Why Nebraska punter Brian Buschini earned a Blackshirt

A text from Marques Buford was the push that head coach Matt Rhule needed.

The Nebraska football team has two new Blackshirts as it comes out of the bye week.

Junior defensive back Ceyair Wright and senior Brian Buschini have been awarded Blackshirts, Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule confirmed on Monday.

“We put Ceyair in black because he’s a starting corner right now,” Rhule said. “The defensive guys came to me, they asked for Buschini to be in black, so we put Buschini in black.”

The decision comes after an impressive three-week run for Wright filling in for the injured Tommi Hill at cornerback. Wright played at least 50 snaps in each of Nebraska’s three games, recording 15 tackles, four pass breakups, a fumble, and interception over that stretch.

Buschini, meanwhile, earned his Blackshirt after a standout performance in NU’s 14-7 win over Rutgers. Buschini averaged 50.2 yards per punt, helped ice the game with a booming 69-yard effort and successfully converted a fake punt in the win. He was named the Big Ten special teams player of the week afterward.

“Buschini is technically part of the defense, right?” defensive lineman Ty Robinson said after the game.

Now, he’s a Blackshirt.

“When Marques Buford texts me at home and was like, ‘Coach, we need Buschini in black,’ I thought that was a tremendous message,” Rhule said of Buschini. “Whether it was the tackles at Purdue or the game-saving tackles on the field goals, or just the punts he made last week… I did it because it was from the players. They feel like he’s part of that unit, so let’s roll with it.”

Nebraska has now awarded 14 Blackshirts this season, with Buschini and Wright joining defensive linemen Ty Robinson, Nash Hutmacher, Jimari Butler and Cameron Lenhardt; linebackers John Bullock, Mikai Gbayor and MJ Sherman; defensive backs Tommi Hill, Isaac Gifford, Malcolm Hartzog, DeShon Singleton and Marques Buford.