What Are the Blackshorts?

Husker fans, if you’ve heard somebody call Nebraska volleyball the Blackshorts and wondered what that’s about, here’s the short version.

It’s a nickname. Fans use it for the volleyball Huskers, and it borrows from the most famous name in Nebraska football.

Shirts for football, shorts for volleyball

The Blackshirts are Nebraska football’s defense. The name comes from the black practice jerseys handed to starting defenders, a tradition that goes back to 1964 — the full story is here.

Volleyball kept the black and the defense and swapped the garment. When the Omaha World-Herald wrote about it, the headline said Nebraska volleyball “embraces ‘blackshorts’ defense”.

And in May 2018, when fans voted on a new court design for the Devaney Center, they picked the black one. The floor matches the name now.

Is it official?

This page isn’t claiming it’s university branding. It’s the name you’ll hear in the stands and see printed on T-shirts at plenty of Husker shops. (The Blackshirts is an independent site, too — not affiliated with the University of Nebraska.)

Where the name came from

Honestly? Nobody we can find has written it down.

No published source we’ve turned up records who coined Blackshorts or what year it caught on. If you know the real story, tell us and the volleyball history page gets rewritten with your name on it.

What the name is attached to

Five national championships. A home sellout streak running since 2001. A crowd of 92,003 at Memorial Stadium in 2023 — the world record for a women’s sporting event.

That’s a lot for a pair of shorts to carry!

If you’re catching up on this year’s team, start with the 2026 roster, the schedule and the latest Nebraska volleyball news. Want to wear it? The volleyball gear page has jerseys, tees and sweatshirts.

One more thing: theblackshorts.com is ours. Type it in and it drops you straight into Nebraska volleyball on this site.

Husker Nation, now you know the name. Wear black.