Here is how it should be IMO.
McBride regularly handed out 12 to 14 — even after he vowed to make it more exclusive. It's not practical to build a defense with 11 guys, McBride said, especially nowadays.
In the '70s and '80s, Nebraska faced the same personnel groups every week. The coordinator knew what defenders he was going to play.
Now you face a power running game one Saturday, a spread passing game the next. One week, you play three linebackers the whole game; the next you play six defensive backs.
"When you're the first-team player in the nickel and dime," McBride said, "you deserve a Blackshirt."
http://www.omaha.com...IGRED/711039770
so that is 12 to 14. I think it's a shame Bo has changed this very cool, unique, staple of a Husker tradition. From the not handing them out before the season to giving them out to 20 players. Bo has literally changed the definition of "blackshirt" in a big way w/ how they aren't given to at least the starters automatically. If you earn a starting spot, you earn a blackshirt. That's how it has always been...that's the def of a blackshirt.
It's weird how fans pick n choose which traditions are sacred and which aren't. I would think this would be more sacred than us wearing all red for 1 game a season...or all white. Especially since even TO did those things.
Now this doesn't mean he's a bad or good coach...it just shows he doesn't really understand or respect the tradition as much as I hoped he would.