SHOULD FRESHMEN BE ALLOWED TO PLAY VARSITY FOOTBALL?

GIVEN THE ENROLLMENT and the current fiscal realities at the College, having freshmen eligible for varsity football is the reasonable way to go. We've been looking at ways to reduce costs, and to continue to field an all-freshman team would require more coaches.

As a former director of admissions, I'm certainly aware that there are many components that make up each freshman class. If you spend a lot of space on one group of students, it doesn't leave you as much room to incorporate the other ingredients into the class. Having 35 instead of 50 freshman football recruits will theoretically free up some other places.

In a purely educational sense, though, I'd much prefer the freshmen having their own football experience. There's a certain camaraderie to the team and certain adjustments they all have to make. They don't face quite the hype that the varsity team does. And they don't have to be in

there day after day banging around with the big guys who have been playing for two or three years.

Starting in 1993, we will have to come up with some solutions to help the freshmen adjust to playing football in the Ivy League. We don't have the same sort of support services that exist in the major football powers, but we'll help the players make whatever adjustments are necessary.

In June, the Council of IvyGroup Presidents voted to allowfreshmen to play varsityfootball. Effective in 1993,freshman football programswill be eliminated at all Ivyschools, and the number offootball recruits will bedropped from 50 to 35.

Jaeger himselfplayed as a frosh.