Brooks: Dressed To Kill? We?ll Take Dressed To Win

BOULDER – Can you say style points? Oh, if only points came that easily on a Saturday afternoon in the Pac-12. But know this about today's college football world: Style does count.

Courtesy of their long and rewarding partnership with Nike Inc., the Colorado Buffaloes now can mix and match uni looks with anyone in the conference. Well, almost anyone – and you know that institution and its staggering wardrobe capabilities.

The only thing missing at Friday afternoon's unveiling of CU's true-to-tradition, yet glitzy and runway-ready 2015 football uniforms was a tag on the jerseys offering a money back guarantee for anything less than seven wins this fall.

No guarantees there, but you can take this to the bank: Recruits whose heads are turned by this sort of thing (and those numbers are mind-boggling) will look at the Buffs' new look and think . . . something.

CU coach Mike MacIntyre and the athletic department administration are thinking something good. They're betting (and big-time) that new uniforms can be yet another strong indicator of the Buffs committing to the future and being, ah, with it.

IF CLOTHES MAKE THE MAN, the thought among most football coaches is that uniforms can make a difference. MacIntyre agrees; it's always kind of been this way, but now recruiting has fully morphed into marketing. What the Buffs will be capable of showing fans, alums, donors, former/current/future players this fall are 48 – count 'em, 48 – different combinations of helmets, jerseys, pants and shoes.

Here are your various color schemes as modeled Friday in Balch Fieldhouse by quarterback Sefo Liufau, receiver Nelson Spruce, offensive tackle Stephane Nembot, and defensive back Kenneth Crawley: Liufau wore a black helmet, white jersey and black pants; Crawley was resplendent in all white, including helmet; Spruce sported a steel gray look that several of their teammates in attendance seemed to prefer; and Nembot, who would look impressive in taped together Hefty bags, was outfitted in the traditional black jersey, gold pants and helmet to match.

On the four new helmets available – white, black, silver and gold – this fall, former Buffs linebacker and career tackle leader Barry Remington offered a quizzical look and said, “I had one helmet in four years.”

The headgear will factor into the available uniform combinations, but don't expect that number to ever reach the max of 48. “Realistically, it won't be 48,” said J.T. Galloway, an assistant athletic director for licensing/equipment who huddled with MacIntyre and Nike officials before the Buffs signed off on their new looks. “There are some (combinations) that I'm not sure 'flow' from head to toe. (The total) is going to be a little bit south of 48.”

Galloway contends that longtime Buffs fans won't roll their eyes or shut them in horror at the new looks: “No, and that was one of the very first conversations that coach MacIntyre had with the Nike design team. There are certain elements of the Colorado uniform that are very important, not only to us but to our fans, our former players.

“The first thing we said was Colorado across the chest (of the jerseys) is a non-starter for us. That's going to remain. We told them that there are too many times on television now when you turn it on you don't know who's playing. You can always turn on your television and know the Colorado Buffs are playing. And you'll be able to continue to do that. We have taken what is a classic college football uniform and enhanced it, tweaked it ever-so-slightly.”

MacIntyre agreed: “I don't think so because of the Colorado (on the front of the jerseys) and the same Buffalo. We made it a little bigger so it would show up on from on the stands and on television, which I think is great.”

ANOTHER PLUS FOR FANS at night games, he added, are glow-in-the-dark numbers, which also promise to be an instant hit in press boxes throughout the Pac-12.

Earlier on Friday afternoon, players were offered a special viewing of the new unis, with the all-white and steel gray/silver looks probably emerging as the most talked-about. “I like the gray,” defensive end Derek McCartney said. “It's really cool. We love the black and gold, but the gray is kind of different. It looks good.”

The Buffs didn't embark on this football fashion expedition with the intent of out-styling Oregon. Forget that. When I asked Galloway to offer a ballpark number of the Ducks' uniform combo capabilities, he laughed and answered, “Which week? I saw today they're getting new uniforms for their spring game this weekend.

“But that's an important point; when coach and I met for the first time, we said, 'We don't want to be Oregon, we're not chasing them.' We don't want to be like Oregon in terms of having the crazy different combinations and all that. We're going to stay true to our brand, and that's very important to us. We weren't adopting a lot of things that were completely out there.”

What the Buffs will be wearing when and where, said MacIntyre, will be decided in July in a meeting of the captains and seniors. “We'll plan out the whole season then,” he said, “all the different combinations we'll do and kind of match it against what other teams might wear.”

Just for kicks, I asked Galloway if a uni combo was being held back to wear in a bowl game. “No,” he said, “what you see is what you get.”

Then, he added: “But there has been talk about a certain combination or two for the end of the year if we need that extra oomph. Yes, absolutely.”

We can only hope that by late November the 2015 Buffs are all dressed up with somewhere to go.

Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU