Tennessee Athletics has something planned for this summer. What it is, though, is the question on people’s minds.
The first tease came at the end of a new video that was posted by Tennessee Athletics on X Saturday morning. The video highlights the Volunteer State and Tennessee Athletics’ connection and impact throughout each region. From Memphis to Knoxville, Nashville to the Smoky Mountains, Tennessee Athletics is intertwined.
At the end of the video, though, there is a quick cutaway to a large wooden crate with a new Tennessee state logo accompanied by the words, “Coming July 2024”.
That tweet was specifically reposted by Tennessee basketball, women’s basketball, softball, swimming and diving, volleyball, cross country, distance, rowing, track & field, tennis, golf, women’s golf, baseball, soccer, women’s tennis, and a handful of Tennessee Athletics’ staff members. Clearly a very coordinator social media push. Tennessee Football’s account reposted the video with the caption, “Three stars make us The Volunteer State.”
June 1, 2024, is the State’s 228th birthday.
Three stars that define us.
Three stars that unite us.An ode to Where We’re From –
𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙑𝙤𝙡𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙚𝙧 𝙎𝙩𝙖𝙩𝙚. pic.twitter.com/hMCO2VTpXC
— Tennessee Athletics (@Vol_Sports) June 1, 2024
Just about 20 minutes after the first tease, the Vol Football social media account tweeted about a separate specific teaser video, this time solely showing the wooden crate with the Volunteer State logo on it.
What’s in the box? 👀#GBO 🍊 pic.twitter.com/RlP61hco4J
— Tennessee Football (@Vol_Football) June 1, 2024
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So what does this all mean?
Is this a Tennessee football-specific tease because of the video that was released by the football program? Is it a Tennessee Athletics-wide tease based on the first video and the coordinated social media push on Friday?
It’s hard to say with it only being an hour since the original post.
But that doesn’t mean that fans haven’t begun their speculation.
After Tennessee asked the question of what’s in the box in the reveal, the fans answered.
Most respondents have guessed something to do with new uniforms, others being more specific about new smokey grey uniforms. Tennessee still has yet to reveal multiple iterations of the smokey grey concept over the next few seasons, after all.
Some believe it could be new throwback uniforms.
A surprisingly common guess is that Tennessee is adopting Nike’s Jordan brand with a few X users replying with the Jumpman logo. While not all that common, Michigan and Florida are two programs that use Jordan brand for football uniforms.
Then, of course, some funny replies.
One user is wondering if there’s a hotdog from Lindsey Nelson Stadium in the wooden box. They are pretty good, objectively.
One user believes it must be Baby Gronk after the controversial viral youth football player’s “commitment” to Tennessee recently.
Here’s a guess from myself, though don’t hold any receipts in case it’s a little bold. The timing between the box teaser and the Volunteer State video doesn’t seem to be coincidental. The Tennessee video had the tease at the end of it, after all. Maybe there’s a chance that Tennessee is going to reveal a new program-wide alternate logo that incorporates a new tri-star design.
The football program would then specifically be teasing it because A. they are Tennessee’s biggest program on social media and B. the football team will be the first to be using the new logo, though the soccer program’s season does start earlier – so maybe one of the first for football and the first on a major, major platform.
There’s just something about the wording of the original tweet talking about the three stars that define the state, followed by Tennessee Football’s specific mention of the three stars uniting the state, that really gives off a gut feeling that everything could all be related.
New football Tuniforms? A new athletics-wide logo? A helmet with some logo besides the Power T?
One way or another, we’ll just have to see what Tennessee is cooking this July with some sort of new reveal – maybe uniforms, maybe hot dogs. Hopefully not the latter for Ryan’s sake.
