The ideal backfield contains four punters, drop and placement kickers, and forward passers, but such a backfield is as rare as the white rhinoceros. But if both fullback and quarter can punt, forward pass and drop-kick, the head coach should be happy indeed, for around these two can be built any number of promising plays. The final quality of the quarter, in which he should surpass every one of his team mates, big and little, is immunity to injury, for he is the brains of the team, and should be in action from whistle to whistle.

On the defense the backs are worked quite as hard as on the attack, for there are all sorts of plays to guard against. The men must not be drawn out of position by fakes and threats of fakes, and they must above all things tackle savagely and accurately, and catch kicks cleanly. I mean catching kicks, too, not allowing them to strike the ground in the hope of picking them up on the bound. The safest method of catching kicks, of course, is to take them in a pocket formed by the arms, one leg and stomach - in no event should the ball be taken against the chest - but there are times when the ball has to be taken on the run in any manner possible, and the backs would do well to practise catching the leather in their hands in the style of the Carlisle Indians, who have from time to time learned to catch the ball like a baseball. The advantage gained in taking the ball on the run is very great, for the runner will already be in his stride and is very apt to be overrun by the ends coming down the field; it is then only necessary to follow the clearest path up the field - up the side line if one of the ends has been by any clever blocking or streak of luck turned in instead of out. It is when well done in his own territory and against the wind that the catcher of kicks is put to the severest test, for he cannot tell whether he will have to face long kicking or short, and in the case of a ball falling close to his goal line he will have to use his own judgment as to whether to make the catch or allow the leather to go over the line for a touchdown.

Were the ball round instead of being what the rule book terms a "prolate spheroid," there would be little difficulty in making a choice, for in the former case it would be certain to go over the goal line from a reasonable distance. But the yellow egg is often apt to bound straight up in the air or even back toward the kicker, and even if captured in front of the line, the back is in serious danger of being thrown across the last chalk mark for a safety, a most discouraging happening for the team so scored upon. The safety is one of the game's demoralizers, and the defensive back thrown across his own line might as well be taken out of the game, as a general rule, for his nerve will not be as good as it was before the score was made.

Backs who are lying in wait for kicks must coach each other just as do outfielders in baseball, and the back who is making the catch and has yelled "I have it" must be protected and covered by his associate. Above all things he must not take his eye off the ball in order to look up the field, for he will need to concentrate his attention on the leather until he has it safely gripped. After that he should take one glance at the field in the course of the first lunge straight ahead or diagonally - never laterally, or back. It might easily be possible to dodge one or both of the ends by running back, but in so doing all work of the players up the field in blocking will be nullified, and the opposing eleven will have time in which to form and come down on the catcher rapidly. Needless to say, perhaps, the first duty of the non-catching back is to put out one or both of the ends, going to the earth with them if necessary.

As the man with the ball glances up the field he must decide instantly on which side of the gridiron the greatest execution has been done by the defense. If one of his own backs or ends has put out one of the opposing ends, or even turned him in, the runner should make for that side, and after a short dash turn straight up the field. The back who is putting out the end should down him so as to fall across him if possible and so pin him to the earth, that the runner may have all the time possible to get up the field at top speed before he strikes the main body of the opposing team. If the run has been well to the side it is barely possible that the opponents have been pulled over in that direction, leaving a "broken field" on the other side of the gridiron. In this case the man who can make a sharp turn and cross the field at a diagonal to the five-yard lines will be able to add many yards to the length of his run.

In facing kicking with the wind of the extremely clever order that is frequently in evidence nowadays, the back should remember that while the spiral, or twisting ball, that rides the wind for a long time, will give him valuable seconds in which to maneuver, he must make his judgment of the ball's final destination on the basis of the early part of its flight, for once well on the downward course the ball will come very fast, and usually far short of the spot where the uninitiated would naturally expect it to land. Once in the zone formed by the field and the lower tiers of the big stands the air will usually be still, save when the wind is very strong, and close to the ground there is apt to be a back-draft comparable with the undertow at the seashore. These things will have to be taken into account when facing the kicking game, and a study of the field of play and its air currents, or what Walter Camp has called "wind echoes" should be undertaken by all the backs before the big games.

There are peculiarities of wind and sun in the Harvard Stadium not to be found at Yale Field, and vice versa, and conditions at Franklin Field are different from those at West Point. On the "Plains" the wind is steadier, and continues its influence close to the ground, making low, fast kicking very difficult to handle. Again, since there is far more sky background at the Point than at most other fields, the lofty kicking is also difficult to judge. Many a sure catcher has come to grief against the Army for these reasons. There is far less of the "wind echo" effect at Yale Field than in the Harvard Stadium. With the " bowl," or closed end of the stadium behind him, the catcher of kicks is apt to be in difficulties most of the time. When the wind strikes into the open end of the stadium diagonally it swings off the farther wall in an arc that is apt to terminate in a back current short of the goal line, and in this situation the ball not only descends very fast, but also very erratically. The man who is preparing to meet the kicking game there can verify these statements easily enough by experimenting with bits of paper. A little experimenting with straws even in the course of the game itself will do no harm.