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Tennessee unveils helmet stickers, sleeve patches for Orange Bowl honoring Mike Leach
By Sydney Hunte
Published:
Tennessee and Clemson will square off in the Orange Bowl at Hard Rock Stadium on Friday.
The memory of Mike Leach, who passed away on Dec. 12, has been honored by a number of teams during Bowl Season. And the Volunteers are no different as they will take the field against the Tigers with helmet stickers and sleeve patches celebrating the former Texas Tech, Washington State, and Mississippi State head coach, as you can see below:
Honoring a legend ?☠️ pic.twitter.com/gEpjAEnNqQ
— Tennessee Football (@Vol_Football) December 30, 2022
The news of Leach’s death was especially striking to Vols head coach Josh Heupel, who played for Leach at Oklahoma during the latter’s sole season as the team’s offensive coordinator. Leach was instrumental in recruiting the former FCS and JUCO quarterback to Norman in 1999 as Heupel developed into one of the best signal-callers in all of college football during his 2 seasons — eventually being named the Heisman Trophy runner-up in 2000 while leading the Sooners to a BCS national championship.
Kickoff between the Volunteers and Tigers from Miami Gardens is set for 8 p.m. ET on ESPN. Tennessee is 10-2, while Clemson comes in at 11-2.
Sydney is an Atlanta-based journalist who has covered everything from SEC and ACC football to MLS, the U.S. men's national soccer team and professional tennis. His work has appeared on such platforms as SB Nation, Cox Media Group and FanSided.
