White Helmets, Orange Jerseys, Orange Pants for Friday Night vs UNC

https://www.instagram.com/p/CTPy8CdllEu/

As leaked by Tae Daley, the combo seems to be orange unis, orange pants, and white helmets with a maroon "VT" for Friday's opener against UNC. Considering it's orange effect, it's a sharp look in my opinion - 7/10. Still would like to get those 2017 unis we wore against UNC back though.

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Comments

This one is for Ross Dellenger #MoreOrange

I just sit on my couch and b*tch. - HokieChemE2016

Now finish up them taters; I'm gonna go fondle my sweaters.

That's a lot of orange! When I saw the post headline I was really hoping we were bringing back the jerseys from 2017.

2026 Season Challenge: TBD
Previous Challenges: Star Wars (2019), Marvel (2020), Batman (2021), Wrasslin' (2022)

Not saying it's not what we're going to wear, but from one of his previous posts, it looks like these pictures were taken back in July.

Gobble Till You Wobble

Is coronavirus over yet?

Not really a fan. Might work a little better if the under shirts/sleeves the players wear (if they choose to wear them) are maroon. There needs to be more something to cut thru all that orange

I don't care what we wear as long as it isn't cotton and as long as we WIN!!

I don't hate these, might look clean with high white or maroon socks and as mentioned above some maroon undershirts

Love it. Third pic is tough as hell.

"Now Miami wants to talk about it." *Cue Enter Sandman*

Fire

I don't care what the team is wearing. Just win baby!

Recovering scientist working in business consulting

Not my favorite, but at least we aren't playing Clemson, Syracuse, UVA or Ok State and doing an "orange out" game. We are making progress.

I don't understand why we have to change the way we look in our own house. Orange is one of our 2 primary colors, who cares that other schools use it, too.

"When I was growing up, Virginia Tech was a school that was kicking ass and taking names, and it's time we get back to that" - James Franklin

i guess im having nightmares still from the frog horn leg horn turkey helmets with orange jersey's vs. UVA in lane a few years back. That game set football back 50 years.

Not nearly as far back as the bowl game vs Rutgers which I think was also that season.

Good Point. Brutal.

Good looking uniforms, terrible looking football that game.

At least we won that one...

Great looking helmets, though.

"Yes I am going to have favorites. My favorites are high production and low maintenance players, coaches, and staff." - JMFF

Great...if you don't what you look like.

Huh?

Bob: What would ya say ya do here?

Brad: I already told you! I iron out the minutiae so Justin doesn't have to. I have people skills dammit! What the hell is wrong with you people?

I very much agree

"The Big Ten is always using excuses to cancel games with us. First Wisconsin. Then Wisconsin. After that, Wisconsin. The subsequent cancellation with Wisconsin comes to mind too. Now Penn State. What's next? Wisconsin?" -HorseOnATreadmill

The football team can wear whatever they want as long as they win.

I hate Nike. I'd their uniforms better if they went back to chicago maroon and burnt orange instead of off purples and just like everyone else orange. They can't even match the orange or maroon in their jerseys to their hats, coats, shirts, hoodies or gym shorts. I'd like them better if they were to pay a reasonable amount for the rights to ruin our school's heritage as sporting the color of the fall leaves.

Sometimes we live no particular way but our own

Are you speaking from in-person, up close observation of the uniform colors? I'm not doubting you, but if you're simply going off the photos, it very well could be because the IRL colors are blown to hell with HDR and other photo adjustments to make them "pop" more.

If they are indeed messing up our official athletics colors on official sports equipment, then shame, Nike. Shame. And shame to VT athletics for allowing that to happen.

My wife and I have been buying official Hokie gear since the 1990's. Go in my closet and you can tell which sweatshirts, jackets and hats are pre-nike by the color alone. They added a lot of blue to the maroon and a lot of yellow to the orange. i have a least 7 VT hats, and about 5 of them have a swoosh. The only ones where the maroon in the hats matched the maroon in a hoodie or gym shorts are from the two hats that were pre nike, that match the pre nike hoodie and gym shorts I can still wear. My nike hoodie has a different maroon than every hat they made. I have several different polo shirts with the nike logo - maroon with orange trim, maroon with white, orange with maroon, gray with orange and maroon logo, white with orange and maroon. They are lined up in the closet - and none of the colors match each other. Or the hats or gym shorts or game day theme T shirts or hoodies or jackets and vests.

Sometimes we live no particular way but our own

yeah, we definitely went to a more purple maroon and a more day-glow orange in the last few years. I don't know if it was part of the rebrand/consolidation or when we switched companies though. I remember discussing it, but not the results of said discussion.

Either way, I'm not a huge fan. I much prefer the older color motif, but it could just be because I'm curmudgeonly. But I don't buy a whole lot of new Hokie gear in a given year (most of my stuff is a few years old) so I'm not exactly a market segment that anyone is tracking anyway.

I do art stuff.

I think the school actually changed those colors slightly.

"A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it." - K

We did. With the recent rebrand we set our official athletic colors to the ones Nike has outfitted us under the last 20+ years

"When I was growing up, Virginia Tech was a school that was kicking ass and taking names, and it's time we get back to that" - James Franklin

oof

Onward and upward

I guess this is similar to the logo debacle, but I don't understand why we would change our athletic colors to match a sponsor that does not respect us (the contract reflects that). In what world does that make sense? Chicago Maroon and Burnt Orange are the official colors that are engrained in the minds of all Hokies.

Because, quite frankly, those are the colors that the rest of the world associates with Virginia Tech. Those are the colors we've worn the last 20+ years with every sporting event that we have played. Those are the colors that people donned to support us after the shooting. Like it or not, that is Virginia Tech, and it's long past time we steered into the skid and stopped trying to fight the losing battle.

"When I was growing up, Virginia Tech was a school that was kicking ass and taking names, and it's time we get back to that" - James Franklin

Fuck Nike,

if you look at Fanatics, Nike never bothered to create 2021 merchandise for us to sell. They did for other schools, but not for us. Its just a bunch of Coliseum and Antigua brand crap, and the residuals of the 2019 and 2020 Nike lineup. Go to a school like Clemson and its page after page of Nike merch, so I know we've just been intentionally left out.

Went to look at Campus Emporium and its the same. No new Nike merch this year.

"When I was growing up, Virginia Tech was a school that was kicking ass and taking names, and it's time we get back to that" - James Franklin

Have you looked at Fanatics recently?

They have some apparel labeled as 2021 -- I shop there from time to time and some of these I think are actually new.

Now, you do have a point about other schools getting more merch -- that's true from what I've seen. I'm not sure how Nike decides on this, but I personally believe VT should have more merch, especially compared to some of the other Nike schools.

The fanatics.com Virginia Tech page this morning says "Virginia Tech Hokies Jerseys. Gear up for the 2019 season with an official Virginia Tech Hokies jersey from Fanatics, the ultimate sports shop"

I do art stuff.

Agree. We must have used up our "stipend" - one of the lowest in the P5

I like orange only as a trim color.

...with spirits true and faithful...

Ironic that Hendon Hooker will be wearing similar colors on Saturday but for a different team

They're not really that similar, are they?

Tennessee orange is seems really light to me.

Tennessee is closer to the classic TB Buccaneers creamsicle than VT Burnt Orange

A decade on TKP and it's been time well spent.

All Orange Everything is an underrated look. Shouldn't be every game, but it should be every Orange Effect game.

Love the orange look.. Always have. Screw the orange haters!

Bleeding burnt orange and chicago maroon

Based on the color of his pants, it looks like he pissed himself before blowing chunks. Must have been one helluva party.

I love him engaging his right leg, really thrusting the vomit from body by utilizing his lower half. Would've loved to have his pad level lower, but that will come with more experience.

Amateur superstar and idiot extraordinaire.

Those skinny jeans really highlight his technique too. Nice touch. Low level of suspended solids in the vomit. Just an overall good drunk play here folks.

if only my laptop had a scratch-n-sniff

I seldom speak to loluva grads, but when I do, I tell them I want large fries.

....where ya scratching and sniffing?

Amateur superstar and idiot extraordinaire.

In all seriousness, I think it is probably of benefit if we do more of this kind of thing. Recruits dig it, they commit, they sign, they play, they bring us joy. So, I am riding with them.

