Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Baylor ent 0< with vetera By RAY COOPER Gamecock Sports Writer To say the Baylor Bears have a tough schedule this year would be a great understatement. The Bears have perhaps one of the hardest schedules in collegiate football. Baylor opens their season with Ole Miss. and then they face Auburn two weeks later. As if this is not tough enough, the Bears must face Michigan before they come to Columbia Oct. 4. "I'll let you know more about the team if we have anyone left by the time we get to Carolina," Baylor Coach Grant Teaff jokingly told the Gamecock. The Bears won the Southwest Conference championship last year and they also made a New Year's Day appearance in the Cotton Bowl where they were defeated by Penn State 41-20. Coach Teaff was last year's consensus National Football Coach of the Year and unanimous South west Conference Coach of the Year. Teaff said he feels no pressure whatsoever from all the honors he and his team a( complished last year. "Our goal is to have a winning season this year and to be in a bowl game," Teaff said. The Bears schedule will not be the only thing keeping them from repeating their stellar performance of last year. The Bears only lost 10 lettermen last year but all 10 of these were key performers. The Bears lost their All-SWC quarterback Neal Jeffrey, who is now playing professional football with the San Diego Chargers. Jeffrey was presented the game ball in an exhibition game with San Francisco recently. Two other All-SWC players were lost from last year's squad. These players include top rusher Steve Baird and wingback Philip Kent. Junior Mark Jackson is the new signal caller for the Baylor team this year. Jackson saw key action last year in wins over Arkansas and Texas Tech. Jackson three two touchdown passes in last year's 21-17 Baylor triumph over Arkansas. He was also the signal caller in Baylor's 17-10 win over LSU c. "On paper the defense 1o4 The defense always devel< according to McClendon. we've ever had," he said. The starting front four termen and all of them ar team except one. Lew Sibley (6-1, 230) will front four. He will be startir at the other end position w 240, senior). The defens Cassidy, an honorable meni Duhe (6-4, 253). The linebac kers are noti the front four. Terry Hill il from last year's linebackinj linebacking spots are up fc sophomore candidates. The key to success for ti how fast their offense devi can stay. Depth will be Clendon's young team. The Bengals also want t, they did last y ear, however qarterback situation will ers season n defense Jim Carlen and Texas Tech. Teaff expressed only admiration for Coach Carlen as he said, "Carlen is a great football coach. He is one of my best friends and he'll have that team (USC) playing winning football this year." The Baylor offensive line will be anchored by veterans this year but the backfield will take on a new look. Teaff said perhaps 75 per cent of his backfield will be new. The Bears new tailback will be Cleveland Franklin, who Teaff feels is destined for greatness. Joining quarterback Jackson in the backfield will be Pat McNeil at fullback, however wingback position is up for grabs. Teaff feels his defense will be better than last year. The front five will all be experienced players, but the linebackers will have a new look. Johnny Slaughter, who Teaff says can live up to his last name, has the most experience at linebacker than any of the new personnel. Tim Black has been moved from his defensive end sition to give some much -neMed strength to the linebacking core. Penn State's quarterback picked Baylor's secondary apart in the Cotton Bowl last year. However, Teaff is confident with his starters in the secondary this year. Teaff said he has more depth in the secondary than in any other positions. The Baylor Bears play five teams this year that every major pre-season poll has picked somewhere in the top 20. These teams include: Auburn, Michigan, Texas, Texas A&M and Arkansas. The Bears must play both Auburn and Michigan before they play Carolina. Perhaps Coach Teaff was not being facetious when he said he would tell us more about his team if he had anyone left when his team gets to Columbia. Coach Teaff admits he had a "Cinderella Team" last year. Teaff says that even though some of the personnel is gone from last year's team, that winning spirit can still be found in Waco, Texas. ntinued from Page 6 >ks good," McClendon said. aps faster than the offense "The front four is the best for the Bengals are all let e starters from last year's be the new member of the g at one end. Joining Sibley pill be Denny Bordelon (6-3, ive tackles will be Steve ion All-A merican and Adam .n quite as good of shape as s the only returning regular ; squad. The two remaining r grabs from freshmen and ie Bengalis this year will be elops and how healthy they a major problem for Mc o throw the ball more than it rema ins to be seen if the allow them to do so. CHUCK MILLS Wake better but problems still remain By MICKEY TRIMARCHI Gamecock Sports Writer After one victory in each of the last two seasons, Wake Forest can't get much worse. For the Deacons, the 1975 season did not get off on the right foot. Southern Methodist managed to squeak by the Deancons 14-7. "It's a tough way to break in the season," says third year coach Chuck Mills. "SMU has one of the best offensive teams in the country while we have a lot of questions on our defensive." While Mills admits his