When Blackshirts Were Blackshirts: Brian Shaw
4 comments so far
July 4, 2008 by
As we look back at Husker defenders from better days, we’ve tried to select players at every position. Sure the switch from 5-2 defense to a 4-3 obscures the definition of linebacker versus rush end or defensive end, but the idea is that you could piece together a tremendous unit with these past players. If you try to focus further on not just linebacker, but strongside linebacker, you could go all the way back to Jerry Murtaugh or maybe to Steve Damkroger to find guys with their names all over the record books. But instead of doing that, we focus on a guy that represents much of what has been great about the blackshirts over the years.
Brian Shaw came to Nebraska from tiny Deweese, Nebraska as a walk-on in 1995. That same year, highly touted recruit Tony Ortiz arrived at NU. Both redshirted and as the years passed they found themselves competing for playing time. Neither grabbed the starting job for a whole season, but by the time he was through, Shaw had started 15 games including 8 during the 1997 national championship season and 3 in 1999 as part of lights out defensive unit that lead Nebraska to a Big 12 title, Fiesta Bowl title, and #2 ranking.
Shaw was a big-time performer in the classroom. He graduated with a perfect 4.0, was an Academic All-American, and earned post-graduate scholarships. He was also a three-time member of the Brook Berringer citizenship team. When we talk about what walk-ons have meant to the program over the years, Shaw is the quintessential example of how it can pay off. Not only did he and Ortiz push each other to be better, but he was a highly functioning member of championship defenses. He even owned some performance index records versus the hundreds of other Huskers that played before him. Other fine walk-ons have manned the strongside position since (like Scott Shanle and Steward Bradley) but none had quite the success on the field that Shaw did.
The naysayers will dismiss the resurgence of the walk-on program as lacking any value. Brian Shaw is the counterexample to that kind of thinking.
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cvldfg Jul 04 08
I like reading about some of the greats of the past and when they played a different brand of defense.
You have mentioned the 5-2 defense, and I briefly remember it, but is that a defense that could work in "today's" football?
What were/are its advantages and disadvantages? I would like to hear others responses as well.
I LOVE AMERICA AND NEBRASKA!
Everyone have a wonderful and safe 4th.
h jurtus Jul 04 08
how can you say that bradley and shanle never had the on field performance of shaw. look at the career strats and stats. the other two were better players and are still playing in the nfl for crying out loud. shaw was a good player but come on
Greg Morrow Jul 04 08
When the team gutted out that '94 title, Osborne got a recruiting windfall by nabbing a few more highly touteds for the '95 recruiting class. Tony Ortiz was a Parade All American, which was quite the rarity in Huskerville. That '95 recruiting class actually reminds me of the '05 Callahan class, which was his second, with Beck et al.
Point is, the '95 class had a lot of touted guys who didn't or couldn't help the team, through the '99 season. Injuries and illness were a factor. Ortiz himself had a serious illness, his frosh season. Kareem Sears, who might have been a good linebacker, got a medical scholarship, I believe and almost half the class either couldn't enroll, got kicked off, or didn't quite develop. Which is still better than how the '05 class is shaping up.
That '95 class did have some walkons who contributed big, on the field and in class.
Along with Shaw, there was Sean Applegate, Dan Hadenfeldt, Jason Schwab and a couple more special team dynamos.
So, there you go. 4 walkons from one class, who achieved championship level play and graduated, a couple with honors.
steve Jul 05 08
cvldfg,
The 5-2 is a run-stuffing unit. A fifth down lineman crowds the line of scrimmage which makes it that much harder to create space to run. Your "middle guard" was essentially your nose tackle, the TWO defensive tackles are like hybrid tackle/ends and the defensive ends are hybrid ends/linebackers. But you're sacrificing speed for power when you play the 5-2. You sacrifice a linebacker and add a lineman. That's why the 4-3 made Nebraska faster. You're getting a lighter (and therefore usually faster) player on the field. Similarly, "nickel" defenses take a linebacker off the field to add a defensive back to chase receivers.
The preference for the 5-2 had a lot to do with Oklahoma's option game. Despite Switzer's edge in the series, it actually fared pretty well in slowing a Sooner offense that usually put up 40 or 50 points. From 1978-1989, OU failed to score more than three touchdowns against Nebraska in any game. But OU's own 5-2 unit was pretty good at shutting down NU's offense in that span.
h jurtus,
I was going for the quality of the unit he played on and wins and losses. Success in a team sport is measured by the outcome (winning and getting defensive stops). Shanle was on the field for that non-tackling nightmare against CU in 2001 and the disaster season of 2002. Bradley got out before the hideous 2007 season but he still was on the field for a number of poor blackshirt outings in the Callahan era.