Williams earns Blackshirt after stellar start

By Brian Rosenthal / Huskers.com

Kieron Williams was in somewhat of a rush after Nebraska’s football practice on Tuesday, knowing he had an important phone call to return.

To his mother.

Williams had taken a picture of his newly-earned Blackshirt he’d discovered in his locker and sent it to Saulicia Williams-Mester. She immediately called.

"I couldn’t answer,” Williams said, “because I was about to go out to practice.”

Williams, a junior safety from Shreveport, Louisiana, became the 14th member of the Nebraska defense to earn the coveted Blackshirt, a proud tradition that dates to the 1960s and represents more than starting status, but also a brotherhood.

“I was just excited to be able to be a part of the group and be a part of something that’s been going on here for, I mean, a long, long time,” Williams said. “It’s just a blessing.”

Williams leads Nebraska in tackles through two games, with 15, and has two interceptions, one he returned 23 yards for a touchdown in Saturday’s 52-17 victory over Wyoming.

In something of an oddity, though, Williams was the only defensive starter through two games who didn’t have a Blackshirt.

Yet he wasn’t miffed; he merely kept grinding.

“I think that would be selfish for me to be upset for not getting a Blackshirt,” Williams said. “You always want to strive to be that, though, because that’s the epitome of the defense. So if I want to be a starter, I obviously want to be a Blackshirt, too. It’s just about getting those things in my game that need to be right that way and represent the Blackshirt the right way.”

Nebraska defensive coordinator Mark Banker offered two words to explain why Williams now has a Blackshirt.

“His play,” Banker said, before elaborating. “We talk about it being certain qualities of consistency, the manner in which you play, the time that you put in, the film room, the weight room, on the field … results, yeah, but not necessarily just overall results, but everything combined.

“In these first two weeks he’s made a great case for himself. He’s taken advantage of an opportunity that the door was open for him to do that, and he walked right through it. Again, it’s a brotherhood. It doesn’t matter that you’ve got a Blackshirt on or not, because the whole defense is the Blackshirts. But he’s deserving to be one of those representatives that is a Blackshirt.”

Tackling the Ducks

Beginning in spring football practices, Nebraska coaches implemented more of a rugby-style tackling technique, designed in part to create better angles to the ball carrier.

Nebraska safety Nathan Gerry said that should be especially beneficial this week, as the Huskers prepare to face a spread-out Oregon offense that will create one-on-one matchups in space.

“We’ve got to tackle in space,” Gerry said. “One thing they do really well is get you in space, and you’ve just got to make plays in space. Tracking angles to the football – that’s one of the things we’ve got to focus on, and get lined up and get ready for the tempo.”

Ready for a new challenge

Since moving to the Big Ten Conference in 2011, Nebraska hasn’t faced the plethora of up-tempo, spread offenses like Oregon will bring to Lincoln on Saturday -- ones the Huskers had begun to figure out toward the end of their stay in the Big 12 Conference.

Gerry said this week's preparation reminds of him of the Holiday Bowl game against USC at the end of the 2014 season.

“It’s just another big opportunity for us to make a statement, especially as a defense,” Gerry said. “They’re a very good offensive opponent, something we haven’t seen before, (tempo) we won’t see in the Big Ten. It’s a new challenge we’re looking forward to.”

Preparing for Prukop

Banker, of course, has prepared plenty of times for Oregon when he was defensive coordinator at Oregon State.

The one common thread throughout the high-powered Duck attacks, he said, is a quarterback with command and control of the ins and outs of the offense.

Banker believes the Ducks have another proven commodity in Dakota Prukop, a graduate transfer from the FCS ranks who’s averaging 328.5 yards of total offense through two games.

“This young man seems to have that (control),” Banker said. “He seems to be really a technician. He wasn’t the same in the first game as he was in the second game as he will be in our game. He will only grow as the season goes.”

When asked how he compared to former Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota, the 2014 Heisman Trophy winner, Banker pumped the brakes.

“I think I’d be pushing that too far,” Banker said. “Nobody compares to Mariota. He was an extraordinary young man – big, tall, physical, fast, bright, articulate, you name it.”

Contact Brian at brosenthal@huskers.com or follow him on Twitter, @GBRosenthal