Diaco hails Blackshirt tradition as he prepares to unveil his defense to Big Red masses

Husker defensive coordinator Bob Diaco watches players stretch at the start of football practice on Tuesday at Hawks Championship Center.

The new guy in charge of the Nebraska defense -- the guy with a sweat-stained black ball cap pulled down to his eyebrows -- possesses a seemingly clear understanding of the Blackshirt tradition.

A New Jersey native, he played linebacker at a high level for Iowa during the early 1990s.

"You can't grow up, I don't think, as a defender in this country, as a football player, and not know about the Blackshirt defense and the ideologies and habits of defending that that brings," the first-year Husker defensive coordinator told reporters Tuesday, a day after 16 of his defenders were awarded with the coveted black practice jerseys.