of Pennsylvania who also has had four or five big years passer, ball carrier, blocker and star defensive defen-sive back. Also a fellow known as Johnny Lujack of Notre Dame a big factor at Notre Dame four seasons sea-sons ago who can pass or run and who happens to be probably the best defensive back In football today. -Fritz Crisler of Michigan admits that Chappuis has been his main 'factor on offense: Running and passing. Cloud of William and Mary is probably the best fullback in the country. Few even know his name. He is 212 pounds of Doc Blanchard. The pros will come up with some unknown from an unknown team who will outclass many of these I have mentioned. They merely never had the chance to prove their stuff. |