Check out the drip: BYU football gets new look for Saturday based on 1996 uniform combo | News, Sports, Jobs

By Pune Media On Sep 21, 2024 45

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BYU quarterback Steve Sarkisian takes a snap in a college football game against Fresno State during the 1995 season.

Courtesy BYU Athletics

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An artist’s drawing of BYU’s uniform combination, based on the 1996 football team. The Cougars will wear this combo against Kansas State on Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024.

Courtesy BYU Photo

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BYU linebacker Spencer Reid (41) plays defense during the 1996 college football season.

Courtesy BYU Athletics

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: BYU quarterback Steve Sarkisian takes a snap in a college football game against Fresno State during the 1995 season.

: An artist’s drawing of BYU’s uniform combination, based on the 1996 football team. The Cougars will wear this combo against Kansas State on Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024.

: BYU linebacker Spencer Reid (41) plays defense during the 1996 college football season.

Earlier this week, sophomore wide receiver Parker Kingston was asked about BYU’s latest uniform combination.

“Yeah, I’m all for the swag,” Kingston responded. “I try to have some drip out there and these jerseys are definitely some pretty dope unis, especially going all white at home, so it’ll be sweet.”

Translation: He likes them.

Excitement about different uniform combinations might be a generational thing, with the youth loving their new “drip” while older fans favor the traditional look, not caring what the team is wearing as long as the Cougars are winning.

BYU is serving both ends of the spectrum on Saturday. The Cougars will don new threads based on what the 1996 team wore during its magical season: White pants, jerseys and helmets with royal trim and black-drop shadow numbers.

There have been some fashion faux pas over the years: The orange stripes and grey helmets in the 1950’s, the infamous “bib” uniforms and tan accents in the 2000’s, for example.

The BYU uniform “fit,” as the kids say, has been much more well-received recently.

Josh Hewitt is in his third season as the Director of Equipment Operations for BYU football. He said discussions with player reps and staff about uniform combinations for the 2024 season started back in January and February.

“I think it’s what the players like, right?” Hewitt said. “It’s getting the player’s opinion of what they want to wear, what looks good. We try to contrast helmets to opponents, so we don’t have the same color helmet that they have. Like last week at Wyoming, we wore our royal helmets, knowing they were going to be in white helmets. This week is a special opportunity to wear white at home. Every time we’ve done that in the past, it seems we’ve had a good outcome.”

Through the years, BYU’s uniforms were made by a wide variety of manufacturers. In the early 1980’s the Cougars wore a mesh jersey that was partially created by an actual fishing net company back East, according to Senior Associate Athletic Director Duff Tittle. BYU began wearing Nike footwear in the 1970’s, the beginnings of a long friendship between Cougar coach LaVell Edwards and Nike co-founder Phil Knight.

In 1996, just a year after Nike signed its first apparel contract with the NFL, BYU became one of the first collegiate teams to wear Nike uniforms and apparel. The Cougars finished 14-1 that season and won the Cotton Bowl with a 19-15 victory against Kansas State, their opponent on Saturday in LaVell Edwards Stadium.

It’s all part of the celebration of 100 years of BYU football. The school will also honor the 1996 team this weekend.

“The 1996 year has a special place in BYU history,” Hewitt said. “It really aligned for us do that uniform this week. I think we’ve got a good variety of uniforms. We can mix and match facemasks with helmets to get a different variety. Working with Nike has been awesome. They’re great partners. Everything we do, from our apparel to our footwear and headwear as well, they do a good job taking care of us.”

Another Nike school, the University of Oregon, has been the leader in experimenting with radical new designs for uniform combinations, but BYU has begun to embrace its wild side as well.

“We will always try to be traditional in everything we do, but still mix it up for the players and recruits,” Hewitt said. “It’s a big recruiting piece for what we’re doing.”

Coulson Kunz does social media for BYUtv and also works for BYU athletics in graphic design. From the time he was in elementary school, Kunz said he would wake up early and draw football fields, jerseys and uniforms. His passion led him to create the BYU Uniform Tracker on X (@BYUTracker) with information and updates about Cougar football uniform combinations. He current has nearly 3,400 followers.

Kunz will post an updated tracker of the uniform combinations BYU has worn this season. A typical post would read something like the following:

“Saturday night’s game vs Kansas State will be the 8th occurrence of BYU wearing white jerseys at home under Kalani Sitake. The Cougs look to even their home record in those games against the Wildcats!”

Some BYU followers are superstitious about uniform combinations, but Kunz said he’s not one of them.

“I view myself like (BYU radio voice) Greg Wrubell,” Kunz said. “On his bio it says, ‘Jinxes are not a thing.’ I just spread information about uniforms. I think of myself as a messenger. It wasn’t really until about 2020 that BYU started to change things up for almost every game. Before it was just navy and white, or royal and white. I appreciate the traditional look (white helmet, royal jersey, white pants) but I love the variations they can use, too.”

Kunz has tracked graphics and records to around 2005 as a turning point when Bronco Mendenhall took over the football program. Since that time, BYU has used approximately 39 different uniform and helmet combinations.

“The uniform trends in college football are going back to what teams wore in the 1980’s, 1990’s and 2000’s,” Kunz said. “That’s kind of what Oregon has done. The University of Utah has been using more of a throwback style, too. BYU is about as traditional as you can get with its designs. Realistically, I can see them maybe changing the helmet sticker to go to the sailor Coug or the block Y from when Gifford Nielson was playing.”

BYU became a Nike Elite school in 1999 and in 2009 became an all-Nike school, signing a deal that provided footwear, apparel and equipment for all of its teams. The Cougars are nearing the end of a seven-year contract that continues the partnership through the 2025-26 season.

The player reaction has been positive to changing things up from the traditional “white on the road, blue and home” combinations.

“They love them,” Hewitt said. “It’s a good look. And I think it’s going to look really good on Saturday night, too, under the lights.”

2024 BYU Football Uniform Combinations

Southern Illinois (Aug. 31)

Royal blue jersey, pants, royal blue helmet with white facemask.

at SMU (Sept. 6)

White jersey with navy blue numbers and stripes, pants, navy blue helmet with white facemask.

at Wyoming (Sept. 14)

White jersey with royal blue numbers and stripes, pants, royal blue helmet with royal facemask.

Kansas State (Sept. 21)

Throwback 1996 uniforms in honor of BYU’s 100th season as a program.

at Baylor (Sept. 28)

All-white jersey with royal blue numbers and stripes. A white helmet with a royal blue facemask.

Arizona (Oct. 12)

Traditional royal blue jersey with white pants, white helmet and royal blue facemask.

Oklahoma State (Oct. 18)

Royal blue jersey, white pants, white helmet with a white facemask.

at UCF – October 26

Uniform combination: White jersey, royal blue pants, royal blue helmet with a royal blue facemask.

at Utah (Nov. 9)

All-Royal.

Kansas (Nov. 16)

Royal blue jersey, white pants, royal blue helmet with a white facemask.

at Arizona State (Nov. 23)

Royal blue helmet with a white facemask, white jersey, and royal blue pants.

Houston (Nov. 30)

Navy blue helmet with navy facemask, navy blue jersey, and white pants.

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