Nebraska’s Week 1 opener vs, Akron was supposed to be the final evaluation step for the defense to decide on which players were deserving of the coveted Blackshirts.

Since there was no game, the Huskers had to settle for yellow jerseys.

Going back to the roots of the practice jersey tradition influenced by legendary former NU defensive coordinator Charlie McBride, Nebraska handed out yellow shirts with black numbers to the entire varsity defense this week.

The yellow jerseys were originally intended to distinguish the starting defense (black) from the second-team unit, but since there were no Blackshirts yet, defensive coordinator Erik Chinander decided that his group would all wear yellow leading up to Saturday’s new opener vs. Colorado.

“When I talked with Coach McBride he told me about the beginning of the Blackshirts, and the first team had the Blackshirts and the second team had the yellow shirts, affectionally known as the ‘Killer Bees.’

“So we went back to that thing, and I think some of these guys already – they’re pretty nice jerseys, but some of these guys are already saying, ‘I want to get out of this thing. I want to get into the black.’ So hopefully that’s another little mental reward for getting out of those things and into the black jerseys.”

The plan is still to decide on which players were deserving of Blackshirts following the first game, but Chinander said the yellow jerseys will stick around from here on out for the second-team defense.

Sophomore safety JoJo Domann said the yellow jerseys were definitely a source of motivation for the players to play well enough to trade them in for the Blackshirts next week.

“These are preliminary jerseys for our Blackshirts,” Domann said. “So, everybody on scout team is in red and white, the defensive core guys are in yellow, and then once we earn our Blackshirts there will be Blackshirts, yellow shirts and then scout team in red and white.

“You have these on until you earn your Blackshirt. Then if you get your Blackshirt taken away for any reason, you are back in yellow.”

- Robin Washut

The disappointment of not being able to play Akron on Saturday doesn’t seem to have set the Huskers back one bit leading up to their new opener against Colorado.

Head coach Scott Frost said Monday morning’s practice was actually one of the best he’d seen from any team he’d ever been a part of, and Chinander said the effort and intensity didn’t drop much at all on Tuesday.

“I was very – I don’t know if surprised is the right word, but I was pleasantly surprised at the way those guys came out,” Chinander said. “You miss a game and you never know what the attitude’s going to be like. You never know what the demeanor’s going to be like. But those guys came out and practiced like we wanted them to on Monday, better than we expected. I thought Monday was our best practice since we split into scout team and regular unit. That was probably our best tempo of the year.

“Today was pretty good, too. Usually on Tuesday we affectionally call it, ‘Tough Guy Tuesday’ where I script all the hard stuff for them and give them all the really hard looks, so obviously there were some busts and some things like that, but the effort was really good again today.”

Chinander explained that “script all the hard stuff” meant each week he picked out what he felt each opposing offense did the best and threw it at his defense in practice with the intention of making them fail or having to be “near perfect to win.”

Chinander admitted that not having a game under their belts at this point has set them back a little bit, but he had no concerns about the Huskers’ being readier than ever to play a game on Saturday.

“To be honest, I don’t think a little adversity is going to hurt this team,” Chinander said. “I think it’s going to make us better.”

- Robin Washut

Sophomore linebacker Collin Miller has had a lot of his plate over the last month or so.

The Indiana native has made the transition from outside linebacker to playing both outside and inside linebacker to finally being only an inside backer.

Listed as co-No. 1 on the depth chart, Miller credits his smooth transition to the coaching style of inside linebackers coach Barrett Ruud.

“It’s terrific, in my opinion,” Miller said. “Coach Ruud is a phenomenal coach. In the film room he really does find a way to help coach each player specifically and he has his own techniques to coach each player.

"So he might coach me differently than he coaches Dedrick (Young), Mo (Barry), Will (Honas), and (Jacob) Weinmaster and everybody like that. He finds a way to connect to his players and teach them.”

Miller says the overall transition has been relatively easy for him and while there still might be some small hiccups here and there overall there is no way he doesn’t succeed there.

“Transitioning was pretty easy to me,” Miller said. “There are still some little nicks here and there, trying to get everything down. Having Dedrick and Mo and the upper classmen like that helping me every day watching film and studying together just critiquing my work, my footwork. Coach Ruud and our GA Coach Brim, just everybody helps a lot.

“There’s not a home for failure when you have this kind of squad on your back.”

- Nate Clouse

One of the bigger early surprises of Nebraska’s depth chart released over a week ago was where senior safety Aaron Williams was listed.

The Georgia native has been limited after undergoing shoulder surgery in April, but it appears he’s well on his way back.

“He’s been making his presence known this last week and a half,” defensive backs coach Travis Fisher said. “He’s doing a great job.”

It’s hard to know where Williams will factor in this week, but Fisher likes what he’s seen from him in practice.

“He’s playing like a senior,” Fisher said. “He’s playing like Aaron Williams should be playing. Does he have a lot of room to get better? We all do. He is definitely playing like he’s expected to play all game. You couldn’t ask for better leadership from him in the room and on the field, he’s running around and focused in practice the last week. He’s making his presence known.”

-Sean Callahan

Colorado will come to Lincoln led by veteran junior quarterback Steven Montez, who’s played in 23 games, including 16 starts over the course of his career.

Montez threw for nearly 3,000 yards in 2017 and opened the season last week against Colorado State with 338 yards passing and four touchdowns, to go along with one rushing touchdown.

“He makes really good decisions,” outside linebackers coach Jovan Dewitt said. “He’s really sharp in knowing where the ball is going to go. He does a good job of getting a pre-snap read and understanding where the strengths and weaknesses are in a defense.

"We’ve got to know, as well as him being able to recognize what we can and can’t do. So, our guys are learning through the course of practice what’s the strength of our coverage and what’s the weakness of our coverage and how to play accordingly.”

Fisher said Montez was one of the best quarterbacks the Huskers will face this season.

“It’s probably somewhere at the top,” Fisher said. “They have a great group. Their quarterback has some weapons on the outside at receiver and running back. They’ve got a complete, pretty good football team. They are definitely respected by us and they are doing a great job.”

- Sean Callahan

***Chinander said there were some similarities between Nebraska and Colorado’s offense in that they were both high-tempo spread schemes with mobile quarterbacks and dangerous skill players.

***Fisher said the staff was taking it day-by-day in evaluating the redshirt status of true freshman Cam Jones this season. Fisher said Jones still needed to stay healthy and put together consistent good practices before being a lock to play the full year.

***Domann, a native of Colorado Springs, Colo., said Colorado recruited him pretty hard in high school and he had some interest in the Buffalos at one point. But in the end Domann said he wanted to go to a school where football was really important to university.

***Fisher said the biggest keys for the secondary on Saturday would be recognizing where CU’s top skill players were before every snap and then being able to tackle in space. He said the Buffalos had a number of very fast, quick, and physical receivers who could make you pay if you weren’t ready to tackle.