In 2014, the University of Illinois underwent a major revamp of its athletic program’s uniform design, and the centerpiece was the new football uniforms. The team wore those uniforms for four seasons, and there didn’t seem like there was much of a reason to go with a new look.
However, this is college football that we’re talking about, and unless you’re one of the traditional powerhouse schools like Alabama and Oklahoma that have stuck with one look for generations, then you’re likely going to be switching things up quite regularly.
That appears to be the case for Illinois as they’ve decided to unveil a new set of football uniforms for the 2018 season and beyond. Although the uniforms are very similar to what Illinois have worn for the past few seasons, there are enough changes to where you could consider this to be a touch-up of sorts instead of a total revamp.
The team will once again have two helmets to choose from (a new orange helmet and a white helmet), three jerseys to select (orange, navy and white) and three pants colors as well. This also includes an updated version of the “Gray Ghost” alternate uniforms, which are in the same style as the newly unveiled uniforms.
The new uniforms were designed on Nike’s Vapor Untouchable template and they have a simple look to them, which seems to be the direction that Nike is going when it comes to college football uniforms. While they’ve gone outside of the box with their recent NFL efforts (with the Tennessee Titans being an example of progressive and modern football uniform design), their college designs have been more on the simpler and conservative side while also trying to maintain a sense of uniqueness with each uniform (like what we saw with the Minnesota Golden Gophers).
That appears to be the case with the new Illinois uniforms. While the uniform is clearly inspired by throwbacks (and the program’s Twitter account made that very clear), the number font and the number of possible color combinations are what give this a slightly modern taste and what allows this look to fit in with the rest of the college football uniform landscape.
In fact, with the new focus on a simpler and more conservative look, Illinois football continues to blend right in with the rest of the similarly-minded Big Ten teams when it comes to uniforms.
While uniforms are clearly no guarantee to bring you to the level of the likes of Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State and other perennial contenders, it sure helps to have a look that’s on par with those schools and Illinois is definitely approaching that with this latest effort.
