Season Recaps




While most of these uniform season recaps have been covered on Twitter (@VolsUniHistory), I wanted to compile all of them into one, easily accessible place.

2019:



2019 Season W-L Breakdown:
Total: 8-5 (5-3)
Traditional Orange/White: 5-3
All White Road: 0-2
White/Orange Road: 2-0
All Orange Home: 1-0
Alternate Smokey Grey: N/A


The Vols added stripe-less orange pants to the uniform rotation. Thus ending a 3 year hiatus of the orange pants at home and a near 6 year absence of the orange pants on the road. Orange stripe-less pants were last seen in the 2007 SEC Championship and in 1999 vs. Memphis. However the stripe-less orange pants with white jerseys are a new, never before seen uniform combination as of 2019. Tennessee went undefeated in the Orange pants this season, going 1-0 at home and 2-0 at Kentucky and Missouri. Another addition, to celebrate the 150th anniversary of College Football, a 150 patch was added to the left side of the jersey. For the bowl game, the 150 patch was moved to the right so that the bowl patch could be placed on the jersey.

2018:



2018 Season W-L Breakdown:
Total: 5-7 (2-6)
Traditional Orange/White: 4-4
All White Road: 1-3
White/Orange Road: N/A
All Orange Home: N/A
Alternate Smokey Grey: N/A


2018 began a new era on Rocky Top under new Head Coach Jeremy Pruitt who took over after his tenure at Alabama as the Defensive Coordinator. 2018 was also the 20th anniversary of the 1998 BCS National Championship, so The Vols made some slight changes to the uniforms to be sort of an homage to that '98 Championship team. Gone is the checkerboard stripe from the helmet and pants. the Helmet went back to having a solid orange stripe and the pants were solid white. Orange pants and the Smokey Grey uniform were put away for the season as UT only wore 2 options on the field.

2017:

2017 Season W-L Breakdown:
Total: 4-8 (0-8)
Traditional Orange/White: 4-4
All White Road: 1-3
White/Orange Road: N/A
All Orange Home: N/A
Alternate Smokey Grey: N/A


Tennessee upgraded their uniforms from the Nike Mach Speed template to the Nike Vapor Untouchable template from the Mach Speed template. the Vapor Untouchable is a more seamless uniform which removed many panels and vents on the jersey that the Mach Speed had. The Vols wore a Chick-Fil-A kick off patch and a Bobby Dodd helmet decal in the Chick Fil A kick off game in Atlanta vs. Georgia Tech. Tennessee elected to not wear the Orange pants at home or on the road for 2017 as well as wearing the Smokey Grey Uniforms for what appears to be the final time for the foreseeable future. 2017 was also the final season for the Checkerboard stripes on the helmet and pants.

2016:


2016 Season W-L Breakdown:
Total: 9-4 (4-4)
Traditional Orange/White: 5-1
All White Road: 1-3
All Orange Home: 1-0
White/Orange Road: N/A
Alternate Smokey Grey: 2-0


The uniform schedule followed relatively the same pattern as 2015. The Tennessee Volunteers wore the Nike Mach Speed Uniform Template for the second straight year. Vols wore the Smokey Grey once in the regular season in a 38-28 win during the Checker Neyland game vs. rival Florida. Tennessee also broke out the Smokey Grey alternates in the Franklin American Music City Bowl defeating Nebraska 38-24. The Smokey Grey uniforms were worn in the Music City Bowl for awareness of the victims of the fires in Gatlinburg, TN. Tennessee followed the same pattern as 2014 and 2015 when it came to wearing the orange pants as they only wore them one time at home and did not wear them on the road.

2015:


2015 Season W-L Breakdown:
Total: 9-4 (5-3)
Traditional Orange/White: 5-2
All White Road: 2-2
All Orange Home: 1-0
White/Orange Road: N/A
Alternate Smokey Grey: 1-0


2015 was the dawning of a new era on Rocky Top. Well, for the uniforms at least. Tennessee unveiled new uniforms under the new branding partnership with Nike. The contract with Nike made quite a few changes to the Vols' uniforms across all sports. Major changes such as a new custom font and wordmark, new secondary logo (State of TN with checkerboards inside), a new stripe pattern, a new custom number font, Smokey Grey playing a more prominent role in branding, and, an updated Power T.

