I’ve never followed a program’s switch from one apparel provider to another, but I can’t imagine that many have been as highly anticipated as the one Tennessee will be making from Adidas to Nike on July 1st of this year. And while the football uniforms won’t be officially unveiled until August 1st – per Nike’s contract with Tennessee – that hasn’t stopped creative minds from coming up with some really unique concepts that take a crack at what the Vols’ future swoosh-clad uniforms may look like.
We had a little bit of fun earlier this month when Nike released their newest football cleat and chose orange and white for their prototype. Below are the images and video of said cleat that Nike released, which they say is their “Super Bowl Edition” of the Vapor Untouchable cleat that was worn by all four teams in this year’s College Football Playoff.
I’m not sure why you would unveil a “Super Bowl Edition” cleat in a color pattern that none of the remaining NFL Playoff teams use, but maybe that’s why I don’t work for Nike.
Make brighter highlights. The Nike Vapor Untouchable Super Bowl Edition. #flyknit http://t.co/mJsFnUgqRo pic.twitter.com/b4LsssEvBf
— Nike Football (@usnikefootball) January 15, 2015
A game too big for compromise. The Nike Vapor Untouchable Super Bowl Edition adds power, not weight. #flyknithttps://t.co/7fCDym4sSe
— Nike Football (@usnikefootball) January 15, 2015
Well, we decided to take that cleat a step further with the help of RTI friend and photoshop wizard Spencer Barnett (@CleVolander). Spencer has offered his services to RTI before when he allowed us to showcase his countless uniform concepts in a post that we ran back in September.
We gave Spencer a free run at Nike’s cleat and asked him to ‘Vol’ it up a little bit – and the results speak for themselves. Now, nobody knows exactly what to expect from Nike when they assume the title of the University of Tennessee’s official outfitter – those secrets are heavily protected. But if we can use some of their current schools as any sort of indicator, then it’s safe to say that the Vols’ new threads will be anything but boring.
Here’s a look at some of the Vol-themed concepts that Spencer came up with for Nike’s newest football cleat. The versions below are the twelve newest concepts he designed, with the original nine appearing on page two.
