The Virginia Tech football team showed off its new threads yesterday at the University Bookstore.
As part of Nike’s Rivalry Series, the Hokies will wear special all-black uniforms for one game: next Monday against Boise State.
The Hokies are one of 10 teams that will wear the uniforms, which are part of Nike’s innovative Pro Combat design.
They were also part of the original Pro Combat series last season, when they wore an all-white uniform against Maryland and Virginia.
Boise State will also take part in the series, wearing silver jerseys with blue pants on Monday night.
Each participating team had the final say on the design of the uniforms. Each uniform is unique to its respective school.
The Hokies’ jerseys have orange numbers with a special pattern that represents the technological background of the university.
The numbers are also accented in gray, which combined with the black honors the original colors of the university from over a century ago.
They will also wear black helmets next Monday, with an orange “VT” logo on each side and a maroon stripe that fades to orange down the center.
Similar to last year’s outfit, the neckline of the jerseys features the phrase “Ut Prosim,” meaning “That I May Serve,” the official motto of the university.
The team will also wear new orange cleats.
There were only 460 replica jerseys sent to the school, which were split evenly across the University Bookstore, Volume Two Bookstore and the official Bookstore website.
Bookstore officials expected the jerseys to sell out by today.
The replica jerseys were rolled out at exactly 10 a.m. at the on-campus site, where a crowd of more than 40 students eagerly awaited.
Management had to place tape over the windows on the storage room doors to after customers tried to sneak a peek.
“We felt it was important to do what Nike told us to do, which was to not reveal them before 10 o’clock,” said Steve Glosh, assistant director for University Bookstore.
Also on sale are special black T-shirts, football gloves, and caps with the same theme as the uniforms.
In addition, the Student Government Association has made special black T-shirts with “Ut Prosim” on the front and the “VT” logo on the back, along with the date and time of the Boise State game.
Those shirts are part of a movement to “Black Out” Monday’s game, encouraging fans attending to wear black to FedEx Field.
Among the other schools taking part in the Rivalry series include Alabama, Florida, Miami, Ohio State, Oregon State, Pittsburgh, TCU and West Virginia. Each school will wear the uniforms for a specially designated game.
According to HokieSports.com, both the men’s basketball and baseball team will also wear a special uniform at some point during their seasons honoring the corps of cadets.