Blackshirt time?

I think they gave the Blackshirts out to those 'starter' level players who were among the eleven typical starters plus a extra one or two or even three for those guys who had 'starting' type roles depending on packages, etc.  I recall one or more times when the punter got one if he did exceptionally well in helping pin the opponet back after his kicks., etc.  This always made sense to me.  I understand the times Bo withheld them if he was not satisfied with the effort or results of the starters or defense overall but historically I believe the grant of the shirt was to signify your status as a starter and as such worthy of receiving and wearing one in practice.  It is a reward for a job well done and you 'earned' them by being the best of the best on defense.

It is not more complicated than that from all that I recall of the tradition.  It has been there for about 50 years or would really hate to see it discontinued.  

 
Enhance89 said:
I could be mistaken, but I don't believe more than 11 were handed out until the 2000s era. But, as @Hans Gruber mentioned, a player who may start in the Nickel package (but not a base package) could be worthy of a Blackshirt as well.

I was never a fan of the way Pelini handled the Blackshirts even though I never had a strong opinion on it. I felt his approach had good intentions but it sort of rendered them irrelevant to me over time.
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I agree, I never was a fan of how Pelini handled them either. There are basically 2 camps on the subject. 1-those who feel they need to be earned and the performance level needs to mimic that of our greatest defenses or 2- the more traditionalist approach that simply recognizes our starters as Blackshirts. The problem I had with Pelini's way was they had to be earned but his Suhless defenses were not very intimidating. Seemed a little misguided and desperate to award them so many games into the season while your defenses were getting rolled more often than not. I like the historic approach and am ever hopeful that they live up to the standards of our best defenses.

 
@El Diaco, that's a good point. It was difficult to take the delayed-Blackshirts approach seriously when the unit wasn't one of the top units in the country, or even in the Top 25 some years.

 
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Enhance89 said:
@El Diaco, that's a good point. It was difficult to take the delayed-Blackshirts approach seriously when the unit wasn't one of the top units in the country, or even in the Top 25 some years.
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IIRC, 2013 was the only season that  Pelini gave out Blackshirts before the season started. The 2013 D ended up being decent by the end of the year, but they were dreadful for the first month of the season.

 
caveman99 said:
Actually McBride often handed out 12-14 Blackshirts and always at the beginning of the first game prep week as that was considered the end of camp and the season had started. I remember reading an article where he explained it all, but can't find it currently; however below is a picture of the 1998 Blackshirts poster, used to love those!, showing 13 Blackshirts. Commando shared this picture last year in the thread about this same topic.

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Damn, everyone of those dudes looks ripped.  Does our D look like that now?

 
Husker_Bohunk said:
I was never a fan of how he did it either. Irrelevant? I've never thought of it that way before but I think you're right. Handing them out halfway through the season was pretty lame. I understand he wanted his players to "earn" them but I think that is accomplished by earning a starting job.

And thanks for the answer, I couldn't remember for sure how many Charlie handed out. I do know that seeing a blackshirt in your locker for the first time made grown men cry sometimes. Hopefully the tradition becomes strong enough for that level of meaning to our players again.
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It still is.

 
caveman99 said:
Actually McBride often handed out 12-14 Blackshirts and always at the beginning of the first game prep week as that was considered the end of camp and the season had started. I remember reading an article where he explained it all, but can't find it currently; however below is a picture of the 1998 Blackshirts poster, used to love those!, showing 13 Blackshirts. Commando shared this picture last year in the thread about this same topic.

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Some bad MF'ers in there.

Rucker, Foreman, Kelsay,  Warren, Wiltz, Brown, Brown, Johnson, Ortiz

And they allowed 590 passing yards (including 405 receiving yards to Troy Edwards) in their first game...

 
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Originally from the inception in the 60's only the 11 starters got them at the beginning of fall practice and they were the only ones allowed to even touch them.  If anyone else did there "was hell to pay"..  think that's how it should be 

 
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