Posted by ESPN.com's Tim Griffin

Once upon a time, the legacy of the "Blackshirts" defense was the bedrock the Nebraska program was built upon. An intimidating, opportunistic defense helped set the stage for a share of three national championships in a four-year period in the mid-1990s.

That's why last season's struggles by the Nebraska defense were so telling. The Cornhuskers produced the fewest sacks (13) and caused the fewest turnovers in the Big 12 in 2007. They were scorched for at least 40 points in six games, including an average of 57.3 points per game in their final three games. Those included embarrassing basketball-like scores of 76 points scored by Kansas and 65 by Colorado.

That collapse led to the hiring of new coach Bo Pelini and the installation of his older brother, Carl, as the Cornhuskers' new defensive coordinator. Carl Pelini will have as much attention on his job as any assistant coach in the division heading into the Cornhuskers' start of practice on Aug. 4.

	Bruce Thorson/US PRESSWIRE
	Nebraska Cornhuskers head coach Bo Pelini (right) and defensive coach Carl Pelini, seen here during a spring game, are looking to reclaim the team's Blackshirt defense tradition.

We caught up with Carl Pelini to talk about some of his plans to rebuild the Blackshirts' legacy with his current group of players.

What is the fundamental tenet of your defensive philosophy?

Carl Pelini: As a staff, we decided that certain things would be integral, or essential, to our operations. One of the things is simple and that's effort. We went out and looked at every play during the spring and then went back and graded it on a second look to see their effort. We did that and took a lot of time to do it, but it changed the whole makeup of our team.

Going in, I think our guys thought they played hard, but after a day or two of practices, they found out our definition of effort and theirs was different. After that, we started meshing and having some success and through that effort, it became a source of pride for the defense. We regained a swagger and a sense of pride about midway through the spring. That was good to see. Because there wasn't a lot of confidence going into the spring that we had.

How much have you talked about last season's struggles to your new team?

CP: These guys realized pretty quickly that we wouldn't talk about past. They kept expecting to hear about it. They hear about it all the time around here (the state of Nebraska.) It doesn't matter if it's in June or whenever, but football is a prime discussion point around Nebraska. And by the time we got with them, they were getting pretty tired of hearing about it and had gotten beaten down.

After we got here, we moved ahead and talked about what we have planned for the future. They started trusting in us and believing in the approach and we've just gone from there.

How can you boost your team's turnover production after all of its struggles through last season?

CP: There's no real secret to it. The No. 1 thing about getting turnovers is just getting hats to the ball. When you have people in that kind of position, you know you'll have opportunities. That goes with effort, so to me, that's the number one thing to creating turnovers. It's a matter of getting after the football, being aggressive and be willing to take risks. In some cases our guys were more willing to bat a ball down when they could have made a play and gotten an interception. And in the end, that's just a matter of effort.

You'll be working most closely with the Cornhuskers' defensive line. How do you get this group to improve after all of its struggles from last season.

CP: Quite honestly, that's a group that took a lot of criticism. But we're excited about our depth. One thing that really helped our approach is that we changed the thinking and started playing the man on the other side of the ball rather than gaps (in Nebraska's defensive line strategy). They weren't used to that and we started at square one. It was a technique that was new to all of them and created a lot of competition. And even though we have a depth chart going into practice next month, it's not even close to being settled.

How excited are you for your first day of fall camp and how much progress do you expect your team to show from the spring?

CP: Everything is so new to them. I have no doubt of the growth we showed during four weeks of the spring in introducing the scheme and philosophy. But it's not enough. As much meeting time as we've had, it still wasn't where we needed to be. What I'm excited about is checking where they will be coming back for the first day of fall camp, seeing how much they've nailed down after working on the drills and secondary work we've suggested that they work on during the summer. What I'm hoping is they come back and will be as good in practice and the first day of work as they were back in the spring. We just need to keep building on it from there.

Only about five years ago, you quit work as a successful high school head coach (at Austintown, Ohio) to become a graduate assistant on Frank Solich's last staff at Nebraska. Did you ever conceive that you could be working as a college coordinator within five years of that move?

CP: Oh yeah, I did. I wouldn't have gone into something like this without imagining something like this. I know this is a tough business and there are no guarantees. But as long as I've coached and at all of the different levels, I was pretty confident about what I could do. I knew I could do it, I just needed the opportunity. That's why I made the change when I did. And I'm excited about my opportunity with this new defense.

The Blackshirts' historic legacy is so important to the Nebraska program, how do you remind your current group of that history -- particularly after all of the struggles of last season.

CP: What you said is important to us. What we've tried to do is talk to our guys about our tradition and make them understand what a privilege it is to earn a blackshirt. Everybody asks us as coaches if we see this as a big challenge and a sense of responsibility to get back there. Maybe we have to work a little harder to regain that attitude. As good as our offense can be, this program was built on playing aggressive, physical football. And that's what we need to do to get us back where we were.

What about reconnecting to Nebraska's tradition and building the program like it was during the days of its previous success?

CP: We've dusted off film reels and old videos from back in the 1990s and early 2000 with talk about the Blackshirts all the time. We've used that not only to excite the fan base, but also to excite our guys. We want our guys to understand the past. We've talked about restarting the walk-on tradition. The greatest attribute of this program is that you have to recruit nationally, but also surround them with in-state guys who have coming to the stadium to watch the team play for every game since they were 1 or 2 years old. We want our guys who didn't grow up under the shadow of the stadium to understand that.

What kind of attitude would you hope your defense exhibits?

CP: I go back in the 1990s when other teams stepped on field here and knew that it would be four quarters of hell playing against the Blackshirts. We want to see our guys showing a lot of effort and being really physical and aggressive. I believe as offenses have evolved over the last few years, defenses have become more finesse-oriented. But I still think you can play the spread offense and still be physical.

A lot of people across the country are going to be watching Nebraska closely this season after all of the struggles defensively that the Cornhuskers had last year. What do you think about facing that kind of pressure?

CP: I won't lie to you. That's exciting as heck. Anybody who is competitive wants to go to the highest level and compete. If you have confidence and ability, you know you can handle the task. Right now, I feel like I have the best job in college football. A lot of people feel that way, but I know I do.

How much legitimately can this defense improve after all of the struggles of last season?

CP: I have a hard time answering that. I was involved in my own season last year. While we did look game film, we didn't spend a lot of time focusing on it. I knew they were being taught differently and with that being said, it's still a process of developing. We need to get better every week and during every practice. Our guys in terms of learning our scheme are still immature.

There's a lot of improvement that needs to go at every practice. But I think we can be pretty good. We have enough talent to be a good defense. We have enough to be great. I'm excited about being able to coach these guys and get them better.