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Blackshirts Dominate Single-Digit Jerseys as Nebraska Football Announces ‘The Ten’

Husker players voted on who would wear the honored jerseys in one of head football coach Matt Rhule’s new traditions. Nine of them went to defensive players.

Austin Jacobsen

Nebraska football's 2024 single-digit jersey honorees have been announced.
Nebraska football's 2024 single-digit jersey honorees have been announced. / @HuskerFootball on X
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One of Nebraska football's newest traditions has arrived for the upcoming season.

Under second-year Husker coach Matt Rhule, single-digit jersey assignments were voted upon by the team to define the "toughest" players on the roster.

"I got really tired of having a guy in my program who had spent three years at like No. 47, was getting ready to play and wanted to wear No. 1 or No. 3, and he'd earned it, and we would give it to a recruit," Rhule said last fall. "So what we decided was that 1-9, or now 0-9, would go to the nine, or now ten, toughest guys on the team."

Rhule went on to state that the "toughest" is defined by accountability, competition, and by "what it means to be a Cornhusker."

Nebraska Cornhuskers defensive lineman Ty Robinson (9), linebacker Luke Reimer (4), and defensive back Isaac Gifford (2)
Nov 11, 2023; Lincoln, Nebraska, USA; Nebraska Cornhuskers defensive lineman Ty Robinson (9), linebacker Luke Reimer (4), and defensive back Isaac Gifford (2) celebrate after recovering a fumble against the Maryland Terrapins during the fourth quarter at Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Dylan Widger-USA TODAY Sports / Dylan Widger-USA TODAY Sports

This year's single-digit allotments featured only one offensive player - Wake Forest transfer Jahmal Banks - while nine defensive players will don one numeral for their practice and game uniforms.

Several players repeated as single-digit recipients from 2023, including defensive linemen Nash Hutmacher (No. 0) and Ty Robinson (No. 9), linebacker John Bullock (No. 5), and defensive backs Isaac Gifford (No. 2) and DeShon Singleton (No. 8). Each returning recipient maintained his jersey number from last season.

Nebraska Cornhuskers defensive back Isaac Gifford (2)
Nov 11, 2023; Lincoln, Nebraska, USA; Nebraska Cornhuskers defensive back Isaac Gifford (2) celebrates after an interception against the Maryland Terrapins during the third quarter at Memorial Stadium. / Dylan Widger-USA TODAY Sports

New honorees of the peer-led vote include linebacker Jimari Butler (No. 1), and defensive backs Marques Buford (No. 3), Tommi Hill (No. 6), and Malcolm Hartzog (No. 7).

Nebraska has yet to award the Blackshirts during fall camp. The Huskers open the season Aug. 31 against UTEP.

MORE: Kicking Competition Continues at Nebraska Football Preseason Camp

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Austin Jacobsen
AUSTIN JACOBSEN

Austin Jacobsen is a radio broadcaster and former Sports Director in Central Nebraska. He has seen the Cornhusker state from all corners; growing up in the Panhandle, completing his college degree in Kearney, working in the rural Sandhills, and now residing in Omaha. Austin is a statewide, regional, and national radio award winner and can usually be found at a high school football field on Friday nights and tuning in to the Huskers wherever they travel. If he is not on the road, Austin enjoys movie dates with his girlfriend and their dog, Ava.

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