Watch: Nebraska Officially Awards Blackshirts To 16 Defensive Players

A yearly Nebraska tradition took place today.

Every year, Nebraska awards its first-team defensive players with coveted "blackshirt" jerseys. These dark tops have been the symbol of Nebraska defensive tradition for some time, and are a major honor.

Today, the Cornhuskers handed out blackshirts to 16 defensive players.

You can see the special moments captured on this video:

Nebraska announced the 16 players to earn blackshirts on the official athletics website.

They are as follows:

• DL Freedom Akinmoladun
• DL Khalil Davis
• DL Carlos Davis
• DL Mick Stoltenberg
• LB Mohamed Barry
• LB Alex Davis
• LB Luke Gifford
• LB Marcus Newby
• LB Chris Weber
• LB Dedrick Young II
• DB B Dicaprio Bootle
• DB Lamar Jackson
• DB Eric Lee Jr.
• S Joshua Kalu
• S Antonio Reed
• S Aaron Williams

Nebraska opens its 2017 season at home against Arkansas State on Saturday.