Finally! Blackshirt Talk

Here's what Sam suggested:

With points for tackles, forced fumbles, interceptions, sacks, taking on double teams, setting the edge and whatever else a team wants to track. Defenders get helmet stickers for racking up points. Players put the little skull and crossbones stickers on their helmets. Fans see these stickers on helmets. Teammates see these stickers. Players are motivated to get more of these stickers.
At the end of the regular season, whichever 11 dudes have the most points/stickers ... those are the Blackshirts. They wear them in practice ahead of the bowl game.
The. End.
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Yeah, no.

 
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This has probably already been covered ad nauseum but....

For about the first 30 years of the "Blackshirt" tradition there really was no decipherable difference between the starters or those who had "earned" them or the unit overall living up to the standard. We generally had very good defenses so it was one in the same. Then we come upon these last 20 years where the play hasn't been up to snuff and then all these discussions/arguments over what the "tradition" is rear their ugly head. Basically, both camps are right, the tradition is the black shirts are for the starters/top unit AND the tradition is for stellar, smothering defense.

I've been one to say the tradition is to award them to the starters prior to the first game and then hold them accountable and make sure they earn it everyday in practice. But, I also realize that can't be the whole story if the defensive performance on the field doesn't align with good defense. IMO the tradition is nothing but a sham if it doesn't deliver defense we can be proud of. So I've got no problem with how any coach or staff wants to handle it as long as they make sure to deliver the goods on Saturdays. Did I have a problem with how Callahan, Pelini, Riley dealt with the blackshirts tradition? You bet I did because they didn't perform. It's high time for the defense to again start acting like they deserve a special moniker such as the blackshirts. So I don't care how Frost/Chinander handle it as long as we can quit cringing every time the other team has the ball. If they can't accomplish that I have no problem with relegating the blackshirts to the annals of history. It's just been a joke for 20 years. It's time that changes and then we'll quit having these discussions about what the real tradition is.

 
If there’s one person who can get this thing right, I think it’s Frost.  Granted he wasn’t on defense but he played during the years when the Blackshirts really meant something and I think he understands what it means to earn that jersey.  

 
RedSavage said:
If there’s one person who can get this thing right, I think it’s Frost.  Granted he wasn’t on defense but he played during the years when the Blackshirts really meant something and I think he understands what it means to earn that jersey.  
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I agree. He may have been a Quarterback but he's always seemed to have that blackshirt mentality. If he can't get it back nobody will. And if that's the case, it's time we all let go of it. But he'll get r' done.

 
Comfortably Numb said:
I agree. He may have been a Quarterback but he's always seemed to have that blackshirt mentality. If he can't get it back nobody will. And if that's the case, it's time we all let go of it. But he'll get r' done.
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Definitely.  I think he will too.  Oh no, one less  stupid topic to argue about in the off season if when he does!

 
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Comfortably Numb said:
I agree. He may have been a Quarterback but he's always seemed to have that blackshirt mentality. If he can't get it back nobody will. And if that's the case, it's time we all let go of it. But he'll get r' done.
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Plus, he saw (and felt) the Blackshirts every day at practice. I'd say they had a lasting impact on him.

 
StPaulHusker said:
I'm not an OWH subscriber so I don't know what Sam's proposal is.  But I agree with Jay.
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I read the article and it's as it sounds - a suggestion that good plays and execution of technique = stickers = Blackshirts handed out after the regular season.

Agreed that it's not a good idea, but I don't think it's a good idea for the same reasons I've said before. It turns them into a story line that could become a punch line.

Truthfully, though, I find the suggestion no less irritating than the conversation surrounding the Blackshirts.

 
Toe said:
To get a little of the history right, it was Mike Corgan who was sent to the store by Devaney one day in 1964 to buy some new practice jerseys. There were different colors for first-string and second-string defense, and also for first- vs second-string offense. First mention of the Blackshirts in a Nebraska was in 1969 (a few years before Kiffin was made DC, I believe).
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Yea. Interesting that I cant find who was defensive coordinator for those seasons. With kiffin being the first titled DC in 72 on Wikipedia. Who was the DC for the first two national championships? Was it devaney? No site I have found even lists Nebraska as having a DC at that time.

I assumed it was kiffin because that's who the former players credit the most for creating the on the field side of the tradition in the books I got.

 
However they do it I really don't care.  The main thing is getting the guys to play like blackshirts.   You can hand them out the perfect way to make everyone happy, but if we don't play good on defense, who really cares.  The blackshirt tradition will be the cherry on top once we establish a dominant defense.  Until then keep recruiting and nurturing a competitive culture.  

 
Handing them out to the starters makes sense to me but in our current situation we may only have 5 or 6 defensive guys who really deserve to be starting... the others are there by default until they improve or can be replaced.  I have no issue withholding the black shirts from the guys who are starting by default.  It takes a long time to build a culture of excellence and rewarding a sub par starter with a black shirt accomplishes nothing towards that goal imo.  

 
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