Blackshirts will not return this season per MJ

[ZRod]

43 minutes ago, cheekygeek said:

The Blackshirts started out as simply “black shirts” but it became a BRAND (a secondary brand - as “Whopper” is to “Burger King”). Brands have value, but only if their reputation is maintained. If the Whopper became small compared to the average burger - it becomes a joke & requires a reboot. That’s what MJ is doing here - something that is sorely needed - a reevaluation of EVERyTHing that has made this group practice & play like it has. 
 

Right now, this team is being KILLED by its O-Line play. If they opened (even creases) for our NFL-caliber running back & could keep our QB from getting maimed this season we would really have something.

The Nebraska football brand has been garbage for the better part of a decade. Should we just pull letter jackets and apparel from all the players?

[cheekygeek]

41 minutes ago, ZRod said:

The Nebraska football brand has been garbage for the better part of a decade. Should we just pull letter jackets and apparel from all the players?

You seem to have confused my statement of fact and assumed that I’m for a position that I’m not even taking.

 

Your last post is the equivalent of a parent saying “We’ll if we’re going to say he needs to go to his room, why don’t we just beat the stuffing out of him?” Not terribly rational.

[Jason Sitoke]

1 hour ago, Archy1221 said:

Maybe NU could re-imagine the while blackshirt thing and make it a season long achievement award for the entire defense.   What about something like this…..  

 

A blackshirt is made up with logo and year and given out at awards banquet for members of the defense that finished top 20 in Points allowed per game and yards per game.  Anyone who played 50% of the snaps or more also get a small wall plaque.  
 

Gives it an achievement  feel with a season long goal.   Not some random moment in time to be called a blackshirt in a defense ranked 50th in the country.  

This is hilarious.  I lol'd.  +1 to you sir.

[NM11046]

2 hours ago, funhusker said:

MJ is growing on me!  I really hope he's still part of the staff next year in one form or another.

 

He isn't killing a tradition at all.  He's making a tough HC decision that allows the kids to focus on just getting better than living up to some hype.  People can say that the team needs to block out the social media noise (they are not wrong...), but Mickey is making a decision that is going to ruffle some feathers to help the kids do just that.

 

One of the biggest things fans have "complained" about in the past 10 years is how players on the roster think think they deserve something just because of the "N" on their helmet.  This is a step in the right direction to change that mentality.

I agree completely - now I think he needs to go back to the old TO addage of not showboating after a good play .."act like you've been there before".  Sure there are some that deserve some hoorahs (stops at key moments on 4th down etc) but every tackle, break up etc. no.  Just do your job.  I know Mickey mentioned in a presser about Nelson running around after a sack and how he had to "talk to him about that" and I don't think I saw as much in the last game so maybe it's already been acknowledged.

[Husker in WI]

He's minimizing potential distractions, and I think that's fine. It has to be a distraction for the players when the blackshirts are yo-yo'd off and on, so just setting the clear message that they don't have them this year is fine with me. Would've also been fine with giving them back and saying they are for the starters no matter what. Either way, just deciding and sticking with it is good.

 

He's cutting out other things too - Will Compton and Taylor Lewan were going to make this year's Michigan game a trophy game, with unofficial but on the air confirmations from the HCs and ADs at both places. They bleeped out the name but someone on the Nebraska side said we aren't going to do it with where the team is at right now. Had to be Mickey, or Trev but with Mickey requesting it. I hope we're able to do it down the road, but I'm on board with cutting out all unnecessary distractions for this year.

[Red Silk Smoking Jacket]

15 hours ago, UniversalMartin said:

They have to be cage free bones

 

Does that mean we also just have to call them "shirts" when they get brought back?

[gossamorharpy]

I like seeing this.  The tradition became a dumb distraction when it became "merit based".  s#!t was just a fun nickname given to the first stringers and it just so happened to coincide with the defense being legit most years.  Cant remember off the top of my head what year it was but whenever they started "removing" the shirts because they werent earned the whole thing became a gimmick... What are we saying by that, that there is no first string defenders anymore and we're trotting out our B squad?

