Tennessee football and the rest of the UT Athletic Department are making a transition this offseason. Tennessee officially left its deal with Nike and switched to adidas at the start of July to begin a new era in Knoxville.
Not only has this meant new apparel and uniforms across all sports, but also NIL deals and other financial incentives that make the deal with adidas so lucrative. For Vols football head coach Josh Heupel, he’s enjoyed the switch so far.
At SEC Media Days this past Monday, Heupel was asked about the process to switching from Nike to adidas. He praised not just the apparel side of it, but the benefits it has had for his athletes.
“The partnership’s been fantastic,” Heupel said. “The way that they’ve communicated, worked with our administration, but the football side of it. Our players have truly enjoyed the transition. That’s the equipment, what they’ve done NIL-wise with our current players, being a resource, letting our players test things out. It’s been a great partnership up to this point. I think everybody on Rocky Top is really excited about the transition. They got the color right. I know our fan base was paying attention to that. It’s been a seamless transition.”
More From RTI: Tennessee Football’s Offense Placed Disrespectfully Low in Preseason SEC Rankings
The first glance at Tennessee’s new uniforms won’t reveal much of a change from Nike in football. There are some differences, such as font, fine details, no orange collar on white jerseys and more, but the iconic home, away and now Dark Mode uniforms remain mostly unchanged.
That was the plan all along, though. With a history as rich as Tennessee football, there was no reason to go out and make dramatic changes to the uniforms.
They’ll first be on display on September 5 when Furman comes to town for the season opener. The game inside Neyland Stadium is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. ET and will air on SECN+/ESPN+.
