Nebraska football: The Killer Bees return to Husker defense

Nebraska football defensive coordinator Erik Chinander is channeling history with his latest decision to bring the “Killer Bees” back to the defense.

The Nebraska football team had a brand new look at practice on Tuesday. Defensive coordinator Erik Chinander is working his way to naming the Blackshirts. Before he does that, he’s brought out another old tradition for the Cornhuskers’ defense.

The Killer Bees have officially returned to practice. Chinander says the Blackshirts will be handed out after the Colorado game. Until then, everyone that isn’t on the scout team defense is wearing yellow jerseys with black lettering.

As the Journal Star reports, this is an idea Chinander is borrowing from former coordinator Charlie McBride. “When I talked to coach (Charlie) McBride and he told me about the beginning of the Blackshirts, the first team had the black jerseys and the second team had the yellow shirts, affectionately known as the killer bees,” Chinander said.

It appears as though the defenders have taken to the jerseys, though their coach says he’s already heard grumbling. Chinander said he’s heard players talking about wanting to get out of the yellow jerseys and into the black ones.

The original plan was to start handing out the Blackshirts this week. The problem is the game that was going to determine who got one was canceled.

The entire Husker coaching staff has had great things to say about the first two practices since the weather ended the season opener before it could really begin. To a man, it seems as though the players have had a great intensity.

That’s good news, considering Colorado is going to be quite a bit better than Akron was likely to be. The comments about wanting to earn Blackshirts has to be taken as a positive too.

We’ve spent the entire season waiting to see what the Nebraska football defense can do. It appears that the Cornhuskers are excited to show us.