Freshman Football

"My end is my beginning."--T.S. Eliot

On a breezy autumn afternoon in 1876, a motley crew of nervous Harvard freshmen lined up opposite their Yale counterparts in the first-ever freshman intercollegiate football game.

The game, played without much fanfare, was seen largely as a quaint sideshow to the one-year-old varsity rivalry between the two schools.

In many respects, the contest represented football in its purest sense, fully removed from today's overarching emphasis on money and winning.

It was simply a game for fun and education, but it began to catch on at schools across the country.

More and more colleges formed freshman teams to let their first-years mash it out on the gridiron with their counterparts from other schools.

By the middle of this century, virtually every major college with a football program--from Harvard to Kansas State to USC--was fielding a team of first-years.

Then, however, the sport's momentum took a 180-degree turn.

The opportunity to bring talented freshman directly to the varsity squads led many colleges and conferences to eliminate their prohibitions against freshman eligibility.

And as first-years started to contribute to varsity teams, the need for separate freshman teams--an expensive investment for budget-constrained athletic departments--started to wane.

More and more schools cancelled their freshman programs until, at the start of this season, only the Ivy League--where tradition dies about as easily as crab grass--still prohibited freshmen from playing on the varsity squads.

Earlier this fall, however, even the Ivy League succumbed to the trend. Urged on by coaches, athletic directors and even some admissions personnel, the Council of Presidents ratified a proposal to allow freshmen to play varsity football.

As expected, six of the Ivy League's teams--Princeton, Dartmouth, Columbia, Brown, Pennsylvania and Cornell--immediately announced their intentions to drop their freshman squads.

Although Harvard will continue to sponsor a freshman team, the dynamics of Ivy League competition is expected to be changed significantly.

"The idea had been banging around the league since last year," Harvard Freshman Coach Edward Schluntz said. "A few coaches initiated the idea and then it just gained steam."

According to the proposal's advocates, allowing freshman eligibility will increase the Ivy League's appeal among blue-chip prospects. By removing the burden of attracting an entire team, recruiters will be able to focus on bringing in a few key players, they say.

Coaches say the introduction of talented first-years is likely to establish greater competitive parity in the league, a feature favored by some schools who may have a more challenging time recruiting top players.

"I think that that was the main reason cited bythe strongest supporters--Columbia and Brown,"Schluntz says. "They felt that they would have amuch better chance in the league."

Coaches also say the decision was influenced bythe economic realities facing most universitiestoday. With athletic budgets being cut to thebarest necessities, many administrators felt theproposal--and the subsequent folding of freshmanteams--were a relatively painless way to free upmoney without forcing the schools to eliminate anentire sport.

Finally, officials say the decision will makemore places in the first-year class available tostudents who otherwise might have lost out tofootball players in their admissions bid.

In recent years, admissions officers andathletic administrators have fielded growingnumbers of complaints from parents and campusgroups about the alleged special privileges givento athletes in the admissions process.

Despite these arguments, Harvard maintained aunited front against the proposal. From thepresident to the football coaches to the varsityand freshman players, Harvardians with a vestedinterest in the issue were virtually unanimous intheir opposition.

"It's completely a matter of principle,"Schluntz says. "Freshman football is simply in thebest interests of the young men."

"I think the proposal is the worst thing theycould have done," adds starting Crimsonquarterback Mike Giardi, a member of the 1990freshman team.

According to Harvard players and coaches, thefirst-year team plays a valuable role in preparingnew players for the complexities of collegiatefootball--and for the complexities of collegelife.

Harvard freshmen gridders can take the time tounderstand the subtle intricacies of theMulti-Flex offense while they mature physicallyand mentally for the faster-paced, harder-hittingaction of the varsity gridiron, Schluntz says.

More importantly, he says, it enables freshmento get settled into the daily flow of academiclife without the substantial time commitmentsrequired of varsity athletes.

"The new system puts a lot of pressure onfreshmen--not only to do well on the field, but todo well in school," Giardi says. "There's enoughpressure on freshmen that first semester withoutthem having to worry about varsity football."

Members of the Harvard freshman team--the lastones to face a full schedule of other first-yearsquads--agree that the change will complicate lifefor young athletes.

"At first, coming out of high school, I didn'tlike the idea of freshman football," says BrianBorg, the captain of this year's first-year squad."But after getting involved in it, I really thinkit's a good idea. I couldn't imagine trying tohave played varsity this year."

"I kind of liked freshman football," offensivetackle Tony DeWitt says. "There's a lot largertime commitment on varsity and if I'd been onvarsity, I would've just been holding blockingdummies in practice anyway. I'm glad I did it."

In part because of the players' enthusiasm forthe program, Harvard has decided to go against thegrain and retain its freshman team next year.

Although its six-game 1993 schedule willconsist largely of games against a bevy of juniorcolleges, the Crimson will have one game againstanother firstyear team. The other hold-out is, youguessed it, Yale.

Citing the benefits of first-year football tothe student-athlete, the Bulldogs have alsodecided to continue fielding a freshman team.

"It might not be quite as fun, at least interms of who the freshman will be playing, but itwill still be better than forcing freshman to siton the sidelines for varsity," Borg says.

Giardi adds, "It might be a little less fun,but at least the incoming freshman will still getto play Yale."

And so, freshman football will end as it began:with two schools, one wearing Crimson and theother Blue, fighting it out on the field withoutfanfare, but for the right reasons.

VOICE OF THE PLAYERS

"The Game is a chance for the players to see alot of alums, it means a lot of excitement aroundthe campus; it's one of the few games were most ofthe students get behind you. My biggest memory ofthe past two years is a terrible one: the Yalefans just came running out one the field with aminute left. That was one of the worst things thathas happened to me at Harvard. It instilled a deephatred of Yale in me. If we won this year,[rushing the field] would be an appropriate actfrom Harvard."  --Monte Giese, senior linebackerCrimsonAmanda M. DawsonIf only the offensive line were thiseffective for the varsity squad...