Matt Rhule discusses Nebraska blackshirts, living up to that legacy

As the head coach at Nebraska, it’s clearly important for Matt Rhule to balance the legacy of the program with its future. Part of that legacy is the blackshirt defense that once defined the Cornhuskers.

Rhule explained that he feels the blackshirts are an important part of the history of the program and emphasized that it’s going to be an earned honor for players to wear the blackshirts.

“The blackshirts for us are going to be the 11 or 12, maybe 13 some years, guys who are going to start the game for us,” Matt Rhule said. “For us, right now, we went with 11 guys, and for me, it’s the guys who are going to start that week.”

Rhule explained that who the blackshirts are each week might change. However, he feels being a blackshirt is more about a style of play than a designation.

“So, guy gets banged up, next guy has to step in, to me when I think about it, and I’m obviously not a Nebraska man born and raised, but when I think about the blackshirt it’s the way that they played. It’s the decimating, demolishing, the vicious defense. It’s just hitting the other team over and over again, and it’s just the great defenses that have been here,” Rhule said.

“So, whoever’s going to go out and represent us, to me, the blackshirt is not just hey I’ve achieved this. It’s I’m part of a legacy and I have to live up to it, and then I have to uphold it for the future. So, we want our guys to always understand when we talk about the past here that there’s a legacy we have to learn from and then there’s a legacy we have to leave going beyond us.”

The first mention of the term blackshirt at Nebraska dates back to the 1960s, but the term really became popular under defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin. The term refers to the color of the jerseys that the Cornhuskers’ starting defense wears at practice. They represent a high defensive standard at Nebraska and have been suspended when the team hasn’t met that standard in the past.

“So, whoever’s going to step up for us and be a starter on defense will wear the blackshirt that week and they’ll have to play to that standard if they want to start for us.”

Nebraska reveals blackshirts ahead of the 2023 season

Matt Rhule and the Nebraska staff have already decided who the first round of blackshirts for 2023 are going to be, and they announced them at the start of game week.

The blackshirts are defensive linemen Ty Robinson, Nash Hutmacher, and Blaise Gunnerson, linebackers John Bullock, Chief Borders, and Luke Reimer, and defensive backs DeShon Singleton, Omar Brown, Quinton Newsome, Malcolm Hartzog, and Isaac Gifford. Notably, Robinson, Newsome, Hartzog, Reimer, and Gifford are returning starters.

After struggling on the defensive side of the ball under Scott Frost, the 2023 season will present an opportunity to reclaim the blackshirt legacy under Matt Rhule.