Blackshirts have been handed out

Undone said:
This list of 12 guys - as far as I can reasonably eyeball the recruiting numbers - is every bit as talented as what Wisconsin & Iowa has on their roster as a cumulative average.

Success for these guys is absolutely within in their grasps if they:

1. Take to the coaching and stay disciplined.

2. Show up each game with the mentality of pounding the other team into the turf.
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I looked this up because it's a Monday.  Here is what I found.  And you are absolutely right.

Wisconsin starters:  2 4-stars.  Average ranking out of HS:  .8556.  Highest rated:  .9244.  Lowest rated:  .8000

Iowa starters:  1 5-star.  Average ranking out of HS:  .8496.  Highest rated:  .9868.  Lowest rated:  .7991

Nebraska starters:  4 4-stars.  Average ranking out of HS: .8755.  Highest rated:  .9594.  Lowest rated:  .8058

 
Trying to soften my stance on Chinander.   Outside of maybe being thin at OLB he seems to have a solid group, on paper.   With Michigan off the schedule and most of the "toughest" teams at home he has every opportunity for success this season.

(I think Wisconsin, Iowa, and Northwestern are all going to be kinda lame this year but I guess technically they're among our toughest opponents)

 
ColoradoHusk said:
I wasn't as critical against Bo as a lot of members of this board were, but looking back at the way Bo handled the Blackshirts, he did a very poor job of understanding and managing the tradition.  Callahan and Riley didn't seem to care too much either.  It's great to see Frost and his staff manage the Blackshirts with a nod to traditions of the past.
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Eh ... Bo did more or less what Frost did last year.  I guess he took them away which Frost didn't do but he made them "earn" it which is what Frost did last year.

 
Mavric said:
Eh ... Bo did more or less what Frost did last year.  I guess he took them away which Frost didn't do but he made them "earn" it which is what Frost did last year.
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I thought I just read that some blackshirts did get taken away last year at about the 0-5 or 0-6 point of the season.

Foster: There were Blackshirts getting taken. There were starters sitting. A lot of stuff was happening offensively and defensively. If you were a guy who maybe didn’t start but you came with it on special teams, you were going to get pushed over the guy who started and he was just out there.

 
ColoradoHusk said:
I wasn't as critical against Bo as a lot of members of this board were, but looking back at the way Bo handled the Blackshirts, he did a very poor job of understanding and managing the tradition.  Callahan and Riley didn't seem to care too much either.  It's great to see Frost and his staff manage the Blackshirts with a nod to traditions of the past.
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I always felt Bo understood the tradition, but didn't quite grasp the optics of it all. Making players earn it during the season was fine and dandy, but it turned it into this big circus talking point every season which was incredibly ironic given his personality. And then, more than once, defenses would 'earn' the Blackshirts only to have a complete a$$ of a performance a week or two later. So, it ended up just sort of making a mockery of the whole thing.

I didn't mind it during Bo's first couple of years but felt he should've changed his tune after that. Hand them out at the beginning of the year and be done with it. Great defense is what gave the Blackshirts meaning, not the other way around, and I feel like the latter became more of a focal point at times the last 20 years.

30-50 Feral Hogs said:
I believe Callahan had the team hand them back to him, didn't he?
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I could be wrong, but I thought the '07 defense chose as a team to turn their Blackshirts in. Or, one guy did it and then a bunch of others followed.

 
Enhance said:
I always felt Bo understood the tradition, but didn't quite grasp the optics of it all. Making players earn it during the season was fine and dandy, but it turned it into this big circus talking point every season which was incredibly ironic given his personality. And then, more than once, defenses would 'earn' the Blackshirts only to have a complete a$$ of a performance a week or two later. So, it ended up just sort of making a mockery of the whole thing.
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The media and fans turned it into a circus, especially the ones that didn't like Bo.

The players had no issue with it (generally speaking).

 
Bo's way didn't make sense once his defenses got mediocre, stayed mediocre, and he just arbitrarily handed them out in the middle of seasons.

Frost understands the tradition is bigger than his ego.

 
Can anyone identify all of the former blackshirts that came? I can only identify Jason Peter and Zach Bowman (and presumably one is Jay Foreman).

 
Mavric said:
The media and fans turned it into a circus, especially the ones that didn't like Bo.

The players had no issue with it (generally speaking).
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I mostly agree, but I do think there's a bit of a 'chicken or the egg' here. I might lean towards the fans/media having had the biggest role on turning it into the clown car it became, but Bo's strategy set it all in motion. Making players 'earn it,' only to then see them deliver some of the worst defensive performances in program history, was never going to be received well. It just drew way too much attention to something that (sorry Jay Foreman, Jason Peter, et. al) doesn't matter much when it comes to winning or losing football games.

 
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