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Blackshirts: More than a Slogan


TGHusker

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There's a difference between the black shirt tradition and the marketing of it that began with Broderick Thomas.  It was always a source of pride among the defenders that earned them, but in the late 80s it became almost a bragging right for some players and fans that had nothing to do with the quality of product being put on the field.  Hopefully frost and chinander can just reset the whole practice and let it take a natural course once again.  I don't care if they hand out 11 or 20 as long as it is just a representation of work ethic and performance once again.  

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3 hours ago, Crazyhole said:

There's a difference between the black shirt tradition and the marketing of it that began with Broderick Thomas.  It was always a source of pride among the defenders that earned them, but in the late 80s it became almost a bragging right for some players and fans that had nothing to do with the quality of product being put on the field.  Hopefully frost and chinander can just reset the whole practice and let it take a natural course once again.  I don't care if they hand out 11 or 20 as long as it is just a representation of work ethic and performance once again.  

I wouldn't mind if we stopped using the term altogether.  It's become something that fans argue about (how many? when do they get them?) more than anything else.  It certainly hasn't meant 'great defense' in quite awhile.

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I'm all for the defense playing better.  As far as the Blackshirt tradition, I'm with Moraine on this.  I mean, seriously.  Do NONE of you remember all the theatrics, and unnecessary crap surrounding Pelini's re-interpretation of the "when and why" to hand out Blackshirts?  Questions about the blackshirts at EVERY press conference?  There were seasons where he would withhold them for most of the season, then a handful of players would get them after a big game, then we would get smoked by Wisconsin and fans would call for them to give the shirts back, etc.  It was comical and distracting.

 

When Riley came here, he was likely told that we should go back to just handing them out to starters, and he obliged.  The defense sucked, but that had nothing to do with how the shirts were handed out.  Then you have all these Pelini-era players that assumed the Pelini way was the "traditional" way we got away from, because they didn't know any different.

 

Now it comes full circle, and most of us seem to have forgotten how much we had grown irritated with the "Pelini Way" of handing out blackshirts.

 

Just play better defense, and skip the sideshow IMO.

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Just wondering: when did players first start throwing the bones? I was in high school during the Tommie Frazier years and watched the national championship games on VHS about a thousand times but don’t recall seeing anyone throw the bones. I recall Jason Peter doing it a lot in 1997, though.

 

is my memory accurate? Is it safe to say then that throwing the bones became a “thing” during Scott Frost’s playing years? 

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On 2/12/2018 at 12:17 AM, Landlord said:

That's hard to believe. It's not like the university stopped branding all kinds of memorabilia and marketing with the Blackshirts trademark, it's not like fans and players weren't still throwing the bones, it's not like all the defensive highlight videos on the big screen in North stadium didn't have references to the Blackshirts, etc.

 

Everything you just mentioned is the slogan part of the tradition, in other words, the meaningless part. There are much more vital pieces; dedication, hard work, a sense of pride and fighting for the guy next to you.... Those are the things that disappeared under Callahan, were misapplied under Pelini and became a joke under Riley.

 

These discussions can be tough when people are operating on different but parallel platforms.

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1 hour ago, Comfortably Numb said:

 

Everything you just mentioned is the slogan part of the tradition, in other words, the meaningless part. There are much more vital pieces; dedication, hard work, a sense of pride and fighting for the guy next to you.... Those are the things that disappeared under Callahan, were misapplied under Pelini and became a joke under Riley.

 

These discussions can be tough when people are operating on different but parallel platforms.

 

 

There are 2 traditions here. One doesn't really matter but people get angsty about it. Riley (and Callahan) did that tradition the correct way and Chinander seems to be implying he's going to change it "back" to the traditional way, which is inaccurate. That's the one Landlord is talking about.

 

Chinander also wants the D to be really good, which is the tradition that matters. If he wants to make the players do more than start in order to win the black jerseys because that will make them better, then so be it. But it's not the traditional way to give out the blackshirts.

Edited by Moiraine
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6 minutes ago, Moiraine said:

 

 

There are 2 traditions here. One doesn't really matter but people get angsty about it. Riley (and Callahan) did that tradition the correct way and Chinander seems to be implying he's going to change it "back" to the traditional way, which is inaccurate. That's the one Landlord is talking about.

 

Chinander also wants the D to be really good, which is the tradition that matters. If he wants to make the players do more than start in order to win the black jerseys because that will make them better, then so be it. But it's not the traditional way to give out the blackshirts.

 

We're sort of on the same page. I agree that earning them the Pelini way is not traditional. And I can see where Chinander's words could be interpreted as not understanding the traditional way of awarding them to the starters. But, as my prior posts have explained, I think traditionally they were earned, it just wasn't talked about by fans as being a thing. This talk of earning them only began when our defenses started to suck and there was a noticeable decline in the program culture. My hope is that what he really meant is that the team will once again be putting in the effort to earn them and it won't be just some talking point. Even some of the teams of the 70's and 80's teams that did not have the stifling defenses of the 90's "earned" them. Maybe, possibly, Chinander really gets it and his words are being misapplied due to what we've experienced these last 15 years. IMO earning them and giving them to the starters we're traditionally synonymous. The years of leadership vacuum and culture degradation is what has spawned this discussion. I think this staff gets it and that we'll soon again being seeing that it can be one in the same.

