Arkansas will have a new look on the football field this fall, although they will still look like the same team we have seen for some time. The new uniforms from Nike are part of a complete overhaul to the Arkansas athletics brand. Football will not be that much of a drastic look, but a new logo and new home and away uniforms is worth checking out.
I will let Mo Better Shoes take care of going into detail about the total rebranding initiative put in motion by Arkansas. Here, we just want to know what will the football team be looking like this fall and does it look good?
Let’s have a look…
Image: Arkansas Athletics
First, the logo.
Arkansas is keeping the running razorback as the primary logo, which is awesome. There is no need to do anything with that one, but they have added a secondary logo with a head-on look at the razorback’s head. I actually like it as far as a secondary logo goes. I do love the description given to it though from the Arkansas information;
“The logo is bold and intimidating, and serves as a contemporary representation of the Razorbacks’ straightforward style of play.”
Yeah. OK. Moving on to the football uniforms.
Home Uniform
Image: Nike Football
There really is nothing to complain about with this home uniform. The numbering looks great, the color scheme matches everything you would expect from Arkansas. The one thing I would change is the “Razorbacks” across the front of the uniform. Personally I would have gone with “Arkansas,” but I do not consider this a dealbreaker. The helmet, although not quite visible here, is the standard Arkansas cardinal shade to match the jersey, and if they use a matte finish it would really look good.
At the bottom of the neckline you will see the new secondary razorback logo, accompanied by the patented Nike Flywire neck design that is now being used on every uniform Nike can change. It has become as much a signature as the swoosh when it comes to design. I am not a huge fan, but it tends to blend in well enough to not be a major issue.
I think you could even use the same color on the pants for a head-to-toe look without looking ridiculous, but I like the contrasting between jersey and pants for Arkansas. Overall, this is a solid look at home with just a few minor issues.
Road Uniform
Photo: Arkansas Athletics
Similar to the home uniform, there are some things I like and some things I do not going on with the road uniform. First is the obligatory white helmet. I am not a fan of Arkansas in a white helmet and my opinion does not change here, in principle. Stick to the regular helmet and this uniform is the better of the two without question. That said, this white helmet is not the worst offender out there and it definitely gets a passing grade here.
As I suggested for the home uniform, Arkansas keeps the “Arkansas” slapped across the front of the uniform so that gets praise from me. The numbering still looks solid as it flips from white to cardinal. The road uniform still has the secondary logo at the bottom of the neckline, which is just fine in my book.
The road uniform also sticks to white pants, which work well with the white jersey. No need to mix in dark pants when traveling on the road for the Razorbacks, but I do hope they will go easy with the all-white look and use their home helmet with this uniform, because it would look much better overall. I hope Arkansas goes with a matte finish here as well.
But even with the white helmet, I cannot see much reason to criticize the look on the road.
Final Analysis
It seems like just yesterday Arkansas rolled out some brand new uniforms (it was two years ago), but Arkansas needed something new after the way the last two years have played out. Fortunately, Arkansas stays true to its roots and does not go overboard with an overhaul here. While I think the home uniform should also read “Arkansas” across the front, the overall look of both uniforms is nothing short of solid. Arkansas gets both right, but a couple of minor tweaks to each would not hurt. Overall, a job well done by Nike and Arkansas.
