D1 College Lacrosse Concepts - Big Ten Redos + Illinois

[raysox]

Hey y'all,

 

If you don't know, Jon Bois is the Creative Director for Secret Base and one of the best story tellers on the internet. Do yourself a favor if you're just being introduced to him, I promise you won't be disappointed. His style is so unique that it's spawned plenty of copycats and people doing their video essays in the style of Jon's videos as a tribute. Couple days ago I stumbled upon this video series, where a Syracuse student made a deep dive into the crazy history of Syracuse Men's Lacrosse. Somewhere along the way my mind started to wander. The ACC does sanction lacrosse, and is very good at it. The teams include Virginia, Duke, North Carolina, Notre Dame, and of course, Syracuse. Only 5 teams of 15 is a low number, even if the quality is high. Most teams have club lacrosse, but due to Title IX, they aren't a part of the NCAA ecosystem.

But for a moment, let's imagine they were. What would it look like if these teams had the resources of the rest of the teams at the school? Let's explore that. 

 

Long time followers may remember that I did this before! Back in 2010, I created some ACC and Big East concepts. This was so long ago that the league has added a few members and lost others. Hell, the ACC sanctioned lacrosse since then when the current teams were acting as independents!

But i'm now 11 years older and not as bad at concepts (woof, just look at that template), and have some new stuff for you guys. For the most part, i'm taking some small queues from other sports or the manufacturers for existing teams. Oh and one last thing, you can download this template I made right here.

 

Georgia Tech

Tech apparently has a super good club team. Them switching to Adidas is such a blessing, I tried to keep it simple as possible across the board. I also decided to use the scripts the baseball and softball team uses because they rule.

 

NC State

My dad went here and personally signed off on this one. They've started using the Tuffy wolf logo more and more in place of the block S logo, so I wanted to play that up. I did some wolf claws (three of them for adidas - wink). Overall, just staying simple while trying to fit to the existing look. I inverted it for the white set and made my favorite helmet and gloves yet.

 

Boston College

Now, BC was the first concept I did when I was getting into it. The Eagles unfortunately switched from Under Armour to New Balance this school year and i had to dump the previous concept I made (and like more). I'm pretty sure they HAD a D1 team (so did NC State), but it's kind of surprising they don't have a Men's team. Their women's team however are the reigning national champions and I basically used their uniforms as a base for this + a replica of the football helmet.

 

 

 

 

 

[Midway]

Solid. The partial Tuffy logo works really well in this application. I also like that you inverted the helmet colors for NC State based on the jersey color. It’s one of those recurring features that I’ve come to permanently associate with them, Kentucky and Wazzu even if they’ve gone away from it. 

[JMtexan09]

As always, your template works always came out great, @raysox , I dig on how you use your approach on every team's design. Nice works there

[MDTrey4]

That template looks amazing. Can't wait to see what you cook up for Pitt. It looks like they, and your first three teams, all compete in the MCLA.

[vtgco]

Just to second what's already been said, the template looks great!

 

For Georgia Tech, I think if you're going with those beautiful baseball scripts, they deserve to be bigger and pair with smaller numbers, even if that's not traditional for lacrosse. Right now they're too overpowered by all the stuff around them (Adidas & conference logos, numbers)

I love that white jersey with the hexagon pattern; the difference in the home & away is really kinda pleasant here! The away is nice too; I'd just lift the GT monogram above the striping.

 

The design is good as-is, but I'd love for Boston College to work in more of that fun pants striping somewhere on the shirt and on the socks... Maybe as side panels, or as additional stripes that run up the sleeves behind the BC logo?

 

I agree with @Midway; those helmets for NC State look cool! Not sure it'd be better, but I'm curious if the scratch marks would look good in white w/ black outlines on the red jersey.

[raysox]

Thank you everyone for the kind words. It's been a while since i've had a uniform concept series. One small note before I go any further, I completely overlooked the fact that college teams don't have names on the back, so I've adjusted the 3 concepts above to now feature a big number that's more customary. 

