Week in Review
Some say that pain, while unpleasant, is in some ways good because then you know you’re alive. Well, Sun Devil Nation, if that’s the case, then that must mean that despite game cancelations, the 2020 football season is alive and thriving because that was some serious heartbreak to endure in Los Angeles. A game in which the Sun Devils outplayed their Trojan counterparts for about 56 minutes of football came down to a one-point loss. A tough outcome in this shortened season, but we got to watch ASU Football, and while the sting of the loss still lingers, I’d rather that than no football at all. All that being said, we’re here to talk uniforms, and the Devils looked outstanding in theirs last month.
The 2020 version of the Whiteout was very good, and I maintain that it is ASU’s best Whiteout uniform assembled since the 2011 rebrand. A large maroon pitchfork with gold trim on one side and maroon number decals with gold trim on the other matched with a maroon facemask brought a ton of character and identity to the uniform. Add to that maroon gloves and socks, and you got yourself some nice dark colors to complement and anchor the all-white base. Something that went unmentioned in last week’s article because it was honestly a surprise once seen on the field was the option of a black decal of a fist holding a pitchfork, a sign of racial solidarity and equality.
All in all, the Sun Devils looked sharp in their uniforms all game long as well as in their play for the vast majority of the game. Many young newcomers got to make their presence known and wear an incredible look to open up their Sun Devil career. The best ever Whiteout leads to the first time in Uniformity history that an all-white combination ends up with a grade above a B.
Whiteout Grade: A-
The Week to Come
Uniform
The originally scheduled home opener for the Sun Devils was their second game of the season for the first time since 2015 when they opened with a “neutral site” game against Texas A&M. That game was set to take place against Cal, who had just canceled their season opener against Washington due to COVID-19 contact tracing measures after a positive test emerged from one of their players. In an unfortunate turn of events, it turned out to be a slew of positive cases on the Arizona State side that canceled not only the Devils’ contest against Cal, but also the road trip against Colorado the following weekend and last week’s home game that was supposed to take place against Utah.
As of now, ASU is once again slated to have their home opener be the second game of their season, but now the opponent will be UCLA. For this game, the Devils will wear a gold helmet/maroon jersey/gold pants 1975 throwback uniform. While also being a special throwback homage to Frank Kush’s undefeated Fiesta Bowl champion squad, this uniform also upholds the tradition of the home opener being a gold helmet/maroon jersey/gold pant combination.
The maroon jersey features gold player numbers that have a mesh jersey print stylization to replicate the material and print on the original 1975 uniforms. The sleeves feature a round patch with Sparky inside a sunburst, bordered by a thin gold circle. An “ASU” wordmark is at the bottom of the sunburst directly under Sparky with the ‘S’ just slightly larger than the other two letters to emphasize the “State” in Arizona State University. Sparky’s pitchfork also slightly protrudes outside the confines of sunburst and gold border and the bottom right on the patch. While that concludes the sleeve details on the jersey itself, the replication of the 1975 sleeve is completed by the compression shirt worn under the jersey itself. The sleeves on the 1975 jersey were longer and had three-tone stripes at the end of them.
The compression shirt worn underneath the jersey is an exact maroon color match of the jersey itself. The sleeve of the compression shirt extends nearly out to the elbow and feature two gold stripes as the outer anchors with two thin maroon stripes just inside the gold stripes and a single white stripe in the center. There is also a gold adidas logo just above the stripes on the right sleeve.
On the front of the jersey, near the right shoulder, is a maroon and gold Pac 12 logo, and near the left shoulder, is a gold Adidas logo. Finally, one element that will be absent from the jersey for accuracy to the era is the PT*42 patch typically found at the base of the collar in honor of Sun Devil legend Pat Tillman. Fear not, though; the PT*42 will still appear on the helmet bumper.
The nameplate on the back of the jersey utilizes the gold collegiate throwback typeface. Above the nameplate is a small patch. On the patch, encompassed within a round gold sunburst border, is a gold printed retro stylized “ASU” wordmark with “1975” seen in the same stylization directly underneath the ASU, all on a maroon background. Furthermore, redshirt junior running back Jackson He, who hails from Shaoguan, China, will have his name on the back of his jersey in Chinese. You can learn more about Jackson’s incredible story and his path to Arizona State in an article written by friend of Uniformity, Brad Denny here.
