The Tennessee football program announced on Tuesday evening that it will wear orange helmets for the first time since 1948 during Saturday’s game at South Carolina (7 p.m. ET on ESPN).
The glossy orange helmets feature white Power “T” decals on both sides, a single orange stripe down the middle and a white facemask. It will be paired with the Volunteers’ white road jerseys and pants.
The original orange design, meanwhile, was a logoless leather helmet with intersecting white stripes. It was worn from 1937-48, though Tennessee did not field a team in 1943 due to World War II.
This marks the second time in as many years that the Volunteers will debut a new look against the Gamecocks, as they wore their “Dark Mode” alternate uniforms (with the modified white helmet) in last season’s 45-20 win.
That uniform returned for the 44-6 win over Kentucky on Oct. 20, albeit with a black helmet this time around, as a fire at Riddell – the company that manufactures the helmets – prevented them from being available last season.
Regardless, this marks the fourth different helmet design for the Volunteers this season, joining their black helmet, their “Smokey Grey” alternate in the 40-13 win at LSU on Oct. 8 and their standard white helmets in every other game.
If Tennessee beats South Carolina as a 21.5-point favorite on Saturday, sources have indicated the orange helmets will likely return for next weekend’s game at Vanderbilt, as well.
Photos courtesy of @Vol_Football on Twitter.
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