The football specific uniform changes were: A brand new Nike football uniform template known as the Mach Speed football Uniform System. A new stripe pattern on the pants and helmet that featured a solid stripe that becomes a checkerboard pattern. New wordmarks were added to the front and rear helmet bumpers, The new number font was added to the jerseys, replacing the Adidas font from the previous seasons. Nike also introduced a new Smokey Grey Uniform, but more importantly the Smokey Grey/ Smoky Mountain helmet was introduced. It is the first ever alternate helmet in Tennessee football history. it incorporated the silhouette of the Smoky Mountains on the helmet. Tennessee started the year in Nashville against Bowling Green and wore the traditional Orange/White combination, the same combination they wore to the Outback Bowl vs. Northwestern. The smokey Grey uniform made it's debut vs. UGA and produced a win, breaking the gray losing streak that the Adidas uniforms had. Tennessee also debuted the Nike all orange vs. North Texas on Homecoming and won 24-0, the Nike All Orange is still undefeated today.



2014:



2014 Season W-L Breakdown:
Total: 7-6 (3-5)
Traditional Orange/White: 5-2
All White Road: 2-3
All Orange Home: 0-1
White/Orange Road: N/A
Alternate Smokey Gray: N/A


2014 was the final season under Adidas for the Volunteers. The uniforms remained unchanged from their introduction in 2013. However, as opposed to 2013, UT chose not to wear the white over orange road uniform nor the Smokey gray uniform (more on this later). So only the traditional orange over white, All orange and all white uniforms were used. Tennessee added an orange and white Tri-Star decal to the helmet for the season.

Before the 2014 season there was a leak of an image of what the new Smokey gray uniform was supposed to be and then the jerseys were made available for retail, and the responses were.... not kind. The new gray uniform had metallic orange checkerboards on the shoulders and metallic orange numbers and stripes adorning the rest of the uniform. It was an eyesore to put it kindly, a huge jump from the traditional look Tennessee fans were accustomed to. The University was silent on the uniforms and no official explanation was given on the gray uniforms and some even implied they didn't actually exist. Others said the Coaches and players chose not to wear them. Either way, the new gray uniform never saw the field (Thankfully). However they resurfaced in a Semi-Pro league in Israel years later after they were donated by UT. There was no word on if there was to be an alternate helmet, although some Adidas apparel hinted at a white helmet with an orange facemask. but no confirmation has been given otherwise.


2013:



2013 Season W-L Breakdown:
Total: 5-7 (2-6)
Traditional Orange/White: 3-1
All White Road: 0-2
All Orange Home: 1-0
White/Orange Road: 1-1
Alternate Smokey Gray: 0-2


Butch Jones' first year at the helm of the Vols also brought about a uniform overhaul from Adidas. Adidas introduced a brand new jersey template earlier that year that had a pattern sublimated into the fabric called "Shockweb". Along with the new jersey template, Adidas and UT rolled out a brand new custom number font that was made to mimic the shape and curvature of the iconic Power T.

On the home jerseys: The Power T was made larger and placed below the Adidas logo on the front of the jersey (as the power T was much smaller in 2012), the shape of the state of Tennessee was added to the back collar above the name plate.

The away jersey saw the most drastic changes: Gone was the black trim around the numbers for the first time since 1994, as they were now orange numbers with a sublimated checkerboard pattern inside and the black player name became orange as well. "TENNESSEE" was added below the Adidas logo on the front of the jersey and the Power T was placed on the back of the jersey above the name plate.

The biggest thing to come of all the uniform updates, the addition of the Smokey Gray alternate uniform. Tennessee quietly introduced Smokey gray as an official school color a few days before the Uniform reveal in August of 2013, which hinted at what might have been coming. A gray uniform with orange numbers trimmed in white, with a sublimated checkerboard pattern. "VOLS" was placed on the front of the jersey and the TN state shape was also placed on the back collar in orange as well. The Vols wore the White helmet with the smokey gray uniforms.

