By Alex Lovan

The UK football team will be using a lot of new things this year — they will be practicing on new practice fields, watching video in a new theater room on new high-definition video boards and changing in new locker rooms into the new uniforms.

UK Athletics revealed new uniforms designed by Nike on Thursday at the Lyric Theatre downtown. Cornerback Anthony Mosely and wide receiver Brian Adams made an entrance with dramatic music and lights to show them off. Mosely modeled the blue uniform while Adams wore the white.

Nike Licensing Director Dee Scott explained the thought behind the design and said that the uniforms indicated “what happens when two brands come together.”

There were three main inspirations for the uniform. The first was the collaboration and teamwork that gave UK its win last year against 10th-ranked South Carolina. Secondly, the uniforms wore by Kentucky’s 1950 national championship team. They had a classic design and sharp details that were brought back into the new uniforms. The third inspiration was Secretariat. Matching the checkered pattern on the UK men’s basketball jerseys, the shoulders of the football new jerseys featured the same reference to the famous horse and jockey. Having these similarities shows “ties in both elements of athletics,” Scott said.

The new uniforms are 30 percent lighter and feature many of Nike’s newest technologies in sportswear. “Developed from the inside out,” Nike ProCombat wear is developed with speed in mind.

Other features included Flywire, for neckband stabilization, zone ventilation and stretch, built-in padding, and more tailored hems and cuffs.

The new uniforms embrace some Kentucky traditions and are anticipated to be “eye-catching” for new recruits. Joker Phillips explained that there were more important things to focus on last year during his first year as head coach, and that now “the time was right,” for the football team to get new uniforms in hopes that it will help them “rise” up as a program. (“Rise” is the football team’s theme for the upcoming season.)

2011 New football uniforms – Images by Kentucky Kernel