Opening the season preaching the benefits of a fresh start, the football team has also unveiled a new look — redesigned uniforms. Fans will get their first look at the Red”s new uniforms this Saturday at the team’s home opener.
The new uniforms, which are made by athletic apparel company Adidas, include some slight changes from last year’s threads. As in the past, the jersey is all red for the home uniforms, all white for road games. On the shoulders, the player’s number is replaced with two thick white lines (red for road jerseys), while a small “C” has been added to the bottom of the neck collar. The capitalized “Big Red” present on last year’s jersey has been removed.
Another addition to the jersey is on the front of the left shoulder, where a patch in honor of deceased football alumnus George Wood ’93 is located. Wood, who was a member of the United States Army’s Fourth Infantry Division, died last November in Iraq. The patch is circular, containing the emblem of the Fourth Infantry Division, plus Wood’s number 77. The players are also wearing a sticker on their helmets with the number 57, in honor of teammate Jaime McManamon ’07, who died in a car accident in May.
There were few changes to the uniform pants, which remain solid white for both home and road games. However, the team’s socks and cleats are now black, as opposed to last year’s white.
“I just wanted to have a new look,” said head coach Jim Knowles ’87. “It’s a fresh start for us [this year], so I wanted it to have that sort of outward appearance.”
Knowles, who took an active role in the design of the new uniforms, believes that they do slightly resemble the jerseys worn by the University of Mississippi, where he worked as the linebackers coach and recruiting coordinator last year.
“I guess that was a little subconscious. I didn’t really mean for it to look like Ole Miss, but it turned out that way,” he remarked.
The members of the team, who wore the full uniforms for the first time on the team”s photo day on Sept. 3, seemed content with the product.
“The black socks are a good touch,” said senior co-captain Brad Kitlowski.
Players did have some input in the process, according to senior co-captain David Archer. “[Knowles] asked some of us about it back in February,” he said. “But like most things, this is mostly his idea.”
There are no changes to the helmet, which remains solid red with a block “C” in white on the sides.
The football team will unveil the uniforms for public consumption as part of its Fan Day festivities for the Saturday afternoon game against Yale.
Archived article by Owen Bochner
Sun Sports Editor