Mississippi State Uniform Concepts

Uniforms, specifically alternating uniforms, are mentioned a lot these days. Oregon is at the forefront of jersey combinations stemming from their famous alumnus, Phil Knight, who co-founded Nike.  Maryland is next in line with their famous alum, Kevin Plant, who founded Under Armour.

Mississippi State has gone through many uniform and helmet changes over the years.  Back in the 70s State just had a maroon shirt and a ‘MS’ on the helmet.  During the Jackie Sherrill days Nike used their interlocking MSU helmets with ‘Miss. State’ on the front of the jerseys.

At the same time Sherill left, the contract with Nike ran out and MSU signed up with Russell Athletic.  That meant getting rid of the interlocking ‘MSU’ and going with the ‘M-State’ logo on the helmets.  The new jersey did not feature Mississippi State’s name on it.

Then a few years ago State moved on to Adidas.  With it a new logo was developed and some interesting uniform combos have been revealed.  Perhaps the most hated jersey would be the black one.  The Dawgs are 1-2 in those unis, and the one win was a narrow escape in overtime vs. Louisiana Tech.

Some schools, like Alabama and Penn State, have traditional uniforms that never change.  Plenty of other schools, like MSU, frequently change them.  At this point, no one is going to look at a specific jersey (with no writing on it) and identify it with Mississippi State… so we might as well embrace it.  Maybe not the black jerseys, but at least some cool designs that get people talking about State and gets the players excited.

Last week, Six Pack Speak user ‘ChillbillyDawg’ posted some designs that were a big hit with MSU fans.

That look is a combination of the 1986 jerseys and a modern day look.  If it were up to me, this would be our permanent uniforms.  Even though silver is not an official MSU color, it looks great and reminds everyone of the old days.  If nothing else, these would be really cool if State wore them for one or two games.  Here are some silver alternate jerseys he came up with…

And in black…

He even came out with this really cool helmet design..

One of the great things about being a Mississippi State fan these days is that things like these are possible.  Scott Stricklin is always coming out with new ideas and pushing the envelope.  Not everything he does will be a hit with fans, but just knowing that fans with talents such as these can dream up ideas and believe they may one take come to fruition is a great thing.  Who would have ever thought we’d have #Hailstate written in our endzone? Or wear maroon and gold for a game?  We’ll see what Adidas and the MSU athletic department come up with in the future; and who knows, ChillBillyDawg’s designs may make their way onto the backs of State’s next football star.