Skip to content
 

Kansas Football Unveils New All-Red Uniform

After introducing all new blue, white and black uniforms last year, the Kansas University Jayhawks did not upgrade their red uniform at that time. They did wear it, but you can see how it was in their former uniform style (with Trajan font).

So I guess you could say the Jayhawks were due for a new red uniform. And now they have it. Of course, the team unveiled the new uniform via hype video.

And, as seems to be the case these days, they didn’t really provide any still photos per se. Instead, they showed them against some red backgrounds with KANSAS branding.

Those aren’t bad, but we got better views of the new uniforms in the video. So, I made a bunch of screen grabs to look at some of the details.

The white helmet is not new, but it is being paired with a uniform that is entirely red from the neck down. The helmet has a pair of red stripes that taper from front to back, with two thin white stripes, and a larger, solid blue stripe in the middle. The Jayhawk logo is on both sides of the helmet.

Both the jersey and pants are red. The front of the jersey has a large, block “KANSAS” wordmark in red, with narrow white block numbers, outlined in blue. The only other ornamentation on the front of the jersey is the maker’s mark on the left breast. There are TV numbers on the shoulders, in white with blue outlines as well.

But as you saw in the video, and again in the graphics provided by KU, the sleeves are … busy. From the front, the uniform looks pretty good, as it appears to have two white stripes, outlined in blue, running across the sleeve caps.

But once we see the sleeve caps from the sides…

…we are presented with broken stripes, bisected by the words, ROCK CHALK. The full chant is actually “Rock chalk, Jayhawk, KU,” but using “Rock Chalk” on the sleeve pretty much gets the message across. I suppose it’s self-explanatory why the phrase is on the sleeve, but KU didn’t explain (or story-tell) why it’s on there in their release.

In fact, oddly, the only explanation of the uniform given by the school was one short paragraph. “The red uniforms feature an all-red jersey and pants, with a bolded Kansas across the chest. Each of the arm sleeves features ‘Rock Chalk’ in block lettering centered between two stripes.”

There was a quick shot of the back of the jersey in the video:

And also as a part of the red KANSAS graphics:

As you can see, the jersey backs have white block serifed NOB, and the numbers are in white with a blue outline. The numbers are huge and in a narrow block font.

The video didn’t give an especially good view of the pants/full uniform, but there were some glimpses. The pants are solid red, with no stripes. I can’t tell if there is an adidas logo on the pants, because the players are all wearing red undershirts that cover the top part of the pants.

And they did provide some shots in their graphics.

From the video and the graphics, the uniform is designed to be worn with red socks, for that head-to-toe red look.

It should be noted that this past offseason, KU announced the first phase of its two-phase stadium renovation of the 103-year-old David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium. With construction to take place well into 2025, the Jayhawks will head East from Lawrence to play their home games in Kansas City. They’ll split between Children’s Mercy Park, home of Sporting KC (the MLS team), and the KC Chiefs’ home of Arrowhead Stadium.

Here’s a look at the phases of the renovated Memorial Stadium:

In a somewhat specious claim by ChiefsWire, “To pay homage to the back-to-back Super Bowl champs and current occupants of their temporary home, KU unveiled new all-red uniforms for the upcoming season.”

While KU didn’t state why they unveiled the new red uniforms, I’m guessing it was not to pay tribute to the KC Chiefs, but rather, they were given three new uniforms last season, and the red wasn’t included; it’s probably in KU’s contract that they’d receive a new red uniform from adidas this year. But hey…maybe it’s an ode to the Chiefs. ROCK CHALK!

__________

This uniform could have been really good but for two things. You can probably guess what they are — the ridiculous “ROCK CHALK” on the sleeve caps, and the red yoga pants look created by the stripeless pants and socks. I’m also not especially a fan when teams who wear white helmets wear one solid color below the neck. It has a very Arizona Cardinals vibe (and that’s not a compliment).

I can live with the large wordmark, but not the stadium chant on the sleeve (SCOTS?). I could maybe even forgive the stripeless pants if they wore white or blue socks. And of course, if you’re going to go all red, you need a dark helmet (preferably red, but in KU’s case, I’d be ok with royal and a red cage). While they haven’t had a red helmet for a few years, there is plenty of history of red helmets on KU uniforms. But the white helmet over all-red? Sorry, just doesn’t look good.

Kansas has outstanding blue and white uniforms, and although their black uniform is BFBS, it’s still a solid uniform. Three outta four aint bad. YMMV.

Your thoughts?

 
  
 
Comments (29)

    Oh boy, uni reveal photos of players looking badass with their arms folded across their chests. How fresh.

    To clarify, my comment isn’t a criticism of uni watch, it’s an eye-roll at Kansas.

