Harlow Struggles to Put Team into Shape for Saturday's Grid Opener

Dick Harlow has five days left to decide who is going to provide the opposition against Connecticut in the opener of the 1946 season Saturday--five afternoons of practice to work into a team 11 men who have never played at the same time on one field before.

With Scattered players returning to the lineup each day from the sick list, Harlow has yet to field his first-string club in its entirety. In keeping with his traditional policy, he has kept all the injured men inactive two days after the medical staff has certified them as ready to play. Wally Flynn at end and George Boston at taaialback have not yet been in contact work for over a week, center Charlie Glynn rested Saturday, and Emil Drvaric has been out of his guard position since the Wednesday B. U. scrimmage.

One afternoon practice will be the order of affairs for the final week of preparation for this earliest opener in Harlow history except for the 1942 starter against North Carolina Pre-Flight. In the good old days it was October when the Crimson first look to the Stadium sod, and it was the tradition that is was November before a Harlow coached eleven really got rolling.

Whether or not the latter part of that old custom--that a Harlow team is a late-starting team--will be belied this season remains to be seen. It will have to be discarded if the Cantabs are going to beat Connecticut, for reports have it that the Nutmegs have a hot little squad. Reports aren't needed to point out that they have a fullback named Walt Trojanowski who scored 23 times last year and is going to be hard to stop.

Harlow has the material there somewhere, but it is problematical whether he is going to be able to work it into the "Harlow System" by Saturday. This year the so-called system has the added complication of starting from a "T", which makes for even more deception but also for more difficulty in working up a unified team.

Indications Saturday were that most of the men on the "sick list": would be ready for Saturday. Drvaric was still on crutches, but the doctors reported that his sprain was mending. Only Pete Petrillo will be completely out of action by the end of the week, the coaches suggested.