 

Gimmicks and traditions are fun when your team is good.  Theyre pointless and a distraction when the team sucks

[Archy1221]

3 hours ago, Jason Sitoke said:

This is hilarious.  I lol'd.  +1 to you sir.

Why so? 

[ZRod]

3 hours ago, cheekygeek said:

You seem to have confused my statement of fact and assumed that I’m for a position that I’m not even taking.

 

Your last post is the equivalent of a parent saying “We’ll if we’re going to say he needs to go to his room, why don’t we just beat the stuffing out of him?” Not terribly rational.

It's the exact same thing you're saying, but with different fabrics involved.

[1HuskerDad]

Pelini started the distractions with the blackshirts and made it “a carrot” for them to reach for.  If they played bad, he took them away and at times we had 17-18 players getting black shirts depending upon the coaching staff.  It’s completely been overblown and is a distraction.

 

Completely agree with HCMJ!

[JJ Husker]

2 hours ago, gossamorharpy said:

I like seeing this.  The tradition became a dumb distraction when it became "merit based".  s#!t was just a fun nickname given to the first stringers and it just so happened to coincide with the defense being legit most years.  Cant remember off the top of my head what year it was but whenever they started "removing" the shirts because they werent earned the whole thing became a gimmick... What are we saying by that, that there is no first string defenders anymore and we're trotting out our B squad?

 

Gimmicks and traditions are fun when your team is good.  Theyre pointless and a distraction when the team sucks

This ^^^
And “when the team sucks” has been exactly the problem for about 20 years. **excluding Suh and some of Pelini’s early defenses**

 

I’m glad HCMJ removed the distraction.

[Jason Sitoke]

1 hour ago, Archy1221 said:

Why so? 

Oh…. because thought you were being sarcastic. 

[Archy1221]

9 minutes ago, Jason Sitoke said:

Oh…. because thought you were being sarcastic. 

 Nope.  
 

It’s a genuine idea instead of the current way of giving out blackshirts to a defense ranked in the bottom half the league most years.   
 

My thought is to make them earn it throughout the course of a year and get the reward at the end of it.  Re-earn it the following year and make the blackshirts actually mean something. IMO 

[Gage County]

  

7 hours ago, Archy1221 said:

Maybe NU could re-imagine the while blackshirt thing and make it a season long achievement award for the entire defense.   What about something like this…..  

 

A blackshirt is made up with logo and year and given out at awards banquet for members of the defense that finished top 20 in Points allowed per game and yards per game.  Anyone who played 50% of the snaps or more also get a small wall plaque.  
 

Gives it an achievement  feel with a season long goal.   Not some random moment in time to be called a blackshirt in a defense ranked 50th in the country.  

 

Will there be a sign up sheet for parents to bring sides?

 

[JJ Husker]

38 minutes ago, Archy1221 said:

 Nope.  
 

It’s a genuine idea instead of the current way of giving out blackshirts to a defense ranked in the bottom half the league most years.   
 

My thought is to make them earn it throughout the course of a year and get the reward at the end of it.  Re-earn it the following year and make the blackshirts actually mean something. IMO 

Some of the “blackshirt” squads in the years prior to the early 90’s weren’t anything to write home about. I appreciate thinking outside the box but if the Blackshirts aren’t going to simply be our defensive starters, I’d just as soon let it die. I’m pretty sure they already have team awards, earning letters etc. It kind of defeats the intent and purpose to make the blackshirt an award after the fact imo. The moniker was never intended to describe the quality of play, that self generated after the NC defenses in the 90s and was given more life when Pelini started handing them out late and pulling them after subpar performances. I’d just as soon the defense starts playing much better and earn their own reputation on the field and nobody worry about if they are a blackshirt or not.