An Ode to the Desert

Over the past week, a picture by local photographer and ASU fan Sherry Brooks has been making the rounds on the internet. She caught a glimpse of several mannequins dressed out in different Sun Devil Football uniforms, with one, in particular, standing out among the rest. This was a tan uniform with gold script Sun Devils and player numbers. It was haplessly matched with a gold helmet that had black decals that did not at all represent what the gameday look would eventually be. As I reported on Twitter, this helmet would eventually be replaced by something else.

The look was not very well received by ASU fans or the national audience as UNISWAG also posted the new look to their popular Twitter account, exposing a wider audience to the leak. In all fairness, it was a grainy, cropped cell phone photo with less than desirable lighting and the incorrect helmet.

Cut to today, and Sun Devil Athletics, seemingly in response to the reaction of the uniform, revealed the proper uniform in an official media release. In the release, they mention that the uniform is set to be worn on October 8th, which is a game against Washington. The uniform is now matched with a maroon helmet and, as always, has quite a few subtle details.

The Sun Devils script word mark is a throwback to the beloved script that was so often seen in the 90s and was also used quite frequently on past generations of both men’s and women’s basketball uniforms. That word mark and the player numbers have a dark to light gold gradient working up from the bottom to the top of the typeface. This is dedicated to the beauty of the desert sunrise, while the tan/sand color base of the uniform is an ode to the desert landscape.

There is a gold pitchfork with maroon trim outlined in white on the right hip of the pants. All accents such as undershirt, tights, gloves, and cleats are all maroon based, just like the helmet. It can be seen in the above picture that there is a two-toned center stripe with a bold maroon center bookended by thinner tan stripes that match the base color of the uniform. It can also be seen that right side of the helmet features player number decals.

The left side of the maroon helmet features a Sun Devils script decal with a top-to-bottom gradient from maroon to gold. The front of the helmet features a tan base bumper decal with maroon PT*42 in honor of Pat Tillman, and the rear bumper features a tan base with a desert saguaro landscape background with a bold, maroon Sun Devils print in the foreground.

There are sure to be more details added to this between now and game week, so keep an eye out for the official Uniformity article leading up to the game against Washington on October 8th.