Luke Gifford opened his locker about 3:10 on Monday afternoon while a few teammates around him, notably Eric Lee Jr. and Chris Weber, quietly appreciated their newly donned Blackshirt jerseys.
Gifford, meanwhile, was picking his heart off the locker room floor.
Imagine how far yours might sink as a fifth-year senior Nebraska football player who’d been earning nothing but rave reviews from coaches and players all fall camp, only to find no Blackshirt near your locker.
Heck, even just earlier Monday, at his first weekly news conference of the season, coach Mike Riley had singled out Gifford as somebody who'd found "a whole new life" under first-year defensive coordinator Bob Diaco.