I like it. That orange is really bright but glad we are mixing it up and going with orange jerseys and pants. I guess it was 2018 that we last wore orange jerseys. Prefer the 2017 orange one offs to the shoulder stripes, but I like the look overall.

Also I hope we move back toward a modern update of the Vick era jerseys moving forward. I've seen rumblings of some sort of possible throwback uniform at some point this year, hoping it's that. I also like this Vick era orange alternate that we never wore. It's simple but sharp. Would keep a thin orange collar on the maroon version and a maroon collar on the orange though.

At this point we having been squawking for years about going back to the Vick era jerseys and at this point I just don't think it will ever happen.

Didn't Whit say something about a Jersey redesign coming up? Was that all smoke?

Free Hugh

Might have been after this season, I definitely don't think it was supposed to be this year.

Would've liked to see the metallic orange helmets tbh.... I kind of like those alot

Warning- Filter lost.

"Look at this... This is just spectacular.... These people are losing their minds"

Didn't we do metallic orange hats w maroon jersey and pants a couple years back? I remember REALLY digging that look, a cool tweak of sorts to AME.

That was the combination for the home game against Ohio State. I agree that it was a really good look, especially for an afternoon/evening game.

Yes, thank you for the game reminder. Idk how I forgot, it seems as though Barstool posts the Braxton spin every week just to drop shade on Tech fans. Obligatory eff Barstool.

What are we Tennessee now? Yuck

Directions from Blacksburg to whoville, go north till you smell it then go east until you step in it

No uva!

Even when you get skunked; fishing never lets you down. 🎣

Note: this is not a serious post, but a tongue-in-cheek joke at those who may like to equate uniform combinations with on-field success.

There's always a lighthouse. There's always a man. There's always a city.

Need puke imogi!

Even when you get skunked; fishing never lets you down. 🎣

Serious question - have we ever won a meaningful game wearing Orange in 25 years?

Orange effect (and alternative jerseys) should be reserved for Richmond and Middle TN. We need all the positive mojo we can muster for this game. Orange jerseys are cursed.

Well the past 10+ years we arguable haven't won any meaningful games regardless of uniform combo to be honest

Yeah I hate to break it to people but the maroon jerseys haven't exactly been lucky either.

Pretty sure I read recently (think it was a TSL article) that we have a better record when we feature orange than we do in AME.

We put the K in Kwality

We did beat OSU in the Horseshoe. Since then, um.......

You will see this game, this upset and this sign next on ESPN Sportscenter. Virginia Tech 31 Miami 7

His decision was made after a phone call with longtime Virginia Tech assistant coach Bud Foster. All Foster told him was, "We win. They don't."

ND in south bend

Free Hugh

A 4-8 ND team in South Bend

It was the first time VT ever played Notre Dame, and it was a comeback after falling behind 17-0. In South Bend. It guaranteed ND a losing season. Was the only time VT has beaten ND.

So yeah, was still a big game, and a meaningful win for VT.

I was at a wedding in Georgia of which I knew one person (my now wife). I snuck away into the house on the property and watched it after the dinner at the reception. Rude? Maybe. But it was less rude than me sitting at a table staring at my phone all night.

Amateur superstar and idiot extraordinaire.

If they didn't have a fall wedding, you never would've been forced to leave said fall wedding. Really, the blood is on their hands here.

"You know when the Hokies say 'We are Virginia Tech' they're going to mean it."- Lee Corso

My FIL is a big Hokies fan and he told us that if we planned a fall wedding and it coincided with a football game he wouldn't be at the wedding (not much of a threat since my wife and I are also big Hokies fans and never intended on having a fall wedding anyway). Fall weddings are nice and all but...football!

Onward and upward

Having been to a few of your FIL's tailgates years ago, this does not surprise me at all!

Even though Arkansas was not that great, I did consider the huge comeback win in the bowl game to be a big win. Seemed to establish us as a team on the cusp of getting real good with an exciting young coach, solid recruiting and a team that would not quit!

Oh man, how times have changed.

Recovering scientist working in business consulting

Knocking off the eventual national champs IN THE SHOE do nothing for you?

Beating WVU in D.C. was better than losing to them.

The Dude Abides

FSU was undefeated when we smoked them in Tallahassee. That felt like a big game at the time.

