As the Pros See Them

From end to end, the starting line averages 239 lbs. per man. The fullback runs the 100 in 10 sec. flat, and he is only the third fastest man on the team. The four backs, between them, have accounted for 25 touchdowns. It is the best college football team in the U.S.--but it exists only on paper. All season long, perched in some remote corner of the stadium, immune to the blare of the band and the frenzy of the fans, the professional football scout sits with notebook and binoculars, looking for tomorrow's men among today's boys. Last week, as they prepared to back their choices with cash (and lots of it) in the annual players draft, the scouts of both professional leagues took time out to compile their dream team of the nation's top prospects. TIME's pro-picked 1963 All-America:

sb QUARTERBACK: Roger Staubach, 21, Navy, 6 ft. 2 in., 190 lbs. At first, the pros were lukewarm about Staubach (TIME cover, Oct. 18). "He's a scrambler, a rollout quarterback," said one. "He doesn't play the pro game." But 1,738 yds. and 15 TDs later, Roger is the No. 1 choice of 17 out of 22 pro teams. Says Coach Buddy Parker of the Pittsburgh Steelers: "For his position, the best college player I've ever seen." The "book" on Roger: "Very accurate, shifty, strong, great peripheral vision, unmatched at hitting secondary receivers. A perfect pro quarterback." There is one catch: Staubach may never play pro ball. He has another year to go at Annapolis and four more in the Navy. Sighs one pro scout: "It's too bad we can't get him married off so he'd have to quit the Academy." Muses another: "Maybe he's got flat feet?" After Staubach, who? In the year of the quarterback "it's a tossup," says one scout. Nevertheless, the majority choice is Southern Cal's Pete Beathard, 21 (6 ft. 2 in., 205 lbs.). "A winner all his life," reads a report. "Capable of throwing the bomb." Scouts fret that Miami's George Mira, 21 (5 ft. 11 in., 180 lbs.), may be too small, but he will be a high draft choice ("He'll have a lot of money waved in his face"), as will Boston College's Jack Concannon, 20 (6 ft. 3 in., 200 lbs.), "a Paul Hornung-type back."

sb HALFBACKS: Mel Renfro, 22, Oregon, 6 ft., 195 lbs.; and Paul Warfield, 20, Ohio State, 6 ft., 178 lbs. "The days of the pony back are over," says one scout. "And by pony I mean everyone weighing much under 200 lbs. With these big defensive lines, you have to run big, fast bull elephants." Oregon's Renfro is just what the zoologist ordered. He runs the high hurdles, is a 9.7-sec. dash man, plows into tacklers "with reckless abandon and no regard for his personal safety." Ohio State's Warfield will have to put on pounds, but he is "the complete pro prospect--with the instinctive savvy to do the right things and be in the right places." Pittsburgh's Paul Martha, 21 (6 ft. 1 in., 184 lbs.), is almost certain to be drafted in the first round as a flanker or a defensive halfback.

sb FULLBACK: Joe Don Looney, 21, no college, 6 ft. 1 in., 225 lbs. A peripatetic athlete who visited briefly at Texas, Texas Christian and Cameron State Junior College, Looney was on the Oklahoma first-string at season's start; then he slugged an assistant coach in practice and was summarily booted off the team. But Looney is a fine punter, a devastating runner, and obviously aggressive enough for the pros. The scouts' second choice: Jim Grisham, 20 (6 ft. 2 in., 211 lbs.), the current Oklahoma fullback.

sb CENTER: Dick Butkus, 20, Illinois 6 ft. 3 in., 237 lbs. One rave notice: "Only a junior, but a very strong, hard-nosed, mean, nasty kid. Has an insatiable appetite for hitting people." Best on defense, Butkus would play defensive tackle as a pro. On offense, the pros like Texas Christian's Ken Henson, 20, (6 ft. 6 in., 255 lbs.), and Holy Cross's Jon Morris, 21 (6 ft. 3 in., 225 lbs.). The report on Morris: "A great player on a team that has no spring practice and schedules schools that do. Whatever the logic in that is."

sb GUARDS: Bob Brown, 21, Nebraska, 6 ft. 5 in., 269 lbs.; and Herschel Turner, 21, Kentucky, 6 ft. 3 in., 226 lbs. "Pro football is a game of specialists," says one pro scout, "but these days, with so many players getting hurt, you've also got to find someone who can play more than one position." Nebraska's Brown is that someone. On offense, he leads the interference for a Cornhusker backfield that has averaged 270 yds. per game on the ground--tops in the nation. On defense, he is an agile, wide-ranging guard or linebacker. The pro consensus: "Amazing." Unable to find another guard of pro caliber ("After Brown there is nobody"), the scouts picked Kentucky's Turner--a tackle who gets off so fast after the snap that "he appears to be offside on every play," will be converted to guard to take advantage of his mobility.

sb TACKLES: Carl Eller, 21, Minnesota, 6 ft. 5 1/2in., 245 lbs.; and Scott Appleton, 21, Texas, 6 ft. 3 in., 239 lbs. Says a report on Eller: "Tends to be lazy, but seems to play his best games when head-to-head with another outstanding lineman. Can go to 275 lbs." On Appleton: "Great lateral moves and pursuit. Almost impossible to knock off his feet." Also ranked high on the pro scouts' list are two small-college tackles: Buffalo's Gerry Philbin, 22 (6 ft. 2 in., 235 lbs.) and Louisville's Ken Kortas, 21 (6 ft. 4 in., 293 lbs.). "When a kid weighs as much as Kortas," says one scout, "you can't afford to overlook him."

sb ENDS: Billy Martin, 21, Georgia Tech, 6 ft. 41 in., 235 lbs., and Hal Bedsole, 21, Southern California, 6 ft. 5 in., 221 lbs. A heck of an Engineer on both offense and defense, Martin may need surgery for an injured knee, but pro scouts are unworried. "He'll be better than ever," says one. Mercurial Hal Bedsole prompts more concern: "There are reports that he's not a very serious-minded fellow." But, says one scout: "Split ends have to run right up to the defender, spit in his eye, and then beat him running deep. Bedsole has faking ability and the speed to do the job." Texas Tech's Dave Parks, 21 (6 ft. 2 in., 193 lbs.), is a two-way player who would probably be switched to safety. And every team has its eye on Baylor's Lawrence Elkins, 20 (6 ft. 1 in., 187 lbs.), who is only a junior but tops all college receivers with 57 catches for 750 yds. "If Elkins were eligible for the draft," says one scout, "he'd be my No. 1 end."

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