Illinois football uniforms: Fighting Illini unveil throwback sets for Michigan game

This Illinois football season marks the 100th anniversary of Memorial Stadium. And to honor the Memorial Stadium Dedication Game from 1924 against Michigan, the Fighting Illini will don new, commemorative uniforms against the Wolverines this season.

Illinois, which faces the defending national champions Oct. 19., will sport throwback uniforms for the matchup, which are meant to resemble the past uniforms the team worn in 1924. That 1924 roster included Red Grange, a Pro Football and College Football Hall of Famer, who scored six touchdowns against the Wolverines that season.

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“The program has done some throwbacks in the past, but it was really important to be more accurate to the time the stadium opened,” said Jake Rosch, director of football equipment operations. “We kicked around some ideas, but we ultimately settled on recreating Red Grange’s uniform from 1924.”

The jerseys include a 100-year anniversary patch, with gold stripes that form at the bottom of the jersey. The helmets also are designed to resemble the old leather helmets that were worn during the early years of football. Each helmet was also hand-painted.

“The jerseys are pretty simplistic,” Rosch said. “It was designed 100 years ago, so they were limited in their manufacturing capabilities at that time. We were able to match the jersey design, which is really cool because we wanted to be as historically accurate from 100 years ago as we could possibly make it.”

Here’s a full look at Illinois’ new uniforms:

Illinois football unveils new uniforms, helmets

Here’s a look at Illinois’ throwback uniforms it’ll wear against Michigan this season:

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Illinois football unveils throwback uniforms to wear against…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/illinois-football-uniforms-fighting-illini-182947429.html

Author : Journal Star

Publish date : 2024-08-08 18:29:47

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