From Tom Shatel:
When asked why he was doing it this way, Pelini shot back, "Why not? What's a Blackshirt mean if it's a symbol that you don't earn? Isn't that the point? Everybody wants to rush this thing. What's the point if you're just going to hand them out?"
http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=1921
okay, please excuse me if i begin to bogasm here but i have to like the sentiment here.
name another school that puts such a emphasis on one particular squad on their team. tA&M's wrecking crew comes close, but that's just about it.
pelini is treating the blackshirt with a reverence on par with US military's
ranger tabs or '
budweisers'. that's a good thing.
if you get a blackshirt, it's because you've earned it. if you keep one, it's you because you deserve it. the criteria *more* that being the first team. it's how you conduct yourself around the locker room, in practice and on the field. best of the best.
blackshirts play hard on the first play, the last play and bring nothing but pain and anguish to the opposing team's offense between the two. they dominate lines, put quarterbacks into the ground and make receivers think twice before going after the ball.
blackshirts own the football; they just let opposing offenses *think* they have possession before the ball is stripped, intercepted or fumbled.
blackshirts are players who every now and again ask themselves, "what would jason peter do?"
blackshirts try to live up to and exceeding players of the past while at the same time provide and example for the present and possible blackshirts of the future.
blackshirts are players young kids wish they could be, what other players try to be and what old men wish they could have been.
it's more than playing at nebraska, it's playing FOR nebraska.
hopefully, we will see some blackshirts this season.