Tony White explains his approach to Nebraska's Blackshirts tradition

New Nebraska defensive coordinator Tony White is bringing back the Blackshirts tradition.

Former Huskers interim head coach Mickey Joseph stopped the tradition last October when he took over due to his team’s defensive struggles. However, White is bringing it back for 2023 and beyond. The Blackshirts tradition dates back to 1964 and involves starters on defense receiving black jerseys to wear at practice.

White is entering his first season at Nebraska coaching under new head coach Matt Rhule. He has been working to learn more about the history of the Blackshirts and what it means to the program.

“I’ve talked to some great voices. I mean I’ve talked to coach [Charlie] McBride, talked to [Adam] Carriker… I mean you name it,” White said. “If they said they wore the Blackshirt, the first question I asked, I said, ‘Come on over here. Step into my office real fast and tell me, educate me on how this works.'”

White isn’t exactly sure what spin he will put on the tradition or how he will go about handing them out, but he definitely plans to reward starters with Blackshirts at some point.

“I have an idea, but I’m going to make sure I talk to coach Rhule and we’ll do it as we do it,” White said.

The former UCLA star came to Nebraska this offseason after spending each of the previous three years as the defensive coordinator at Syracuse. White’s Syracuse defense ranked No. 21 nationally in yards per game allowed last year at 329.3.

Tony White addresses Nebraska’s creativity on defense

Speaking of Tony White, in addition to bringing back the Blackshirts, he also plans to bring plenty of creativity to the Nebraska defense.

White recently spoke about his plans for the unit this fall.

“Well, first I think the biggest thing is putting the guys in position to be successful,” explained White. “You know, every play on defense is designed to do something, you know what I mean? So you’re saying to yourself, they’re in two categories. You’re trying to stop what the offense is doing to you, so you’re calling defense that way, or there’s a certain emphasis, where you go back through the week like yesterday, we got a chance to self-scout, and then you’re going back through and saying, ‘What do we do wrong, what do we need to work on so then now in practice you’re making an emphasis to just call that, regardless of situation.’ You’re saying, ‘I want to work on this. Let’s get the organics of this.’

“So those are the two things that go on in our head. One, is making sure that they get used to seeing the pictures, but two, making sure that we’re working on things that we’re not necessarily good at right now, so that way we can fix them.”

One of those defenders wholeheartedly buying-in to White’s system is Nebraska linebacker Nick Henrich. Earlier this offseason, he gave some thoughts on White’s approach, and it’s evident it’s an intense one.

“Coach White is very intense, and he’s not going to let anything go unnoticed. If you’re loafing one play, you’re going to get yelled at. But, he’ll praise you in the next one if you make a good play,” Henrich said. “You know what you’re going to get out of Coach White, and I love it. I love how he always holds everyone accountable, and he does a great job.”