Most football squads under modern coaching systems consist of the first or 'varsity eleven, and the "scrubs," the latter term embracing all other players. In some of the more progressive institutions of the East, however, an attempt has been made to get something like organization in the squad that is left after a tentative eleven has been chosen. A second eleven that is a constant quantity, with its own signals and plays, will have a greater esprit de corps than a loosely organized "scrub," and may even play outside games against the smaller colleges and the larger schools. At Harvard, since the advent of Haughton, there have been practically three teams, the 'varsity, the 'varsity substitutes - a full team - and the second eleven. The system seems to have worked well, and to have provided the first eleven with the necessary strong opposition. The fight for positions under such a system seems to be quite as earnest as under the old method, and Harvard's elevens of recent years have reaped the benefits.

The old term of "scrub" is beginning to lose its sting. To play on the "scrub" did not mean that a man was a poor football player, merely that he was not quite up to 'varsity calibre. A well organized second eleven gets more rewards for faithful work than was the case in the past. Were the second elevens of all the big universities to meet annually there would be some fine exhibitions of football.

Another help in the way of organization has been the one-year rule that keeps freshmen off the 'varsity teams of most of the big institutions. Freshmen of 'varsity calibre often have been extremely difficult to handle. The glamour of ' 'varsity football too often has gone to their heads and spoiled what otherwise would have been promising gridiron careers. Under the present system the freshmen teams have a competent coach, and achieve that organization so much to be desired in any squad. In tuning up a 'varsity team for its big game it is a good plan to send it against the freshmen now and then for a full game. These are players with whose work the 'varsity men are unfamiliar, and they get as much benefit out of such practice as they would from playing a game with another college team.

The next step in this general development, I believe, will be intracollegiate football, somewhat on the Andover system. Meetings between the various colleges of any university may be nearly as earnestly fought as intercollegiate games, but they provide the greatest fun for the greatest number, and football is too good a game to be confined to those who are seeking the 'varsity letter. Both Andover and the Army have shown what can be done in the way of developing their own players, even from third and fourth rank to first.

At West Point there has been a third eleven known as the Cullom Hall team, from the fact that it practised in front of that memorial building, and this third team has been under competent coaching from the beginning of every season. The team plays games against the best school elevens along the Hudson, and has made an enviable record. Occasionally the team goes in against the 'varsity and gives it excellent practice, while from time to time one of its players has been taken over by the 'varsity squad. In teams of this class, where the coaching is of the first order, there is every chance of development, and the mere organization of such a team helps the football "atmosphere" at any institution. The more team the merrier. They keep the non-playing undergraduate closer to the game than was the case years ago, and they will be factors in producing, in years to come, a highly intelligent group of spectators.

One of the best results of the Andover system is the fact that the boys have learned to do a deal of thinking for themselves. Sheer necessity, under such a system, has spread the knowledge of generalship and made the game attractive to the main body of the students. All these things come under the head of "assets" that are welcomed by any coach. The coach who goes from a great university to a small college often complains that he has not enough men in the field to provide two elevens for practice, and that as a result he sometimes has to play one side of the 'varsity line against the other and resort to other makeshifts in order to accomplish anything. The remedy for this State of affairs, I think, lies in the development of class football, and he is a wise coach who begins building up such a system in his first year's work, even if it robs him of some of the time he thinks should be spent with the 'varsity. Defeats will be in order at the start, but in the end the system will yield victories, and in any event well grounded teams that will play good football whether winning or losing.