Settle Down, The Vols Black Unis Are Fine
Tennessee is turning on "Dark Mode" for the South Carolina game on Saturday.
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Does it need to be said that the “Dark Mode” alternate uniforms that the University of Tennessee football team unveiled on Wednesday afternoon would work better with black helmets to complete the look?
Of course.
However, that does not appear to have been an option, per Austin Price of Volquest.
With that being said, if this is the best the Vols were able to do in 2021, this is fine. The white helmet is fine, especially with the black outline around the “T”. The rest of the look works. I imagine the guys in that locker room dig the look. At the end of the day it is important to remember that it is just a uniform. It will not decide how the Vols perform on Saturday inside Neyland Stadium against the South Carolina Gamecocks.
This needed to be said, as I saw one of the commenters under that tweet from Price took a break from yelling at the clouds to offer up the point that the Vols should indeed focus less on the gimmicks and more on winning football games. I am paraphrasing this commenter’s tweet, but you get the gist of it. This is a silly thing to be frustrated about, and, if anything only helps morale in the locker room, not that need it, of course. Head coach Josh Heupel is just as focused on beating the Gamecocks on Saturday with or without alternate uniforms, I promise you, Jack1213923.
There are some legitimate critiques to make, though. For one, this is a nooner on Saturday and wearing an all-black uniform in potentially eighty-degree weather seems less than ideal. This would have made more sense the following weekend at 7:30 under the lights in Neyland versus Lane Kiffin and Ole Miss. That was the time to bring the black uniforms back, not a day game against South Carolina.
Something else that needs to be noted is that not only did the Volunteers obliterate the Missouri Tigers last weekend, but they may also have become a bit of them, too? Fellow University of North Georgia alumni and frequent contributor of The Chase Thomas Podcast Matt Green pointed out that with the white helmets this does look Very Mizzou. I cannot unsee it now and perhaps maybe now you can’t, either.
The immediate response I got from family and friends went to those pretty Smokey Greys. Who does not love those unis? Who does not want them back? Who knows if they will not be back? I suspect we will see them next year because of the COVID helmet supply issues. You can get away with white helmets for those black unis, you cannot with the Smokey Greys. You need it to match from top to bottom. If those uniforms were not an option this season, there is nothing to be mad about. Who doesn’t prefer the Smokey Greys?
It could always be worse. It could have been what Georgia wore against Boise State when they got shellacked in the Georgia Dome by Boise State. It could have been those Swamp Green uniforms that Florida wore versus Texas A&M in Gainesville. The point being there have been so many alternate uniforms worse than the look Tennessee will don on Saturday. Simmer down, Vols by 40.
Have a Tennessee Volunteer question or comment or tip for me? Email me at chasethomaspodcast[at]gmail.com.