defensive unit needs a bit more work, they managed to shut off the Mustangs in the second half. Weak offensive play by the Deacon's fell sh-clt in the fourth quarter, where they couldn't put together the big play. The Deacons offense will still lack throwing punch, as it has the last two seasons. Sohpomores Solomon Everett (6-1, 195) and Mike McGlamry (6-0, 175) shared the starting quarterback assign ments last fall and will try to improve on their meager statistics. In Saturday's loss junior college transfer Jerry McManus took the helm. McManus looked sharp in the first half, completing seven of ten passes and in the third period led the Deacons on a 67 yard scoring drive. Senior running backs" Frank Harsh (5-11, 215) and Clark Gaines (6-1, 195) are probably the best offensive performers on the team. Harsh, a powerful fullback, hopes to return to full form after an in jury plagued season. He is the ninth all-time leading rusher in Wake Forest history with 1,181 total yards. While the offensive outlook is bad enough, the Deacon defensive is worse. The opposition picked Wake apart for 405 yards and 32 points per game last year. Coach Mills may have to do a lot of shuffling to find the right com bination. Here again, the Deacons lack depth and experience. Of course, one proulem exists that Mills can do nothing about. "We are in a unique situation," Mills said, "having particularly high admission standards in comparison to the schools we play. It's hard to get sufficient number of quality atrhletes, but we think we are approaching a level of competitiveness." Perhaps the best thing that can be said of Wake Forest this year is they don't have to play three straight Saturdays on the road at Oklahoma, Penn State and Maryland. Mountaineers feature strong offensive show By MARK LEARY Sports Editor The last three times Jim Brakefield's Mountaineers entered Williams-Brice Stadium they have been great underdogs to the hometown Gamecocks, but according to some magazines this year the story could be different. Mountaineer fans are greatly optimistic about this year's squad and they have the right to be. "Pride in 75!" is what the theme for Appalachian football. Coach Brakefield youthful squad will again be con tenders for the Southern Conference title. 35 lettermen return this year, and Appalachian's squad will be made up of 26 freshmen, 18 sophomores, 21 juniors and only 12 seniors. Last year the Mountaineers were 6-5 overall and had a 4-1 record in the Southern Conference finishing a close second to the conference champion Virginia Military. Brakefield views the upcomoing season with op timism. He said, "We think we will be improved again this season. Our offensive game should be strong with a number of running backs and our passing game will be adequate. Defensively, we will be strong at linebacker and in the secondary, but we will not have the depth we would like." Depth in the backfield is expected to bolster the strong offensive show expected from the Mountaineers. Two sophomore running backs, Emmitt Hamilton and Calvin Simon, will be starting for Coach Brakefield and both backs possess explosive speed which would make the Mountaineer backfield one to keep an eye on. After having an excellent spring practice Robbie Price established himself as the starting quarterback. The junior signal caller has experience, leading Ap palachian to two early season wins in 1974. Most experts feel he will be more than adequate at running the Mountaineert wishbone attack. The Moutaineers could score a few of their touch downs this year on the long bombs and the reason is Devon Ford. The junior split end has burning speed as he runs the 100 yard dash in 9.6 seconds. Ford isn't known for just his pass catching though. He was the nation's fourth leading punt return man last year. In talking about the keys to the success for the Mountaineers this season, Brakefield said, "One of the keys to our success this season will be if we can stay injury free at key positions. We think Price will be a good college quarterback for us. He has improved his passing game and is a great scrambler. We think he is capable of causing some problems for some of our op ponents." The Appalachian kicking game is the team's strongest point and could possible be one of the best in the nation. Joe Parker leads this impressive two man show. Parker led the NCAA in upnting last year, averaging 44.3 yards per punt. Besides being a bonified All-America prospect this year, Parker was named by the Sporting News to the honorable mention All-America team last year. Along with Parker field goal kicker Gary Davis makes the kicking game look bright. Davis, a sohpomore, is supposed to be able to hit the long field goal. Brakefield, in talking about the strengths of the Mountaineers said, "Our offensive line will be strong and our linebackers will be tough. The defensive secondary will be experienced and improved. Our' passing game will be adequate and we feel we have some top receivers. We have great depth in the 01 fensive backfield especially at the fullback and halfb vack positions." The team of Julius Thomas and Mike Staton give the Mountaineers one of the best linebacking corps in the Southern Conference. Both are All-Southern Conference candidates with Thomas being named defensive player of-the-week after the Richmond game last season. A much improvced Appalachian team will be coming to Columbia this year and this time the Mountaineers will not provide a rest for the Gameok.