Wake Forest

Wake was interesting because their brand is so basic, so I tried to play with a few panels to make a cool looking jersey. The thing wake has in it's favor is that black and gold pair so well with each other. So that was my biggest goal - no white. They used to have a gold chrome helmet and logo for football and I tried to mimic that here.

 

Florida State
I always feel a little bit of pressure doing concepts for my teams. As a Florida State grad and former lacrosse player, this one had to be good. I recreated the football helmet, first off. The cuffs and collars are part of the pattern from the football uniforms to give some texture to the jersey. I also put some piping in to add a little something to the shoulders and pants because that seems to be a thing a lot of lacrosse teams have. Lastly, please acknowledge the gloves because I felt like a genius when I thought of that.

 

Clemson

When I originally planned this series, I was only going to do the teams that I believe could realistically have a team. Clemson wasn't one because South Carolina isn't much of a lacrosse hotbed. Then I learned they formed their club team in 1972! That's awesome for them, and their color scheme would be fun to play with. I obviously based a lot of this on their football look. My favorite designs so far have had the big football striping on the sleeve and this is no different (except the break for the paw logo).

 

[MDTrey4]

Love the last batch of these. Have you thought of doing an all-gold away uniform for Wake to stay away from white like you mentioned?

[raysox]

Thanks! I think i'm gonna do 2 for now then maybe do some alternates like a black set for NC State and gold for Wake.

Speaking of - I'm working on Miami which could use one too. As of right now the ACC is going to be the only conference I end up doing the entirety of. Not to tip my hand but i can't imagine a world where Iowa and Nebraska sponsor lacrosse. The ones I have outlined to do is ACC, Big 10, Pac 12, a few Big East, then various independent teams in the hotbeds of lacrosse that would stand out in their conference or are good in MCLA.

 

I still haven't finished Miami but next post I make in here will be them Louisville, Virginia Tech, and Pitt

[johnrafael]

This series is kicking ass, as always, raysox. Other than the fact I just can't deal with all the brands using the same jersey cuts, this is pure gold.

[raysox]

20 hours ago, johnrafael said:

This series is kicking ass, as always, raysox. Other than the fact I just can't deal with all the brands using the same jersey cuts, this is pure gold.

Deal with it!  I've found college lacrosse doesn't have very many reference shots In general, and in reality this template is for a way more form fitting jersey compared to the regular college uniforms.

 

Miami 

I know Miami has transitioned more to orange, but I really wanted to have a green uniform for them. I used the swamp grass looking pattern on the sleeves that some football uniforms have included in the past. I also snuck a hurricane flags on the back collar as a little hidden element.

 

Virginia Tech

Tech is a weird one because their brand is pretty non-discript. I think VT's strength is in their colors, and I wanted to do something modern with a color block and thought of a shoulder design that would look similar to how the Patriots used to look.

 

Louisville

I wanted to try and treat Louisville and NC State completely different. I thought it would be neat to have a very striking, white limited look. The home isn't too crazy with black lines down the sleeves, but the other jerseys are black with red accents. Oh, and I recreated their awful football helmets with the inverted logo just because I thought it would be funny.

 

Pittsburgh

Pitt was one team I was dreading a little because their club kits are so clean. Essentially i recreated them, but used the school number font and created blue shorts. They have a pattern symbolic of the cathedral on campus that I wanted to use, so I ran it up the sleeves of the yellow jersey

 

 

 

[raysox]

Well I thought someone would've commented on that!

Moving to the midwest - Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, Rutgers, Maryland all have lacrosse teams. In addition, the powerhouse Johns Hopkins plays In that conference. I said previously there's a few teams that I automatically think wouldn't consider lacrosse, but there were 4 I thought could!