Our orange uniforms need more maroon, and our maroon uniforms need more orange.

Agree. I want orange pants with maroon jersey combo too.

"A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it." - K

I don't have a problem with orange but I do not like pairing it with white. Maroon helmet would go better. White helmet looks better on white or maroon. I like all white but dislike white pants with any other color. AME greatest look. AWE is also underappreciated. Probably too bright to go AOE.

Also, I love that everybody has different tastes and can never get a consensus on favorite anything.

"A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it." - K

Who wore it better, πŸͺ or πŸ¦ƒ???

Yes,that's the Hokie Bird riding a camel. Why'd you ask?

Maybe a very uninformed take but does the contrast of the white lid not look like it would be distracting to the players on the field? Just kind of an unnatural combo. A maroon helmet would look better imo

You can have a look and compare them. Tech wore that combo against Duke in 2013, granted it was the old uniform style. I think the white helmets are a much cleaner look.

I love the orange look, wish our uni's reflected the 2017 orange one offs. The recruits love orange also, most post pics of them in the orange. Give the kids what they want!

1-0 every week

Can someone rehost the pictures so those of us that don't do InstaChat can see them? Bastards are making me login to view.

"Yes I am going to have favorites. My favorites are high production and low maintenance players, coaches, and staff." - JMFF

Being that it's Wednesday and we still haven't gotten a reveal what are the odds that the equipment team was good/smart enough to use the Instagram post as a smoke screen and we get something completely different?

for the orange effect game? probably long odds...though it is uncharacteristic for VT to actually wear mostly orange for an orange effect game

Onward and upward

Maybe bad phrasing on my end....still Orange just not one in our normal base unis . Something special

Did Dwight Vick tease throwbacks on twitter? Or a podcast update?

TKPhi Damn Proud
BSME 2009

Yeah I'm not totally sold that these are the unis we're going with. I personally think he was just posting from the extra photos from the photoshoot they gave him when he signed with Tech.

Edit: I was wrong...that is the combo.

Amateur superstar and idiot extraordinaire.

Wouldn't surprise me at this point. UNC is wearing white helmets, so I would find it a bit surprising if we also wore white helmets

ME Class of '16
VA --> AL
I'd rather be golfing.

I don't mind orange, so long as it's rally burnt orange.

Tired of Nike putting us in clemsony bright orange.

Confirmed O/O/W.

Personally I think these will look really sharp at night.

I like it.

I also dislike it.

I'm excited. I'm also nervous. Meh, what the hell...a uniform reveal means we are that much closer to some Hokie Football!!

Those are clean

I know the video editing has been brought up 100 times but I'm fucking colorblind and that shade of orange is 10 different oranges in the same video.

(add if applicable) /s

I think we should just go full Orange. Give them the subconscious impression they're playing Clemson.

GRIT on the helmet bumper is deeply, deeply stupid.

I don't even see the bumper you're complaining about...

Onward and upward

No longer says ACC on the front of the helmet. That was a league decision this year, and teams got to choose what to do.

We went with GRIT

"When I was growing up, Virginia Tech was a school that was kicking ass and taking names, and it's time we get back to that" - James Franklin

Thank you for clarifying. That is not evident from the pictures linked in the OP.

Either way, I don't really care that much. In the grand scheme of things 4 letters on a helmet bumper that most people will never see nor notice does very little to move the needle for me. I don't hate it. All that matters is that the team goes out and plays hard and competes. Wins will determine fan perception more than what our helmet bumpers say.

Onward and upward

Is that an acronym? serious question. Or is it Grit as in John Wayne?

From what I can find, sounds like it was started by Hilgart in a sign in the weight room entryway in 2017, and has kind of taken on a lift of its own from there.

"When I was growing up, Virginia Tech was a school that was kicking ass and taking names, and it's time we get back to that" - James Franklin

GRITs

Get Ready It's The same

We put the K in Kwality

Thank you both!

I like this. I've always thought we should incorporate more orange into our uniforms. Not as weird to me as, for instance, when East Carolina wears yellow pants.

Marshall University graduate.
Virginia Tech fanatic.
Formerly known as JWillHokieAlum.

I like what you've done here. We are on the same page. MOAR ORANGE!

Bob: What would ya say ya do here?