As mentioned previously, there is a compression shirt being worn underneath the jersey. Along with the stripes on the sleeves, the compression shirt also has an enlarged version of Sparky sunburst patch from the jersey’s sleeve printed in the center of the chest along with a gold adidas logo near the left shoulder.
The gold pants have two-tone stripes on both legs. The stripes run vertically on the side of the leg from the hip to the bottom seam. The stripes have a gold center line with slightly thicker maroon lines on either side of the gold. There is also a maroon adidas logo near the left hip.
Helmet
The gold helmet features a gold sunburst decal with a maroon border and a maroon “ASU” wordmark that features a “running” stylization in which all of the rounded, block letters are connected. This particular decal was used only during the 1975 season as it was replaced by its inverse where the sunburst was maroon, and the outline and wordmark were both gold from 1976-1979. The look is completed by a maroon center stripe and large, maroon block numbers that straddle the center stripe on the back of the helmet. The facemask is gray, which rounds out the helmet being true to the era. The front bumpers will be both 2D and 3D with a gold base and maroon font that reads PT*42, also honoring the legendary Sun Devil, Pat Tillman.
The maroon decals on the back of the helmet include the Pac 12 shield and the text in the Warning label. There is also a United States flag just above the Pac 12 logo. Players have the choice of adding a small Black Lives Matter decal of a fist holding a pitchfork as well. The decals on the back of the helmet are rounded out by small Sparky decals on either side of the helmet’s rear bumper.
Cleats
Black cleats will be worn for the Sun Devils’ 2020 home opener. The cleats pictured below feature the adidas Adi-Zero, Freak, and Nasty cleats. The Adi-Zeroes are typically worn by speed position players (wide receivers and defensive backs), while the Freaks and Nastys are typically worn by heavier players (linebackers and linemen).
Beginning with the Adi-Zeros, which make up the three pairs on the left. On the far left is the the mid-top Adi-Zero Primeknit. The base features a black base and black sole, a black tongue, white laces, and a white heel strap. Three white adidas stripes near the toe on the outside of the shoe and a prominent white adidas logo on the instep near the arch finalize the details. The Adi-Zero second to the left is a new Adi-Zero Scorch, which features a black base and sole, black tongue, white laces, white heel strap, three white adidas stripes near the toe on the outside of the shoe, and a prominent white adidas logo on the instep near the arch. The third pair in from the left is a standard Adi-Zero. It has all the same color features as the aforementioned Primeknit, but instead of a mid-top, it is a low-top and does not feature the Primeknit material.
Next in line is the adidas Freak. The Freak low-top features a black base sole, a black tongue with a white Freak logo on it, and white laces. There are three white adidas stripes near the toe on the outside of the shoe and a prominent white adidas logo further back on the inside of the shoe near the arch. The next two pairs to the right are part of a new product introduced this year called the Nasty line and is meant for the larger players. The first is called the Nasty Torsion, and it is a high-top which features a black base and sole, white laces, and a black tongue with a white Nasty logo on it. Three white adidas stripes are featured on the outside of the shoe, and a white adidas logo in on near the ankle on the inside of the shoe.
The second in the Nasty line is the Nasty Fly mid-top, which features a black base and sole, white laces, and a black tongue with a white Nasty logo on it. Three white adidas stripes are featured on the outside of the shoe, and a white adidas logo in on near the ankle on the inside of the shoe. The final pair of cleats on the far right are Freak Ultras. This mid-top has a black base and sole as well as white laces. Much like the other pair of Freaks, there are three white adidas stripes near the toe on the outside of the shoe and a prominent white adidas logo further back on the inside of the shoe near the arch. The one difference is that there is no “Freak” logo on the black tongue.
The Sun Devils will wear white socks with retro stripe accents at the top of the sock. A thick gold stripe is straddled by thin white stripes and slightly thicker maroon stripes.
