A newspaper profile of Teninga in 1949 described his versatility as a backfield player:

Canadian football: All backfield players are allowed to move toward the line of scrimmage at the snap, regardless of their horizontal position.

There he became one of the few men ever to win All-American football honors as both lineman and the backfield player.

Syracuse University and nearby Cornell University were among the first collegiate football teams to include African American players as starting backfield players.

The offense may put one of the 4 backfield players in motion after the set but before the snap.

Of course the offensive and defensive lines were fairly similar, for Game purposes, so the exchange of as few as three backfield players could transform a team.

During the game, A&M coach Dana X. Bible realized that one more injury would leave him without another backfield player to send into the game.

A backfield player, called a "spinner", might turn 360 degrees while faking the ball to the other backs, or even keeping the ball or passing it.

Washington, Strode, and Robinson made up three of the team's four backfield players.

During the 1927 season, Slaughter handled the linemen, while Tebell worked with the backfield players.