Several coaches and players on the Nebraska football defense – including the head honcho of the Blackshirts in defensive coordinator Tony White – have proudly stated multiple times this offseason that its goal as a unit is to own the best defense in college football.

Husker defensive line coach Terrance Knighton stated that goal once again on Tuesday at the podium.

“We have a mission on defense,” Knighton said. “We want to be the best defense in the country.”

It’s a lofty, and mostly ambiguous, goal for the Huskers in Year 2 of the White-led system. Arguably the No. 1 reason for the optimism and setting the standard so high is due to what is inarguably the strength of the entire unit – and perhaps the strongest personnel group on the entire 120-man roster.

To describe the defensive line in that fashion is a pretty remarkable 180-degree turn from where we were one year ago today – when Knighton was entering his first-ever FBS position coach role, leading a group that was one of the least-experienced D-lines in the entire Big Ten.

Yet, here we are, living in that reality, one where there are justifiable big expectations that lie ahead for the group.

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