Nebraska Football: 5 storylines for spring football

3. Rebuilding the blackshirts

Tradition will play a huge part of Scott Frost’s tenure in Lincoln. Frost knows the Husker traditions and the pride it brings to the alumni, fans, and boosters. He’s already talked about re-loading the famous walk-on program at Nebraska that was employed for decades under Tom Osborne.

Frost won’t run the I-Formation triple option but he will want to make sure many of the old traditions are back in place, and none more vital than the blackshirts. Back in the 1990’s the blackshirts were given to Nebraska’s starting defensive players in an effort to make playing defense special in light of all the talk the Husker offense always receives. That will be true again- Frost’s offense will take the forefront but the defense is what will help Nebraska if they truly will plan to get back into the national spotlight.

Charlie McBride, that legendary defensive coordinator I talked about earlier in the piece, was originally the leader of a 5-2 base defense. The 5-2, for all intents and purposes, is a 3-4 defense (please listen to Joe Daniel’s tirade on defense here).

McBride eventually switched his defense to a 4-3 to mimic what he saw from Miami and Florida State and the rest is three national titles in four seasons. Frost’s 3-4 is a based more on speed than the old McBride-Husker 3-4 defenses and will need that pass rusher like Shaquem Griffin in order to make it click.

Viable options are senior Luke Gifford. Gifford, like Griffin, is a former defensive back who has bulked up and can provide experience and ability. The 6-foot-2 and 235 pound Lincoln native will have the chance to make an immediate impact in 2018.

Junior Alex Davis is another guy that can play the edge position. Davis is 6-foot-5 and 255 pounds and expected to have a bigger role in 2018. Ben Stille is a tweener for defensive end or linebacker. Stille is also 6-foot-5 and 255 pounds. He picked up 3.5 sacks in 2017.