2012:



2012 Season W-L Breakdown:
Total: 5-7 (1-7)
Traditional Orange/White: 5-3
All White Road: 0-2
All Orange Home: N/A
White/Orange Road: 0-2


In the final year of the Derek Dooley era, The Vols debuted a new set of Adidas Tech fit uniforms for the 2012 season. These new versions replaced the mismatched jerseys templates and incorrect oranges that were worn in 2011. these new Tech Fit jerseys had enlarged front and back numbers, and moved the TV numbers from the sleeve to the shoulder. The collar style was also changed from the 2010-11 version and moved the Power T to the base of the collar and was quite smaller than in years prior. The white jersey saw the black trim minimized and the numbers were much more predominantly orange, unlike 2010-2011 where the black trim around the numbers was quite large around narrow block orange numbers. The white jersey also saw the orange collar removed after being added in 2010 and worn for a short time in 2011. This uniform style was only worn for a single season as a complete uniform overhaul came the following season.

2011:



2011 Season W-L Breakdown:
Total: 5-7 (1-7)
Traditional Orange/White: 5-3
All White Road: 0-2
All Orange Home: N/A
White/Orange Road: 0-2


2011 saw the Vols use the same Adidas Techfit template from 2010. The home Orange jerseys had the numbers moved from the sleeve cap up to top of the shoulders. The away white jerseys had quite a few changes through the season. for the first road game at Florida, The Vols wore the same Adidas template as 2010, but the numbers were screen printed as opposed to stitched on. The numbers were thinner and had a slimmer black trim around them. But the remaining road games, they changed to a highly modified older mesh jersey style and the orange numbers were much lighter since Coach Dooley wanted the orange to be lighter than what Tennessee orange actually is. The all orange uniform was not worn again this season as the pants and jerseys were not the same materials so it would appear as though the oranges were different.

2010:



2010 Season W-L Breakdown:
Total: 6-7 (3-5)
Traditional Orange/White: 4-5
All White Road: N/A
All Orange Home: N/A
White/Orange Road: 2-2


2010 was a big year for uniform changes for Tennessee. Adidas introduced a brand new uniform template across college football and Tennessee was one of the first few teams to wear them. They were a much tighter and stretchier fabric than what was previously worn on the field. However, the season began with the Vols wearing the same uniforms as the 2009 season. The new Adidas Techfit uniform template was not introduced until the Alabama game. The New Techfit uniforms had a large Power T on the collar and the TV numbers moved from the top of the shoulders to the "sleeve" portion. The away jerseys also added an orange collar for the first time in Tennessee history.

2009:



2009 Season W-L Breakdown:
Total: 7-6 (4-4)
Traditional Orange/White: 5-2
All White Road: 1-0
All Orange Home: 0-1
White/Orange Road: 0-3
Alternate Black: 1-0


In 2009, The Vols stayed with the Adidas template that had been worn since 2007, but new coach Lane Kiffin, changed things up and the Vols wore orange pants for quite a few more games than in previous years. The biggest change however, came from the game vs. South Carolina where the Big Orange ran through the T donning black jerseys for the first time ever. The Vols won that game, and the black jerseys are still one of the most talked about uniforms in Tennessee history.

2008:



2008 Season W-L Breakdown:
Total: 5-7 (3-5)
Traditional Orange/White: 4-3
All White Road: 1-3
All Orange Home: N/A
White/Orange Road: 0-1


In Coach Phil Fulmer's final season, The Vols brought out a brand new set of orange pants on the road at UCLA. Prior to that, the Orange pants hadn't been worn on the road since 1992. Tennessee lost that game at UCLA, and the orange pants were put away for the remainder of the season. So the Vols wore the traditional Orange over White, and White over White for all the remaining games.

2007:



2007 Season W-L Breakdown:
Total: 10-4 (6-2)
Traditional Orange/White: 8-0
All White Road: 2-3
All Orange Home: 0-1
White/Orange Road: N/A


The uniforms in 2007 were the same template as the year prior. The major changes that came were the widening of the helmet stripe back to the 2 inch width as it was from 1977-2003. The orange pants were worn in the SEC Championship Game vs. LSU. This was the first appearance of the Orange pants since 1999. 2007 also celebrated the 75th anniversary of the Southeastern Conference. All SEC members wore a 75th anniversary logo.


                                           2006:



2006 Season W-L Breakdown:
Total: 9-4 (5-3)
Traditional Orange/White: 5-3
All White Road: 4-1
All Orange Home: N/A
White/Orange Road: N/A


2006 brought a new jersey template, but more importantly, they brought back the double orange stripes on the pants. The stripes hadn't been worn on the pants since 1994.



*STILL UNDER CONSTRUCTION*



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