It’s official, Tennessee athletics is headed back to adidas and ditching Nike after the current contract expires. That means the Vols and Lady Vols programs will be outfitted with new uniforms that are made from adidas ahead of the 2026-27 seasons.

Before the change, I took a look at what current adidas schools are wearing. There are some good examples, some horrendous choices and obviously a good bit of a middle ground, as well.

Here’s a look at what UT could look like on the field and hardwood in the near future. However, it’s important to note that Tennessee’s creative team will ‘remain the primary driver of uniform design throughout the partnership.’

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Football

I think the best example of current football uniforms that Tennessee’s could look like is Texas A&M. The Aggies have a decently basic template, on track with what the Vols have worn throughout their history.

The difference between TAMU and UT starts on the top, though. Tennessee does not use any written wording across the chest, instead opting for the Power T. On the pants, the Aggies just have their logo. I’d expect the Vols to use striping, instead.

Overall, it’s tough to imagine the change from Nike to adidas will alter the football uniforms too much. It’s tough to mess up Tennessee’s timeless design and UT’s creative team won’t try to do too much.

Texas A&M has a ‘Dark Mode’ style of jersey with adidas already, as well. The adidas and SEC logos are blacked out in this design with white lettering popping. If Tennessee continues to wear black uniforms after the change, I’d think the lettering and numbers remain orange, though.

Men’s Basketball

A down the middle adidas basketball jersey is Indiana. There’s nothing too special about them, but they work fine. With UT at the head of decisions, it’s tough to see the Vols following this template.

I’d think Tennessee gets creative with its jerseys like it did with the full spelling out of ‘Tennessee Volunteers’ surrounding the numbers on the Nike jerseys. While UT won’t copy the same design at Texas Tech, adidas does have some familiarity with unique basketball jerseys.

When getting really out there for alternate jerseys, Kansas’ latest uniforms are the cream of the crop. The sunflower-inspired jerseys are some of the best in college basketball and a part of a series adidas implemented across multiple schools. Tennessee could benefit from this type of thinking for a design.

However, adidas has also swung and missed horribly in men’s basketball. Look to Texas A&M’s jerseys this past season that it wore against Arkansas. You could make the argument that they were the worst uniforms worn across the sport a year ago and it was also a part of a series across multiple schools.

Women’s Basketball

A lot of adidas’ women’s basketball jerseys are relatively basic. They follow the same format most of the time, mirroring the standard jerseys on the men’s side in a lot of ways. Georgia Tech has a good example of what the default model looks like.

They have put together some fantastic pieces for Miami, though. With Tennessee thought to be one of the premier programs adidas now represents, the Lady Vols should get a similar treatment. Using the ‘Lady Vols’ script logo could work well in one of these designs.

Baseball

Adidas’ strongest sport is probably baseball. It’s tough to find too many of their baseball jerseys that don’t work. A template that I could see Tennessee following is Texas A&M’s. The ‘Vols’ font would easily match the ‘Aggies’ and the pinstripe look tracks, too.

For uniforms that are a bit more out there, Miami once again got great treatment. You’d think Tennessee will dial up a unique one for one of its best teams on campus.

One of the only bad examples I could find was for Mississippi State. The t-shirt style baseball jersey with the Mississippi State lettering isn’t the best look, in my opinion.

Softball

Mississippi State has both sides of the spectrum in softball. Their basic ‘State’ script jerseys are solid and something similar to what I could see the Lady Vols using.

On the other hand, the all-white uniforms aren’t great. You have to think the Lady Vols’ new set wouldn’t get this bad.