    It needs yellow trim around the letters, and on the pants to bring out the yellow in the helmet I think! It’s nice.tho

    KU fan here. All I can say is, Ugh. I agree white socks and stripes on the damn pants would help, but to me, not much. White with solid color (non-white) below is a shitty look for anyone IMHO. And yes, the “rock chalk” on the sleeves looks stupid. Wording all the way around that jersey! I wouldn’t like it any better with a red helmet. I just hate non-white mono pairings with the jersey and pants, regardless of the helmet.

    Yep…this is another case of mono-color uniform with a white helmet looking absolutely ridiculous. Swap in some white pants, and this would be pretty good…as is, woof.

    Yeah, if they are wanting to homage to the Chiefs, throw some white pants in there. Then, the red socks would look ok. Has Kansas ever worn yellow pants?

    Yes! More crap. Especially love the stripe-free biker shorts and tights instead of socks.

    Will somebody explain to me why the younger generation is so fascinated by mono-uni sets? Once in a while for a big game or something special, ok. But seeing teams like the Patriots, Cardinals and Seahawks do it all the time just gets tiring. I’m a Florida fan. Years ago, they would just wear mono-blue for rival games like FSU and LSU. Now it seems like they wear them way too often.

    I don’t have a problem with the “ROCK CHALK” on the sleeves. Makes no sense that they don’t have a red helmet for this. And being CFB, I’m hoping most of the players aren’t wearing the high red socks, and instead have the bare leg look.

    There are too many to mention.

    I like it when Wisconsin goes white/red/red, and I like it here as well. My only quibble with KU is the lack of pants stripes.

    Paying homage to the KC Chiefs? IMO they have been paying homage to the Texas Rangers!
    Kansas are you a blue team or red team?
    My biggest issue with Kansas football over the past few years has been the color swapping, royal, white, black, powder blue, red. Just like the Rangers – the powder blue is actually my favorite look, but I’d prefer you stick to your actual colors.

    Are we a blue team or a red team? Yes! Official school colors: Kansas Blue (PMS 293) & Crimson (PMS 186), plus Jayhawk Yellow (PMS 116) and Signature Gray (PMS 430). I enjoy the color swapping and history-inspired uniforms, personally, but I completely understand why all of the changing bothers people.

    I LOVE the ROCK CHALK. And that is how they most often say it. Tapered stripes suck, hate all red. And stripeless pants suck my soul out… especially when there are stripes on the sleeves. But all of that ridiculous Trajan crap is gone. it’s a win!

    The blue and white sets they introduced last year are really nice, with the exception of the stupid stripeless pants. The blue one being the better of the two. It was weird (and a step backwards) when they wore the older style red jerseys last season after adopting a new look. So the red here is an upgrade over the crappy Trajan set, but I agree that it’s still not great because of the sleeve wording, stripeless pants and white helmet.

    KU is a blue team with red trim to me. They look their best when leaning into royal blue.

    I’m not a fan of one color uniforms, but this isn’t bad and they kept it consistent with traditional uniform elements until they decided to drive off the road with that dumb ass “Rock Chalk” arm sleeve thing….

    Yeah. I noticed that but didn’t remark on it. Some of the XII schools have gone patchless for photoshoots, possibly because there has been some talk of the XII selling out to an advertiser (link). Other schools *have* worn the patch in photoshoots.

    Doesn’t seem to be a rhyme/reason why some do and some don’t have it.

    Give this a set of white pants and un-taper the red stripes on the helmet and I would be fully on board. The triple stacked red though, is just too much red for me. I don’t mind the Rock Chalk on the sleeves myself. Its something I categorize as “College Stuff” (like merit decals) and just accept as long as its not glaringly ugly or distracting. Would I prefer continuous stripes? Probably, but zoomed out on the TV, it ain’t gonna make a big difference, so I say let them have their fun.

    Also, I like the big chest wordmark. If you are going to put something there, do it like you mean it!

    I recommend “College Stuff” as a 2024 neologism. My pet peeve is the nickname passing for the school name. For example, “Ole Miss”, “Wazzu”, “Mizzou”, “Valpo”. The alums must love it but to me it’s just a pep rally allowed to drag on for too long.

    I also wanted to criticize the motto on sleeve (MOS?) but you made a good point. It’s a very college-y thing. I don’t think this is a bad set per se but I echo most of us when I say the pants need stripes. Would love to see a set of double white stripes down the legs. Interested to see when they break these out and against which team. SO looking forward to the 5 & 1!

    Call me crazy, but a Rock Chalk uniform should probably be all white, like the limestone that graces the buildings on campus and makes up the ubiquitous and historic fence posts around the state.

    They look ridiculous. And the cartoon bird logo from a cereal box is not helping. This looks like something you’d see in the toddler department at Macy’s.

    Can’t someone in that state design a decent looking butch uniform suitable for a men’s game like football? It can’t be that hard.

    A red jersey is OK but not with that slogan on the sleeves and with red biker pants without stripes. Fix it by changing the pants to white with the same striping as the helmet and move the motto to the top front of the pants.

Comments are closed.