Tennessee assistant coach calling for return of black alternate jerseys
Jeremy Pruitt and Phillip Fulmer are big on tradition.
As the leaders of the football program and athletics department at Tennessee, their words matter the most when it comes to making big decisions for the Volunteers but that hasn’t stopped one assistant on Rocky Top from expressing his desire to see the program bring back the alternate black uniforms to Neyland Stadium.
Tennessee assistant coach Brian Niedermeyer recently expressed his desire to bring back the black uniforms to Rocky Top and even shared a mock image of linebacker Quavaris Crouch in the alternate look.
The only time Tennessee wore the black uniform came back in 2009 when the Volunteers upset No. 21 South Carolina in Neyland Stadium.
Considering Pruitt and Fulmer have both publicly expressed their desires to see Tennessee’s Smokey Grey jersey remain in the locker room on game day, the program does use the Smokey Grey look occasionally for recruiting purposes when prospects come into town, odds are the black uniform won’t be making a return any time soon.
Here’s a look at Niedermeyer’s tweet:
Yo @coachtee17 let them know!
BRING
BACK
THE
BLACK! #BringBackBlackJerseysMovement pic.twitter.com/46tYKUcBcU
— Brian Niedermeyer (@NiedermeyerB) April 30, 2020
Tennessee assistant coach Tee Martin, who is tagged in Niedermeyer’s post, expressed his thoughts on the look with some fire emojis.
The post then led to Tennessee fan Chad Fields, found on Twitter at @CfieldsVFL, to share these great mock-ups for what Tennessee’s alternate black uniforms would look like with Tennessee’s updated Nike jersey.
If you want to relive the magic of the black uniform on Rocky Top, here’s the 2009 game against South Carolina.
I totally agree with Brian. Bring em back!
I like the black and orange, but people forget that the last time Tennessee wore these was on Halloween. I like them, but I wouldn’t want to see them too often. Maybe only wear them when games fall on Halloween?
I don’t think any UT fans forgot that scott. It was a memory entrenched in my mind forever. What a great night, great atmosphere and great win.
Yes, it was Halloween…Plus it was a Steve Spurrier coached S.C. team…and as I recall the Head Coach was a guy named Lane Kiffin. I will always believe that Lane could have re-built the Tennessee program if he’d not bolted for Southern Cal. *Plus it would have save the Vols a lot of buyout $$$ for Dooley & Ole Butch. Jeremy Pruitt probably not go for the black uniforms.
Uniforms do not win game, players do…and all that pre-game-uniform-hype disappears at kick-off.
Not a fan of those. Our colors are Orange & White. Let Vandy or Ga. or whoever do it if they want. Good players and good coaching wins games, not gimmick uniforms.
Yes, the official colors since 1891, but you may want to look up the 1903 and 1914 uniforms and get back to us.
Would be nice to bring them back.