The Vols set quite the fashion tone in Heupel’s second season

The Tennessee Volunteers lead the nation in total offense and scoring offense after a 10-2 regular season that yielded a trip to the Orange Bowl.

Oh, and they rank pretty high on fashion statements too.

Tennessee has set a single-season program record by wearing seven different uniform combinations this season. The Vols wore their traditional orange jerseys with white pants and white helmets on four occasions inside Neyland Stadium and went 4-0 in that appearance, opening with a shutout of Ball State, closing with a shutout of Missouri and collected memorable victories over Florida and Alabama. in the middle.

There was the orange-on-orange look in the Akron and UT Martin games, and the all-white “Stormtrooper” look was also undefeated in wins at Pittsburgh and Vanderbilt.

Even before his first season with the Vols, coach Josh Heupel hinted that more colors and combinations were on the way.

“As we move forward, it could be different possibilities in terms of what the uniform looks like when you go out on the field — look good, feel good, play good,” Heupel said during the summer of 2021. “We want to create a positive player experience from the moment they step on campus until they graduate, but have a long-term relationship with them that lasts forever.”

The Vols wore five different uniform combinations last season, adding black jerseys and black pants to the altered white helmets, in addition to the four primary combinations that include orange and white. Tennessee for decades wore orange and white jerseys and white pants until 1977, when the late Johnny Majors in his first season unveiled the orange pants at Alabama and for the home finale against Vandy.

This past summer, Tennessee announced it would wear its Nike “Smokey Gray” uniforms at least once a year during the 2022-2025 seasons. The Vols had sported that look in a 2015 win over Georgia and in 2016 wins over Florida and Nebraska in the Music City Bowl, but those uniforms were then removed after a 41-0 loss to Georgia in 2017 that marked the loss Tennessee’s worst ever inside Neyland. .

Tennessee wore head-to-toe gray in a 40-13 dismantling of LSU inside Tiger Stadium on Oct. 8 that resulted in a 5-0 start.

The Vols then wore black helmets, black jerseys and black pants — referring to the display as “Dark Mode” — for the first time ever during a 44-6 drubbing of visiting Kentucky on Oct. 29. That triumph provided an 8-0 record and a No. 1 three days later in the season’s first installment of the College Football Playoff rankings.

Tennessee wore white jerseys and orange pants for the only time this season on Nov. 5 at defending national champion Georgia, falling 27-13, and the seventh and final appearance occurred on Nov. 19, when the Vols wore orange helmets with jerseys white and white. pants in South Carolina.

“I get excited for the kids when they’re excited about it,” Heupel said when asked about the Orange Helmets before the Columbia trip. “Our classic uniforms are as good as they get, and I love them, but our players want to be able to change things. They also want to have a chance to be a part of choosing things.

“Our governing council was part of selecting these last spring and there was a lot of enthusiasm.”

The Vols fell 63-38 to the Gamecocks, which abruptly eliminated their playoff chances and immediately raised the honest question moving forward.

When, if ever, will Tennessee wear orange helmets again?

Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.

Photo by Tennessee Athletics / Freshman Joshua Josephs prepares for the game during Tennessee’s 63-38 loss at South Carolina on Nov. 19 when the Vols wore orange helmets.