OPINION: Uniform colors matter, and Florida isn’t using them to their full potential

I’ve held strangely strong opinions about football uniforms for a long time. If I’m watching a random football game and don’t have a dog in the fight, I’ll root for the team with the cooler uniforms. I think we all do this, however subconsciously.

With the release of three new uniforms for the upcoming 2026 Gators football schedule, the way we dress our football players entered our minds once again. The Florida Gators have such amazing potential with their uniforms, but they’ve historically failed to reach it. Thankfully, it appears our new regime is looking to change that. 

Earlier this month, the Gators unveiled three never-before-seen uniform designs to be worn this season: a tribute to Steve Spurrier’s 1966 Heisman-winning season, an all-blue set and a blue-orange-white combo. 

The throwbacks are by far some of my favorite jerseys the Gators have announced. The timing is also perfect. This year marks the 60th anniversary of our first Heisman winner and national championship head coach, Steve Spurrier. These honorary throwbacks will be worn when the Gators play the other SEC school Spurrier coached, South Carolina, on October 10th.

It will also be the first time the Gators have worn an all-blue uniform combo. This is insane to think about because the all-orange combo has appeared plenty of times throughout Gator history.

I’m wary about the new blue-orange-white combo that was recently released. While I like the design, it reminds me too much of Boise State and the John Elway Denver Broncos. I will have to see how they look in The Swamp to truly know if they can break through as a Gator uniform for me. 

This season will see the return of the blue Gator script helmets for the first time since their one and only appearance in 2020 against Tennessee. The lack of variety in helmets has limited the amount of uniform sets the Gators have worn in the past. The orange Gator script is one of the best helmets in college football, and it looks just as good in blue and white. Varying our base helmet gives us even more options for stylish combos. 

Florida’s orange and blue is one of the best color combinations in the country, and we could easily be using it to its full potential. However, we are not the only school that wears blue or orange, and we should rely on our other colors when we play a rival school that shares a color with us. Namely, Tennessee and Kentucky. 

There’s no reason why we can’t wear orange when playing Tennessee or blue against Kentucky. In other rivalries, such as Michigan against Ohio State, it's taboo to even wear the opposing teams’ color during the week. Florida should employ its blue or white helmets, jerseys and pants against Tennessee and orange jerseys against  Kentucky. Fans could also join in and wear the same  color as the team to coordinate.  

Another woefully underutilized aspect of Florida’s uniforms are the orange jerseys. My father grew up watching Gator legends from the 1980s like Emmitt Smith and Wilber Marshall wear the orange, and he’s disappointed by their consistent absence. The last time we wore them was in 2021 against LSU. That five year drought — the longest in Gator history — will end in week two against Campbell. 

Still, Florida has maintained consistency in its uniforms with throwbacks. Last year, we saw a ‘70s inspired throwback against Mississippi State that featured an interlocking “UF” logo helmet. The same look was worn in 2021 against Vanderbilt. In 2020, we saw the blue block “F” logo helmets with throwback jerseys against Missouri. We’ll see the same helmets this year against South Carolina. 

These throwbacks are typically met with positive reviews, and I am glad to see the Gators continue to employ them semi-regularly. Planning to show off a throwback every other year would spice up the uniform rotation and pay homage to previous memorable Gator teams. 

My final wish for Gator uniforms is the return to wearing solid color versus solid color against our archrival Georgia. Blue and red are naturally contrasting colors, and they look fantastic when paired against each other. For proof of how striking this can be, look at the Holy War between Brigham Young and Utah or the Battle of Los Angeles between UCLA and Southern California. Both feature home color matchups that give the game a special atmosphere. 

The only problem with this is that it requires coordination between teams. In a three-year streak from 2014 to 2016, Florida and Georgia agreed to this arrangement. However, Georgia lost all three matchups — including one that saw an unranked Florida upset the ninth-ranked Bulldogs — and I fear they may have some traumatic memories associated with this uniform agreement. 

Let me be clear: I don’t want Florida to wear a different uniform every game. Schools like Oregon have built their brand by showing off flashy new uniforms almost every game. Florida doesn’t need to do all that to look good. We just need to maximize our potential with the clean colors and combos we already have.

We also don’t need to stray too far away from our core colors. Florida has taken big swings before, and it’s been met with mixed reactions. I’m specifically referring to the blackout uniforms that debuted in 2024 and the swampy green, scale-patterned uniforms we saw in 2017. These uniforms were too far removed from the core Gator branding and tried too hard to be unique. I think we could bring these uniforms back if we reworked them to fit our typical coloring and branding. 

NFL Hall of Famer Deion Sanders once said: “When you look good, you feel good. When you feel good, you play good.” At a top tier program like Florida, there is no excuse to not make the most of what we have. And when our players are looking good, good things will follow on the field.    

Contact Evan Dressel at edressel@alligator.org. Follow him on X @EvanD_Alligator