Tennessee announced on Tuesday evening that it will wear black helmets for the first time in program history during Saturday’s game against Kentucky (7 p.m. ET on ESPN).
The black helmets, which feature orange Power “T” decals on both sides and a single orange stripe down the middle, will be paired with the Volunteers’ “Dark Mode” alternate uniforms that made their debut in last season’s 45-20 win over South Carolina.
Tennessee was initially forced to pair the black jersey and pants with a white helmet due to a fire at Riddell, the company that manufactures the helmets. It featured a black facemask, orange Power “T” outlined in black and an orange and black stripe down the center, as shown below.
The Volunteers regularly wore black uniforms with brown leather helmets prior to 1921, but it’s only happened three times in the modern era. That includes a black jersey with white helmets and orange pants in a 31-13 win over the Gamecocks in 2009, as well as last season’s ensemble in a 41-17 loss to Georgia in November.
This marks the third different helmet design for Tennessee this season, as the Volunteers wore their “Smokey Grey” alternate uniforms in the 40-13 win at LSU on Oct. 8 and their standard white helmets in every other game this season.
That said, sources have indicated Tennessee will also wear an orange helmet during one of their final two road games of the season. The Volunteers haven’t worn an orange helmet since 1948.
Photos courtesy of @Vol_Football on Twitter.
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