Gloves
The Sun Devils will wear both maroon and black sets of gloves, and as with the cleats, there are different gloves for different positions. The gloves on the top are Adi-Zeros, which are typically worn by speed position players like wide receivers and defensive backs. When the palms are placed together, the gloves display a gold ASU sunburst that mimics the helmet’s throwback decal. They also have a white adidas logo on the back of the hand and gold accents on the wrist strap. The black gloves in the middle are adidas Freaks, worn by larger skill position players such as linebackers and tight ends.
The adidas Freak gloves have a pattern of small, repeating adidas logos that are maroon in color on the black palm, along with a large black adidas logo outlined in gold that is completed when the palms are placed together. The adidas Freaks also have a white adidas logo on the back of the hand, a gold accent on the wrist. Finally, for linemen, the black gloves on the bottom are adidas Freak-Max, which boast extra padding on the palm's heel meant to withstand all of the contact that linemen endure throughout the course of a game. They are black on the palm, and along with a gold adidas logo on the back of the hand, they also have maroon accents on the knuckles and a gold accent on the wrist-wrap.
Off-field Swag
The Sun Devils have also been issued a couple of cool items to wear pregame this Saturday. The first is a maroon zip-up track jacket with the smaller version of the round Sparky patch found on the jersey sleeves at the top left chest on the jacket with a gold adidas logo on the right side of the chest, There are also stripes that run the length of the sleeves, which mimic the stripe pattern on the sleeve of the compression sleeve discussed earlier in the article.
The second is a maroon hat with a maroon bill and the same round Sparky patch. Below are both of the off-field items pictured with the compression shirt as well as this week’s socks and gloves.
Reaction
I am extremely excited about seeing this throwback on the field. An homage to one of the greatest teams in ASU Football history is exciting enough, but when it includes a helmet decal that was worn for only one season, that makes it all the more special.
Throwback helmets with a sunburst decal have been done in the past, once in 2008 and then again in 2017, but they were the maroon sunbursts that were worn from 1976-1979 rather than the gold sunburst from 1975 that we will see this Saturday. Additionally, neither time the maroon sunburst was used as it matched a gray facemask that would be accurate to what was worn in the ‘70s, nor did the team wear throwback jerseys and pants, but instead wore their present-day uniforms.
Jerry Neilly and his crew worked very hard to get the details from the 1975 uniform and translate them to today’s equipment, which is far more advanced than it was when this look was last worn 45 years ago. The Sparky patch on the jersey sleeve and the stripes on the compression shirt sleeves were an ingenious touch to achieve the 1975 aesthetic while using 2020’s uniform technology and materials. Nothing can ever replicate being able to see a game in person, but the silver lining being able to see the game on TV, which will provide man close-up looks of this beautiful uniform. These are also truly being seen as they were intended: Under the lights of Sun Devil Stadium at night. Let’s enjoy these uniforms this weekend and cheer for their record (12-0) to remain perfect.
What ASU Fans Should Wear: Your best Faniform. See Below!
#Faniforms
We began sharing our gameday gear, or “Faniforms” with each other on Twitter last year. I invited you all to keep up with that tradition at the beginning of this season, and you all answered that call to action with a plethora of great looks! We’ll keep it going every week because what you wear to support your Sun Devils on gameday is a meticulous process chosen with the utmost amount of care. Maroon, gold, black, white, copper, and everything in the Sun Devil rainbow is handpicked and adorned from head-to-toe. Please continue to share that passion with your fellow Sun Devils. Use the hashtag #Faniforms and tag the Uniformity Twitter account at @ASU_Uniformity. I’ll do my best to give your #faniform the “Uniformity treatment” and describe it to the Twitter world. I will also post a few in the Uniformity article each week. They will be chosen at random, so keep on sending them in every week!
HOLIDAY SPECIAL: Join your fellow Sun Devil fans on our premium message board, the Devils’ Huddle, to discuss this article and other ASU football, basketball, and recruiting topics. Not a member yet? Sign up today here and get all the latest Sun Devil news! FOR A LIMITED TIME, new annual memberships will pay just $75 for the first year use promo code adidas75 or NIKE75 to get a $75 digital gift code to either apparel store.
