With kicking at its scientific height to-day almost any backfield is apt to strike moments of demoralization. Under such conditions it is a good plan to signal for a fair catch a few times in order to steady down and get a better understanding of the range. The signalling may be abandoned as soon as the backs are once more in form.

Under the rule that permits quick kicking under the scrimmage line, or very close to it, an attacking team that sweeps across the center of the field will very often open a quick, low, kicking assault, and this, too, is difficult to face. In general, however, it is safe to say that these kicks are more apt to bound forward than back, and the defense should take plenty of room, in order not to meet the ball on the half-bound. Princeton once won a game against the Carlisle Indians at the Polo Grounds with this low-kicking attack. The ball was wet and hard to handle, and the kicks were driven right at the feet of the Indian backs. They failed to take the necessary room and were soon in a state bordering on demoralization. Other instances might be cited. That the ball will bound forward a great deal of the time on these low kicks has been amply demonstrated by teams that have attempted to work the old onside kick successfully. Two or three years ago Pennsylvania literally bombarded a Michigan eleven with these low, onside kicks, but the ball would not bound up so that the end, who was right on the spot, could recover, and the Western backs, taking plenty of room, picked up the leather cleanly and blocked the well-conceived Quaker plan of action.

When the defensive tean is playing its ends on the line against the kicking game the two hacks who are in the first line of backfield defense should concern themselves with the ends coming down the field under the punting. These they should endeavor to pin to the ground or turn in, so that there will be a clear path up the side of the field. If the ends are played back of the line, they will have the first crack at the opposing ends. They should turn and come back down the field with them, also turning them in if possible, while the backs look after other forwards, fast tackles or guards, who are also in the hunt.

It is important to get these other line men out of the way, for they will often nail the catcher of a kick even if the end has been able to do no more than stagger him for an instant by an incomplete tackle. Much of the arrangement of the defense depends upon the distance the kicker stands behind his own line of forwards. Should he be reasonably close every effort should be made to block him; while if, as was the case with Coy and others of his type, he often kicks from eleven or twelve yards behind the scrimmage line, the attention should be turned toward keeping his men from getting down the field, blocking as many men as possible right on the first line of defense. This feature belongs properly to a consideration of generalship, but is mentioned here to show that the individuals in the defense will have to adapt their personal efforts to the needs of the immediate situation.

While on the subject of catching kicks the catching of forward passes, both offensively and defensively, may well be considered. This sort of catching has to be done with the hands alone, and the advantage is of course with the defense, for the player in that case is facing the pass, and while holding on to the ball once it is touched is the desideratum, the mere beating of it down will spoil the play as a ground gainer. If the back cannot get both hands on the ball, he should at least knock it down with one. On the offense both backs and ends should be expert handlers of the forward pass, and nothing but practice, constant and intelligent, will make them so. Some teams shoot the pass direct to the receiver, others to where the receiver should be at a certain instant. The former practice has the advantage that the receiver will be able to turn considerably to receive the ball, while the man who has to be at a designated spot, reaching there after the ball has left the passer's hand, must take the leather any way he can get it and in mid-career. The eligible receivers should get out to their stations without stopping to look back until they are about ready to take the ball. Often it is a good plan not to turn at all but to wait for the yell "Hike" given by the passer the moment he lets go of the ball. A too obvious turning gives away the play. These little hints belong properly to another chapter, and are given here to show how necessary it is for the ends and backs to learn to receive the pass in almost any position, using the hands only.

Tackling, in the backfield, is one of the most important features of a team's work, for under the rules of recent years the secondary defense has had more than its share of the tackling to do. In any impact between two men of equal weight the one moving at the greater speed will suffer the least from shock. This is a goodrulefor the tackier to remember when he is not working in the open field, for a too close adherence to it in the latter situation makes for many a missed tackle. With the runner close at hand, however, say just clearing the line, the back should go in fast to meet him, and hit him with the shoulders just above the runner's knees. At the same time the arms should close around the runner's legs, the wrist of one hand seized by the thumb and fingers of the other. The hands are used only as a last resort, and when it is impossible to make a perfect tackle. In such cases the tackier brings the runner down any way he can. If he can get even one hand on the back there is a chance that there will be just enough of a delay to let another tackier make the job complete. In this head-on tackle it is well not to leave the feet, for the shock will be harder on the runner, who is without support, than upon the tackier, who still has the support of one braced foot. Just as the tackier makes his strike he should shoot forward horizontally, very close to the ground, getting all the "drive" possible out of his legs, in order that he may break through the runner's straight arm. It is well to go under the arm, if possible, but if this cannot be done, the tackier should strike so hard as to beat the arm down and pinion it in the tackle.