The Univ. of Tennessee unveiled an alternate uniform Thursday, a "shadowy gray jersey and pants ... complemented by the traditional orange numbers and lettering," according to Evan Woodbery of the KNOXVILLE NEWS-SENTINEL. The gray uniform, the color of which is officially called "smokey," is an alternate look that "likely will be used in only one home game in 2013." There also were some "other less dramatic changes among the five uniforms" the school unveiled for the upcoming season, though they "probably won't be as alarming to traditionalists." The primary home uniform still will "include an orange jersey and white pants and the road jersey will have a white jersey with orange pants." The white jerseys now have a "checkerboard pattern on the numbers, a Power T logo on the back and 'TENNESSEE' written above the numbers on the front." The orange jersey will have the "outline of the state of Tennessee above the player names on the back of the jersey." UT coach Butch Jones said of the gray uniform, "It's all about recruiting. ... My phone has blown up with recruits across the country who are very, very excited." But Jones said fans should not "expect the uniform fashion show to be an annual event." Jones: "We're not going to be a program that's all over the place with our uniforms" (KNOXVILLE NEWS-SENTINEL, 8/16).
COULD HAVE BEEN WORSE: In Knoxville, Dan Fleser writes under the header, "Reaction To New UT Uniforms Likely Generational" (KNOXVILLE NEWS-SENTINEL, 8/16). In Nashville, David Climer writes the "best thing you can say" about UT’s alternate uniform is that it "could’ve been worse." Compared to "some of the competition (read: Oregon), UT kept it fairly tame." However, UT "will not make Mr. Blackwell’s list." Jones said, "Make no mistake about it, we don't want to be a program that has wholesale changes. It's a tradition-rich program. There's only one Tennessee." Jones added one of the "top three questions we are asked in recruiting is about our uniforms, our jersey colors" (Nashville TENNESSEAN, 8/16).
