Aesthetically speaking, the Southern Miss football team will look a little different in 2018. The athletic department announced the new deal with the athletic apparel provider Adidas in October 2017, with the deal officially taking place on July 1 this year. This agreement with Adidas runs through the 2024-2025 athletic season.
As per the agreement, Adidas will provide the uniforms and apparel for not only the football program, but for all Southern Miss athletic teams.
“It’s the first all-apparel athletic deal in the history of Southern Miss athletics,” Director of Athletics Jon Gilbert said. “Before, we were with a variety of partners. We were able to get every sports program under one apparel umbrella. It’s really important on a number of factors. One, we’re with a global apparel company, they are known worldwide, they have a broad reach with their marketing plans and Southern Miss athletics will benefit firsthand from that partnership.”
Before the deal with Adidas, Russell Athletic was the football team’s uniform provider, and they inked a five-year deal with the athletic department in 2013.
The release of the uniforms has been staggered over the offseason since the deal took effect. At an event on July 12 for Eagle Club members and season ticket holders, the program released the black and white practice jersey and the gold game day jersey at the event. The white game day jersey was unveiled at the 2018 Eagle Fanfare event on campus on Aug 11. Although the black game day jersey has yet to be unveiled, fans will soon get a glimpse of it as the season kicks off on Sep 1.
The gold jerseys have black numbers with a dark gray outline, with the wordmark ‘Southern Miss’ running in black font above the numbers and with a gray outline. Black numbers and font also appear on the white jerseys, although with a gold outline instead. White pants with a solid black stripe were released with the white jersey, and the gold jersey was revealed with solid black pants.
Helmets released with the jerseys are similar to ones seen in the past for Southern Miss. The helmet is black, with the ‘Southern Miss’ wordmark appearing in white letters with gold outline. The helmet also has a black facemask and a split gold tapered stripe that narrows as you reach the back of the helmet. It is possible that fans will see multiple helmet decals during the season, like the current eagle head logo that appeared on the helmet last season for some games, most notably the home opener vs Kentucky.
Although the public has not had a chance to see the black jerseys for the team yet, Gilbert emphasized that receiving items shortly before a season is common practice.
“I would say it is typical for us to receive things this time of year,” Gilbert said. “The reason it’s probably magnified a little bit is that we’re switching apparel partners. We’re in constant communication with [Adidas], so the partnership has gotten off to a great start.”