Northwestern

I got to recycle the cool collar from my first take at Boston College before I saw they weren't an Under Armour school any more. Other than that, I really went heavy on purple and black - as I should. Plus the football team's pattern is really interesting and I thought it would be cool to use here too.

 

Minnesota
I struggled with the Gophers a little, but one thing I knew I wanted to do is strip the uniform of all unnecessary white. The colors work so well with each other and invert nicely. I put a big running Goldy on the home sleeves and replicated the 95 football team M stripe pattern on the road. I think this is one of my complete favorites of this series.

 

Michigan State

I really started struggling with how to make these lacrosse concepts because unlike with my PLL series, NCAA teams wouldn't sublimate on the jersey. They're simpler with more refined brands. With Sparty, I kind of remember the football team at one point using a pattern like this. I also paired it with the ugly STATE script that the basketball team wears from time to time. I really went with big chunks of white here. On the road, however, I created a greek pattern to use as striping on the sleeves.

 

Wisconsin

I had to ask my dear friend that is the Badgers' designer what the chevrons in the striping is. Under Armour introduced it as a part of a motto they created about moving forward. I didn't want to directly rip it but it ended up looking really nice on the upper sleeve with no real frills to the home whites. On the road, I went all in on barber pole striping, both on the cuffs and up the sides.

 

I don't think i'm gonna do any more Big Ten teams and so that means I'll be jumping out west for the Pac 12 now! Look for that in a week or so, but until then tell me my concepts are pretty.

[vtgco]

The color block on Michigan State's pants works perfectly with that elegant sleeve design at home, but it feels a bit out of place on the away and could probably be replaced by the Greek key design. That said, I'd be curious if a merging of the home & away sleeve designs would be possible, with the key design below the curve...

Also, I agree that that script is quite sloppy, but it would be nicer if paired with a different font (maybe a sans-serif traditional varsity font with floating outlines?)

 

Minnesota's minimal use of white is a good look. I'd be tempted to remove what little white is left, though!

 

Those one-color Louisville logos bother me; I wish to un-learn of them... They don't do any favors to your otherwise solid Cardinals concept. I thought the diagonal lines on the away were a lovely rain pattern, and then I realized the gaps are just the stitching :D

 

That Northwestern collar is fun; it works especially well away, and might be improved by being black/purple/black at home. Don't like the mismatching N logo on the pants and helmet.

 

No complaints for Florida State, Virginia Tech,  or Wake Forest! Since you asked for it, the Florida State gloves are fun, though I have to admit I didn't notice until you mentioned them... Probably inadvisable, but having that on a gold based-glove would probably be more noticeable.

 

Also, wow, the Pitt Panthers have a good number font! Can you tell I know nothing about the NCAA? Excited for the more familiar teams to me in PAC12.

[raysox]

USC
I was playing with a few ideas for Minnesota, and created what is essentially the USC football striping. With the colors and everything, this seemed like such a money look for the Trojans.

I mimicked their look but put the new Trojan logo on the helmet and a greek pattern on the cuffs and shorts. The white jersey follows suit, but with a white helmet.

 

California

What i've learned is that Under Armour creates striping patterns for it's teams. Cal's is found on many sports uniforms, and it's a thick outside line with a broken two stroke inside that matches a tower on campus in Berkeley. I did an all-navy and yellow look for the home with the sharp C-Bear logo on the helmets. For the roads, I deconstructed the stripes and put them as jersey piping. A few swaps of logos and came out with a very drastic change from home and road.

 

Colorado

The Buffaloes have such a meh brand with a :censored:ty font. I didn't really know where to start with them, so I made an angular striping pattern on the home. They use gold AND silver, so I tried to have a decent mix of both. But on the road, I thought it made too much sense to not have a grey uniform. On it, I made a mountain pattern (duh) with some gold accessories.

