The key to a good April Fool’s joke is striking a balance between believability and novelty, and the Florida Gators accomplished just that with their uniform reveal on Monday morning.
The program’s official equipment account shared an 18-second video teaser showing uniforms meant to “represent the rich history of Florida academics.” As first pointed out by @GatorsUnis, the design mimics the regalia — or gown and medallion — worn by the university president during commencement.
Florida’s academic logo is prominently displayed on a blue helmet with a white face mask and three orange stripes that replicate the stripes on the sleeves of the gown. The Gators have worn blue helmets before, but not since 1965 and never with the academic logo.
It’s certainly another creative idea from a football program that brought us head-to-toe gator-skin uniforms two years ago, but the design is ultimately too complex to ever see the field. We have to give credit to the equipment managers and creative team for bringing the concept to life rather than photoshopping the design onto an old player photo.
Fittingly, the 12th president of the University of Florida, Dr. W. Kent Fuchs, was the model for these uniforms. The Gators open the 2019 season on Aug. 24 against the Miami Hurricanes at Camping World Stadium in Orlando.
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