As Southern Miss nears the start of Head Coach Will Hall’s tenure, its new uniforms complement the refreshing spirits for the program’s future.
Hall said that throughout the program’s history, the team has never had a consistent brand. He hopes that the new uniforms will cultivate the program’s image by combining its past and present.
“What we wanted to do was create a uniform that has a very uniform look,” Hall said. We’re trying to create a brand that matches our history and tradition, something that the young kids think has swag, but the older crowd looks at and feels like it has a classy look to it.”
While the new uniforms are not a complete overhaul of the past set that came four years ago from the start of the program’s sponsorship with Adidas, the new changes are all in the details.
The most noticeable change is the addition of a white helmet, which is a first for the program. The Golden Eagles will still have its traditional black lids but will have the choice to wear the new white helmet.
The alternate helmet gives the team 18 uniform combinations, including new all-white and gold uniforms.
“To be able to have a different color helmet and so many combinations…that’s going to be fun,” senior offensive lineman Arvin Fletcher said on Conference USA Media Day.
As for the uniform design, Southern Miss followed a principle of simple is better; the new uniforms add clean-cut stripes along the shoulders and pants. The two-bar stripe gives the team its first true shoulder stripe since its 1990s uniforms.
Southern Miss implements its tri-color scheme of black, gold and white into each uniform combination by alternating the stripe colors with the jersey colors.
The new uniforms ditch the old jersey outlines and instead feature Adidas’ “Primeknit A1” template, a chevron pattern along the torso area.
According to Adidas, the Primeknit technology helps protect “high-contact zones” and creates a tight fit that helps secure the shoulder pads. There are also mesh patterns in the jersey that allow for cooling.
A subtle but major difference with the new jerseys is the absence of any outlines on the numbers and lettering.
The gold jerseys have more of a muted tone and have white numbers instead of the traditional black.
While the new uniforms have not been worn on the field yet, fans have already developed opinions of which is their favorite.
In a poll created by The Student Printz that received a total of 78 votes, fans voted the all-white uniform as their favorite combination.
Southern Miss fan and Sippi’s Sports Show host Jeff Arrington also agreed that he wants to see the Golden Eagles wear its all-white option.
“Because it looks clean, I want to see the all-whites,” Arrington said. “But the one that wins is what I [really] want.”
The traditional black and gold combination finished with the second-most votes, while all black finished third.
Southern Miss announced it will wear a black helmet with a white jersey and black pants for its season-opener Sep. 4 at Mobile, Alabama against South Alabama.