 

Washington State
Another team that's fairly non-descript. Wassu has a strong color scheme and I felt like I had pretty free range with the brand. As i've said before, I love the sleeve stripes. But for these guys, I made one and put COUGS on the stripe with the school name bracketing the number. On the road, the biggest thing is recreating the football helmets from the 1990s. That pairs with a grey look top to bottom that would be fairly interchangeable with the home look.

 

 

 

 

[vtgco]

Gosh, who needs the curly Cal logo when that C-Bear logo is so gorgeous? I love to see it on the helmet!

The home jersey is a very solid design that ties in well with football, but I love the away jersey idea of returning to the striping's inspiration by going vertical! I'd be excited to see you lean into the tower theme a bit more, by adding some sublimated horizontal pinstripes behind the vertical striping, and maybe adding two more separate vertical stripes somewhere in the middle...

 

I really like the way you handle the silver for the Buffs, especially on the road. The Buffalo logo on the sleeves is a bit too high; I'd rather it didn't peak up above the mountaintops. You're right about that font; it's pretty underwhelming, and I don't get why they don't go with a serif block font to match their logo.

 

Not crazy about the teeny tiny Greek sleeve stripes for USC. It's okay at home when at least its background matches the jersey, but away it just looks orange, and feels totally disjointed from the shoulder hoops. I'd recommend either making it bigger, ditching it, or possibly making it tonal.

[MDTrey4]

I agree with @vtgco on the sleeve stripes for USC. Not sure how married you are to the number fonts for that one but the Greek pattern could work as an in-line on the block numbers. I know that doesn't really go with USC's style guide but lacrosse uniforms do generally push the boundaries.

[sky1324]

That pattern is sublimated on USC's football jerseys, maybe try that here? They also place it on the collar, but I understand why you didn't place it there.

[raysox]

Thanks gang, I'm planning to circle back on a couple based on comments. I think I flew too close to the sun putting the pattern on Michigan State and USC so close to each other. This next batch the theme seems to have been cool helmet textures.

 

Oregon

I had to do something a little nutty. I love the kelly green look they've been running with football. Also love the helmet innovation with the wings and the O on the back. Obviously these sets are interchangable and lead into some alternates at some point. Also love the Donald logo they released and threw it on the back.

 

UCLA

With the Bruins, I had to be a little creative since they don't have any real alternate logos. The Under Armour refresh did make their look clean as hell, so I wanted a consistent look and striping pattern for both. I love subverting expectations and putting light helmet and gloves on the dark set.

 

Stanford

Just an absolute milquetoast brand with nothing really standing out. I refused to use black, and thought this also could just be an Oklahoma concept(who I wasn't planning on making). To try and make the Cardinal stand out, I gave them a chrome helmet and a red chrome alternate helmet. The chrome effect turned out way better than I expected to.

 

Arizona State

From a team with a super straight forward brand to the Sun Devils that have so many elements Adidas try to cram in. The trident logo, the Arizona flag, some horn elements, and a few more that the football team uses that come to mind. I made the home maroon with a black accent so they'd stand out from the Minnesota concept. The yellow clash could have had some simple retro striping but the Arizona flag sleeves was too good to pass on.

 

I'll take comments on these. I'm still having fun making new teams and falling in love with concepts again. The Beavs, Wildcats, and Huskies are gonna be the next update!

[-Akronite-]

Great thread, love Jon Bois. You said no more Big Ten but I'd really like to see your take on Ohio State.

[raysox]

15 hours ago, -Akronite- said:

Great thread, love Jon Bois. You said no more Big Ten but I'd really like to see your take on Ohio State.

Thank you! The Buckeyes have a team and i'm doing teams without D1 lacrosse programs. Although the concept probably end up looking a lot like the football team like the real team does

[MDTrey4]

Really like the last batch of Pac 12 teams. The only thing I might change would be the facemask color on the UCLA white helmet. I think making that yellow would give it a real pop and tie it into the uniform. The helmet seems a little disjointed with all the yellow in the jersey