The University of Central Florida (UCF) Knights will begin their 2024 season tomorrow night, when they open at home against the FCS New Hampshire Wildcats. And when they take the field, they’ll do so in some “new drip.”
The team seems especially proud of the “new” helmet, which is featured in the only hype video the team has produced. It’s black, with a “sword” stripe beginning close to the nose bumper and traversing to the back. The front bumper reads “Orlando” in a vertically arched custom font, with the “A” in Orlando being replaced by the UCF Knight logo. The facemask is white. The mask clips are also white.
The sides of the helmet will have “Knights” in thin white script.
The video is short, and emphasizes the removal of black from the facemask and nose bumper.
new mask, same task pic.twitter.com/0rcIfScgkY
— UCF Football (@UCF_Football) August 27, 2024
Not shown in the video is the back of the helmet, but the rear can be seen above in the “Drip U” graphic. That features a white neck bumper with the word(s) “CHARGEON” (which is the school’s fight song):
The rest of the uniform is also mostly black and white and was worn in 2023. The jersey is black with white numbers, outlined in gold. The sleeve caps have a sublimated graphic. The main difference is last season the helmet had a black mask and front and rear bumpers. Here’s what the back of the jersey looked like from last year.
And here is the 2024 uniform with the white helmet elements:
Not a major change (or upgrade) to be sure — but simply adding the white facemask and bumpers actually changes the uniform quite a bit. Even though I’m not a helmet guy, it’s amazing how swapping the cage and clips changes the look.
It should be noted that UCF only wore the script “Knights” helmet with the black mask in one game, and that was last season against Villanova. The team does have quite a history with helmets, especially recently. For a school that only began its football program in 1979, the team has worn possibly the most different helmet designs in college football in that time. You can check out their entire helmet history here. If you consider a “new” helmet anytime so much as a decal changes, since 2016, UCF has had an incredible number (over 50), ranging in colors from black to gold to silver to white, plus a couple “Space Game” helmets (you can read more about the team’s Space Game uniforms here).
As far as the script “Knights” logo on the helmet, it appears this was first worn on a white helmet against SMU in 2021.
I’m not normally a fan of script logos on helmets (I feel they tend to be hard to read at distance), so tomorrow night’s helmet isn’t one of my favorites, but I do like the black helmet with the white mask. It’s not a big change, but it actually makes a pretty big difference in the uniform’s overall appearance.
I will say this: I’ve always looked forward to UCF’s annual Space Game uniforms, so I will be pretty excited once they unveil those.
Orlando is vertically arched, right?
GAH! Yes. Total brain fart…now fixed. Thanks
This is a prime example about my feelings for white facemasks. Used sparingly and in the right places, white sure can pop on a dark uniform.
And of course, the awesome script and properly sized numbers pop as well. Reminds me of the first Washington State anthracite uni that I liked.
link
Even without stripes, I really like this. It’s the best UCF has looked in a long time.
I agree! Without the white facemask, it would be just kind of blah….. And, I can say they can get by with the solid black uni without me bashing the mono look. After all, they could change their name to the “Black Knights” for one game LOL
I hate the mono look usually, but somehow, I like this as a one-off. Would prefer white or gold pants here, but… I do like the script on the helmet particularly.
That script is awesome. I’m getting low-slung hot rod vibes with the script and satin black combo. Great helmet.
Pros
– Love the helmets
Cons
– Not enough gold
– The sleeve Pegasi would have looked better if rendered in gold instead
You never forget the first time you saw Pegasus pluralized. Very nice!
I’ve always really liked UCF’s uniforms… maybe I’m just really partial to space-themed things
Pros
– Love the helmets
Cons
– Too much gold
Script helmets are really having a moment
I wish UCF would drop the Knights moniker entirely and just become the Citronauts.
Knights (and Golden Knights before that [and Knights of Pegasus before that]) has always felt so generic and uninspired. With their yearly space-themed uniforms paying tribute to their relationships with NASA and Kennedy Space Center, it just feels so much more fitting to have a space-themed name.
I’ll agree, but the funny thing is it was immediately hated by the student body when it was introduced, and was replaced a year later.
A little gold trim on the “Knights” on the helmet would’ve gone a long way…
Agreed!
For a second it looked like the back bumper said “chagrin”
Freudian slip
I don’t generally like script on football helmets, but that’s some pretty good script.
Sword motifs seem a little dorky, like something an 8-year-old would think is cool, but at least it makes more sense for Knights than it does for Titans, so I’m fine with it.
The Pegasus on the sleeve is the best part of these, but it seems like they were afraid to really lean into that. The gold should be either more supported throughout the uniform, or left out completely.
I think this team should play into the chess motif. If everyone wants to go black/white now, this is the perfect excuse to do it. A chess-piece logo would be pretty cool.