Brad: I already told you! I iron out the minutiae so Justin doesn't have to. I have people skills dammit! What the hell is wrong with you people?

I have very little love of orange jerseys but these aren't bad. If we win I will like them even more. But I can't abide with wearing white at a home game. Hate it. Change the helmets and this could win me over as the go to Orange jerseys.

They look good. Better with the solid pants and no stripes. They should have done the chrome orange brain buckets with them but I like embracing the orange for the orange effect.

"I'm too drunk to taste this chicken" - Colonel Sanders via Ricky Bobby

Needs more maroon.

Would maroon numbers on this template meet the contrast requirements?

"A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it." - K

Honestly, they wouldn't look good. Not enough contrast to differentiate numbers from the stands.

"When I was growing up, Virginia Tech was a school that was kicking ass and taking names, and it's time we get back to that" - James Franklin

We had maroon numbers on orange jerseys during the Vick & Tyrod years, but there was a white outline that helped make the maroon pop (example in post above). Basketball also does this for their orange jerseys. I think the white outline is the only way it works.

...and that is no longer allowed. Understand you have to have a more distinctive difference between the jersey color and the numbers.

We put the K in Kwality

Looks like it is still allowed at least for basketball. Picture from Feb 2021.

I'm guessing different rules for football and basketball? Given the smaller venues in basketball, maybe they're allowed to get away with a bit more?

"When I was growing up, Virginia Tech was a school that was kicking ass and taking names, and it's time we get back to that" - James Franklin

If NC State can do red on black, we could certainly to maroon on orange.

"A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it." - K

The only game images I can find of us wearing orange uniforms are using the following templates:

Tyrod Era

Throwback Era

Pre-Rebrand One-Off

Now, we have made others available for purchase, and we had players wearing them in photo ops, but I don't think we've actually worn them in a game..

If you ask me, the ones that look the best of the entire bunch so far is the one-off we wore in 2017 against UNC, and it all comes down to the dark outline of the number. Which, if you ask me, the outline needs to exist in all our jerseys, with an orange outline of maroon on the whites, an orange outline of white on the maroons, and a maroon outline of white on the oranges.

"When I was growing up, Virginia Tech was a school that was kicking ass and taking names, and it's time we get back to that" - James Franklin

My bad. The Vick era orange jerseys were not worn on the field. But based on basketball it does look like maroon numbers are okay with a white outline. Perhaps it is different for different sports? That doesn't make sense to me but neither does anything that the NCAA does.

I think maroon with white outline is more distinctive to my eye. Doesn't matter though, the current template doesn't have an outline.

"A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it." - K

Here's a link to Virginia Tech's official Color Guide. The Brand Center has a lot of additional information some of you may find interesting.

And for those of you working in web or print that are color nerds like me... there's actually a color utility tool that will help you identify tint/shade values as well as evaluates WCAG AA color contrast guidelines.

And no surprise there, it's Wally Lancaster with an airball that looked gorgeous on its way to nowhere...
2/15/89, VT vs. South Carolina...

Lee

That's the academic brand. The athletic department has its own branding, which was announced and unveiled in 2016, with the academic side doing their own in 2017.

Interestingly enough, it looks like all references to the 2016 Brand Refresh have been completely scrubbed from Hokiesports. The hokiesports.com/brand site now returns a 404 error, and all tweets about the event have been deleted. But you can still see it referenced by places like TKP, TSL, and even a site like Uni-Watch.

Edit: Ok, I found it buried in the Academic Rebrand site.

Virginia Tech Logo and Wordmark Licensing

Our official school colors (athletic and academic) are as follows:

Maroon - Pantone 208 C / MADIERA: Rayon - 1182, PolyNeon - 1835 / RA: 2497
Orange - Pantone 158 C / MADIERA: Rayon - 1065, PolyNeon - 1765 / RA: 2213
Black - Pantone Process Black C / MADIERA: Black / RA: Black
White - White / MADIERA: White / RA: White

"When I was growing up, Virginia Tech was a school that was kicking ass and taking names, and it's time we get back to that" - James Franklin

Is there a way to watch the game in black and white?

More Orange = More wins

It's science

"When I was growing up, Virginia Tech was a school that was kicking ass and taking names, and it's time we get back to that" - James Franklin