Scarlet Knights Look Battle Ready in New Nike Uniforms

Added by Gregg Snyder on May 3, 2012.

New Rutgers Football uniforms by Nike.

SNY hosted the Rutgers Football program on Tuesday as the team unveiled their new uniforms designed by Nike. The Scarlet Knights and Nike had been working on this design for awhile. Rutgers had a specific vision in mind, and Nike was able to capture that with the new look.

“The best thing about working with Nike was this is just not a uniform,” said Rutgers athletic director Tim Pernetti. “Nike did a great job helping us tell a story. In telling a story, we wanted to do a bunch of things. We wanted to honor our mascot, the Knight. We wanted to illustrate what the mascot is. We went as far as to implement battle `scars’ on these uniforms.”

Rutgers stars Mark Harrison, Khaseem Greene, and Scott Vallone were on hand to model the new uniforms. All three sport a shiny silver brushed chrome helmet with the block ‘R’ on the sides. Also, in red, the word “Knights” is displayed on the back. The block ‘R’ has become the branding staple for Rutgers since former head coach Greg Schiano took over.

Each uniform has the same basic design with just different color matching. The pants have a sword look on the sides, again, symbolizing the Knight. The jerseys have slashes around the shoulder area and those “scars” that Pernetti mentioned can be seen throughout. There is also a shield design at the neckline on the front of the jersey.

It’s obvious Nike and Rutgers did a tremendous job of paying close attention to every detail of the uniforms. Sure, the traditionalist will have their issues with the modern looking uniforms. Sure, it would have been nice to see a red helmet incorporated in the design. However, there is no denying that, with the new look, the Scarlet Knights will look sharp and be ready for the upcoming season.

First year head coach Kyle Flood went as far as saying the new uniforms will make Rutgers “look like the class of college football.”

The all-white uniforms are for road games, while the all-red are, of course, for home games at High Point Solutions Stadium. The alternate all-black uniforms will be used for special occasions, including a black-out game on October 6, 2012 against Connecticut.

The helmets