On Halloween night 2009, the UT football team needed a boost. Coach Lane Kiffin’s team was sitting at 3-4 (1-3 SEC) and pitted against No. 21 South Carolina in Neyland Stadium.
So the Vols played a trick on the 96,263 attending when they busted onto the field, minutes before kickoff, wearing black jerseys after going through the warm-up period in regular orange.
It was the first time since 1921 the Vols had worn black, and the result was a 31-13 drubbing of the Gamecocks. But since that game – and Kiffin’s abruptly distasteful departure – UT has worn only traditional orange and white.
For one home game in 2013, that will change.
Though a photo of UT’s new “Smokey Gray” uniform had already been obtained by Volquest.com and made its way around the Internet earlier in the day, it didn’t stop UT from putting on a show at last week’s football media day on Aug. 15 to officially unveil UT’s new alternate uniform.
In a room, complete with orange-tinted lighting, artsy music and a podium turned into a runway, junior linebacker Curt Maggitt modeled the jersey and pants set to the tune of rapidly clicking photo shutters and silence from seated media members.
First-year coach Butch Jones said it has not been decided which game the Vols will wear the uniform, but he did offer plenty of reason why UT traditionalists should embrace the new addition to the Tennessee wardrobe.
“One of the top three questions we’re asked in recruiting are about our uniforms, our jersey colors,” Jones said. “It attracts the best student-athletes. To me, it’s a pride of who we are. We have the best colors in the country and now, with the smokey gray jersey, that just adds to it.”
The Vols also unveiled slightly tweaked versions of their typical orange and white uniforms, colors which Jones emphasized are not going anywhere.
“Everything is about a tradition because that’s who we are,” he said, “but it’s also building on that tradition.”
UT players reacted with jubilance when shown the uniform for the first time. Maggitt kept it a secret following a meeting with Jones where he was told about the gray uniform and his role as the model.
