Four Other Top Quarterbacks

DICK SHINER, MARYLAND: On his first play as a sophomore last year, Dick Shiner threw a 46-yard pass to help Maryland beat SMU 14-6. Shiner finished the season with 921 yards gained, one of the best records in the nation. This year, after three games, all of which Maryland has won, Shiner is leading all quarterbacks in yards gained passing. Says Coach Tom Nugent: "He's the best passer I've seen in 21 years of coaching."

Shiner is 20 years old, 6 feet tall and weighs 195 pounds. He comes from Lebanon, Pa. and is majoring in marketing. He resembles Mickey Mantle, and is regarded with similar awe on the Maryland campus. Coaches respect his willingness to accept orders from the bench. "If I told him to take three steps back and fall down, he'd do it," says Nugent. Shiner throws both short and long passes effectively. If he has a fault, it is that he throws the ball so hard—he is nicknamed "the rifleman"—that receivers sometimes drop sure completions. One Shiner pass split the palm of an end's hand and put him out for weeks. But with Maryland winning as it is, and Shiner completing a majority of his passes, his coaches wouldn't dream of changing his style, even if he used up a dozen ends.

There also are a couple of sophomore quarterbacks who have already kicked up their heels in this young season. Alabama, one of this year's top teams, is run by Joe Namath, age 19. And Tom Myers of Northwestern completed 20 of 24 passes in his first game to tie a record held by Otto Graham. You can't do much better than that.