Florida football to soon wear black uniforms for a special reason, Gators coach Billy Napier says

Football

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Image Credit: Tim Casey / UAA

Winning championships and building a top-tier roster are chief among the desires of Florida Gators football fans as the program makes its latest transition under head coach Billy Napier. But if there’s one trivial request that many in Gator Nation have hoped to be filled over the years, it’s the team occasionally wearing black uniforms.

According to Napier, they are on the way.

“We’re gonna wear black uniforms here at the University of Florida,” Napier told Sports Illustrated‘s Richard Johnson, who provided an overview of the program ahead of its spring game Thursday night. “But each one of those uniforms that we wear we are going to auction off, and we’re gonna sell those and take the money and we’re gonna give that to families that maybe had some type of injury and setback and are living a little bit different lifestyle as a result of their military service and their setback.”

Napier cautioned not to expect Florida to don black jerseys in 2022 due to turnaround time with Jordan Brand, though they could come as soon as the 2023 season.

The Gators have long been traditionalists when it comes to football uniforms with options solely consisting of blue and white jerseys; blue, white and orange pants; orange helmets and the occasional specialty set of threads from Nike.

However, over the last few years, Florida has expanded its uniform options to include orange jerseys and both white and blue alternate helmets, which are all now permanent parts of its collection. The Gators have also worn throwback uniforms, 9/11 anniversary American flag helmets, and other one-off specialty uniform combinations with the Swamp green alternates in 2017 largely being panned.

Other Florida athletic programs, including men’s and women’s basketball, have worn black uniforms before. As far as what those threads might look like for football, here’s one mock-up.

Florida AD Scott Stricklin previously stated in Sept. on @GatorNationFBPC “we have no black uniforms ordered…I don’t think we have ever had those ordered.”

Now, WR Jacob Copeland plainly states “Next year” when asked about all black uniforms by @EliteCollege_FB

Is it time? 👀 pic.twitter.com/owkRAr60iv

— Gators Uniform Tracker (@GatorsUnis) November 23, 2020