ZRod
Heisman Trophy Winner
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?
Blackshirts will not return this season per MJ
- Thread starter lo country
- Start date
cheekygeek
Starter
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.
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Jason Sitoke
All-Conference
NM11046
All-American
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
All-Conference
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.
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
Special Teams Player
Does that mean we also just have to call them "shirts" when they get brought back?
gossamorharpy
Starter
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
Gimmicks and traditions are fun when your team is good. Theyre pointless and a distraction when the team sucks
Archy1221
Heisman Trophy Winner
ZRod
Heisman Trophy Winner
1HuskerDad
Four-Star Recruit
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!
Completely agree with HCMJ!
JJ Husker
Assistant Coach
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
All-Conference
Archy1221
Heisman Trophy Winner
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
Banned
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JJ Husker
Assistant Coach
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.