My kinda-annual Nebraska Football Concept

[pianoknight]

As most of you know, I'm not a high-volume kind of concept guy; it's more of a hobby for me.  And while I'm decently good with using Photoshop for picture manipulation or creating wallpapers, I SUCK at doing photo-realistic concepts.  Just not my cup of tea.  That being said, I am also a huge proponent of doing MS Paint concepts that don't suck.  Like a lot of things, the devil is in the details.  So without further ado, here's my kinda-sorta-somewhat regular update to Nebraska's football uniforms.

 

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In 2019, we saw the debut of the Blackshirt jersey, worn against Indiana (picture below).  And from interviews with Scott Frost, it sounds more and more like this black jersey would be a somewhat permanent alternate, or third, opposed to a one-and-done alternate like what Nebraska has historically done the last several years.  Fair warning - if you're in the traditionalist camp of Husker Nation who despises the use of anything other than Red and White (or Scarlet and Cream), turn back now.  

 

 

My goals with this concept were as follows:  (1) incorporate a black uniform that could be a true "third,"  (2) create a set that is largely interchangeable to create more options while still staying within the wheelhouse of what traditional Nebraska uniforms have looked like, and  (3) update/tweak the current set with a few minor improvements aimed at making the brand more cohesive overall.

 

Let's start with the Helmets.  The standard helmet retains much of what Nebraska's traditional look has been: white shell, red stripe, red facemask.  The tweaks here are slight, but clean up the look.  The stripe has been slightly thickened and no longer runs all the way to the back of the neck.  Instead, it terminates just before the back of the helmet, where the numbers have been centered.  The replaces Nebraska's current look where the helmet stripe splits the numbers.  The "Skinny N" helmet logo has also been slightly modified.  This is essentially a compromise between the traditional Skinny N on the helmet and the thicker, Iron N (block style) that is the official school logo.  It's basically a Skinny N with slight serifs.  Also added to the set is a throwback helmet, which has the old school thin stripe, a gray facemask, retro "NU" logo and gray numbers on the helmet back.  This is a call back to the 1960s-70s style of helmet.  Finally, the black helmet, which includes both red/white striping and has an updated N-Bones logo which is based off the Blackshirt logo.  All three helmets have the script "Huskers" wordmark across the front bumper.

 

Next up, jerseys.  Home, Away and Alt are all essentially the same, with the gawdy patch-fest on the shoulders being cleaned up.  Now, we have only the B1G logo and Nebraska's "Winning Tradition" patch, while Adidas gets relegated to the collar.  Sorry, Adidas.  Your patch just clutters things.  The black jersey swaps the Winning Tradition patch for a Blackshirt patch.  This allows the sleeves to remain free for Nebraska's traditional sleeve stripes, opposed to how they stuck the Blackshirt logo on the sleeves in real life (again, see picture above).  Also notice that the black set has white numbers on the front/back but the TV numbers and player name are in red.  Overall, the look of the black set is designed to balance red and white fairly evenly.

 

Finally, pants.  Simple and clean all the way.  The stripes return, and for the life of me I can't see why NU dropped the pant stripes in 2018.  I know Frost wanted to go old school but the stripes look so much better.  The "N" logo and Adidas logos anchor the hips.  

 

Finally, finally, are the various combinations available at the bottom.  I did not include both the standard helmet and the throwback helmet at that resolution because they look essentially the same from head-on, minus the red-vs-gray facemask.  But it gives you an idea of the various combinations possible with this set.  I particularly like the black-red-white and white-black-white looks.  Freshens up the Nebraska closet without going full on Louisville or Texas Tech.  

 

Comments welcome as always! 

 

 

 

[Ertl35]

As a Nebraskan myself I always enjoy a good Huskers concept, this set might be the best I've seen. The only thing I might want changed is the N on the black helmet to be white instead of red, I feel like the red N gets lost in the black from a distance. Overall a very strong set of uniforms that would look great on the field.

[pianoknight]

14 hours ago, Ertl35 said:

As a Nebraskan myself I always enjoy a good Huskers concept, this set might be the best I've seen. The only thing I might want changed is the N on the black helmet to be white instead of red, I feel like the red N gets lost in the black from a distance. Overall a very strong set of uniforms that would look great on the field.

 

Yeah, I wrestled with making the N white, but ultimately went red because the bones on the helmet are white as well and it gets muddled. 

 

I love the Blackshirts logo, but having a logo with a white helmet that's stuck to the side of a black helmet seems goofy.  

[WavePunter]

The winning tradition patch is so bad.. it needs to be gone forever.. if you want people to know about your winning tradition, start winning again