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Yeah, this could all just be a mis-reading of Chinander's quote.  Or a misunderstanding by him of the "original" vs. "Pelini" ways of handing out blackshirts.  A misunderstanding that will be corrected before Fall.  One would think that Barrett Ruud understands the Blackshirt traditions well.

 

I guess even if it was somewhat similar to the Pelini way, it could probably be handled more tactfully.  Maybe this will be the "Frost Way" of handing them out?

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Ralph Brown has a thing or two to say about the topic.

http://www.eightlaces.com/nebraska-football-head-coach-scott-frost-checks-boxes-former-blackshirt/

 

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Brown has done some research on Chinander, reading up on his tactics and has spoken with other coaches to find out more about Nebraska’s new defensive coordinator.

Apparently, he pours countless hours into his craft, and Brown fully expects that he will do his research when dealing with a tradition as rich as the Blackshirt mystique and swagger during the days when it became more than a jersey including discussing the history with former players to get their takes.

Brown had a few things to say about exactly what wearing a Blackshirt in practice means, or perhaps should mean.

“If you have a Blackshirt, it means you are not afraid to get on your teammates in practice. You are not afraid to let one know if he’s taking plays off, you don’t take plays off. It means you’re a leader, you’re selfless. You help the next man underneath you who’s not a Blackshirt.”

He recalled when he came in and started as a true freshman. He was approached by players such as Jason Peter and Grant Wistrom who gave him a bit of a dressing down and didn’t mince words when it came to the brotherhood that he was a part of.

They emphasized the necessity to never take plays off, leaving all of what he had in the tank both on the practice field and in game situations. That the honor — and it was clearly an honor — was not to be taken lightly. Clearly, Brown took their message to heart.

 

 

Edited by TGHusker
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More from Ralph Brown from the article above:

 

Quote

 

For Frost to come in and address his players rather bluntly in regards to things running poorly and their conditioning being flat out subpar, a fine line may have needed to be walked. That said, Brown feels how Nebraska’s new head football coach approached the situation was best for laying the foundation for his new culture.

You have to be honest and direct with these kids. I think the previous staff babied them a lot. I heard so many different things about practices and how a lot of the players were babied, even with coach Pelini. Coach Frost is not going to baby the kids. He’s going to tell them exactly what they need to do. He’s going to point out exactly where they need to improve, and if it affects you in an adverse way, maybe you’re not built for their system.”

Brown would expand on the idea of program standards. That Bo Pelini had one, Mike Riley had one, but the standard that existed in the ’90s was head and shoulders above what past regimes tried to implement. That they simply didn’t understand the level of commitment and effort.

He pointed out that was a major reason why frustration existed among past players. They were familiar with this model of taking things to the absolute limit and that wasn’t being upheld for one reason or another.

Frost has gone on record saying that he wants to bring in about 150 players on his roster suggesting that 10 coaches could easily make such practices efficient. Brown not only agrees, he remembers practices like that during his time as a player.

“When I was on defense, at one of our stations there were three groups of offenses coming at us after each play would end. We had to hurry up and get back before the next play getting snapped off. I’m watching other stations where the offense is running the option, throwing plays, it’s so fast-paced. There were four or five stations going on and everybody’s rotating in, everyone’s blocking hard, everyone’s doing their job, everyone’s competing.”

This appears to be another throwback to what Frost’s mentor felt was one way to get a major leg up on his opponents.

Coach Osborne knew the power of repetition and psychology. That’s one of his gifts. He knew if he could get 1,000 more reps than his opponent, he’ll be that much more prepared whether (using) a first-string or backup. They’re going to be ready to perform at a high level. That’s why you saw second-string quarterbacks, backup cornerbacks, and defensive linemen come in while (playing) as if it was the norm. It wasn’t something new to them.

Nebraska football fans are obviously ecstatic about the Scott Frost era at Nebraska. Some are already predicting nine wins, winning the Big Ten West division and even capturing the school’s first conference championship in forever and a day in Frost’s first year. While Brown does feel that the Huskers will surprise, he’s not quite ready to put the Big Red in the national title picture…yet.

I truly believe they can win about eight games, give or take. They’re going to shock a lot of people. Here’s the thing: I don’t watch players. I watch coaches. That’s how you know when people win. That’s how Nick Saban keeps winning. That’s how these different coaches across the country keep winning,” Brown said.

“Coaches are the reason why people win. Urban Meyer goes in his first year after following Luke Fickell and it looked like Ohio State wasn’t going to be good. His first year, they went undefeated.

Scott Frost’s system is so hard to stop if he gets the right quarterback in place, everybody buying in. You see all these speedsters coming in at the wide receiver spot, good running backs. I don’t think a lot of people in the Big Ten are ready for what Nebraska’s going to do this year.”

Suffice it to say one more former Husker is on the Scott Frost bandwagon. While we must be careful when comparing Frost to coaches like Meyer and one of the greatest coaches that college football has ever seen in Saban, Brown does have a legitimate point. Ohio State may have had elite talent waiting in the wings under Fickell, but Meyer was the one who made them believe they could perform at their best.

When Saban showed up at LSU, the Tigers went 8-5 in his first year. His first year at Alabama wasn’t anything to write home about either. However, he would go 10-3 at LSU and 12-2 with the Crimson Tide in his second year at each school.

Is Frost ready to make his mark as the next top coach in college football? From Brown’s perspective, it appears like only a matter of time.

 

 

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