knnhrvy's NCAA Pro Combat Series

[knnhrvy16]

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Hello all!

I decided that my MLB sunday alternate series was enough baseball for now (though it isn't terminated quite yet ), and I also decided that I really, REALLY want to do some football concepts. Of course, the big craze right now is the Nike Pro Combat, and I am a proud, self-proclaiming fan. I felt like doing some Pro Combat concepts of my own, and i'll tell ya, I've really enjoyed this so far.

I'll crank out the first three I've finished, starting with....

...Air Force.

With Air Force, my goal was to expand on the helmet they wore at the Armed Forces Bowl recently vs. Houston. I really liked the idea of a camouflauge pattern in the lightning bolt and got to thinking, "why didn't they go the extra mile with this?" That extra mile in my head being camouflauge elements throught the uniform. Hence, this very design came about. Not much to explain here

Next up, we have Arizona.

Arizona, to tell you the truth, was actually one of the first schools I thought of when Nike Pro Combat came out. Why? I can't say, but the idea of an Arizona Pro Combat uniform swirled in my head for some time. I tried to take some elements from the early 90's (white helments, designs on both pants) and incorporate them into the design as a sort of tribut to the more succeful Arizona teams of that era. With the flywire, for whatever reason, I had the idea to do two different colors of flywire on the shoulders. the idea was bugging to get out, and I couldnt resist trying it on Arizona. Lastly, with the jersey numbers, I just tried to make them more similar to the logo, to create a sense of consistency with thier identity. And heeere it is:

And last but not least, Fresno State.

Believe it or not, Fresno was the most time consuming as well as the most confusing. The reason for this was because I tried to incorporate into the design a rather hard thing to incorporate. Everyone knows about the big green "V' on the back of Fresno's helmets. The "V" represents the valley in which Fresno sits, and I wanted to expand on that. I made two "V" patterns, one on the helmet and one on the pants. Both look somewhat similar to what is on the Carolina Panthers helmet, but connect of course to form a "V". Next came the tricky part. I didnt want to leave it at just the two "V" patterns and call it good, so I went out of the box - though in a completely different font, I tried to make the numbers look like the "V" logo, much like what i did with Arizona, and therefore added green to the uniform. I kept some consistency with the numbers on the white road uniforms by keeping green in them as well. To help balance everything out, I changed the color of the "F" on the Bulldog's sweater to green so that green could be found on the helmet, jersey, and pants. I understand if this one's a little weird, so don't worry, say anything you wish haha

I'll finish some more pro combats here soon, for whom, I don't know quite yet.

Please let me know what you think!

[crashcarson15]

Air Force: Looks great. No really.

Arizona: I'd make the navy pants more like the white (i.e. a navy stripe between the white and red) and mae the numbers with more of just a two outline number.

Fresno: Make the numbers white on the home and focus on the "V" theme without the green. I think that you've got a good start here. Oh, and is that font bicycle? Or have I gone mad?

[cjzilligen]

Air Force looks really interseting, and it's actually pleasing to the eye with somewhat consistant shades of blue.

Arizona looks pretty nice. I'm not so hot with the numbers here. Looks too sloppy. But, I love the stripes on the sleeves and pants. I'ma fan o'dat.

You were doing soooo well with Fresno!...until you added green. I'd drop it. Also, I'm really liking the way you incorperated the v's. Very creative

Nice concept here, not bad for a paint user

[knnhrvy16]

Thanks for the comments guys!

Haha yeah I knew Fresno was definetely going to be a reach, it's good to hear your feedback on it. Green probably wasnt such a good idea lol

Oh I almost forgot, yes sizemorematters, it definetely is Bicycle on Fresno's jersey's. Good eye!

Alright, I have tweaked up Arizona and Fresno. Tell me your thoughts:

And now for my next additions, I bring you Iowa and North Carolina.

IOWA:

I went with a Nile Kinnick tribute here, as Kinnick is not only Iowa's greatest hero, but one of America's graet heroes. Dying in 1943 from a plane crash while serving in the military, Kinnick won the heisman in 1939 and is considered one of the finest players of his era and certainly the greatest in Hawkeye history. so much so that even the Hawkeyes' home stadium is named for him. I went very simple here - a nod to Kinnick with a design similar to what he wore while playing for Iowa. The helmet decal is intended to be a lighter shade of gold than the helmet, but just slightly. I did this to show that Kinnick helped lay the foundation that would lead to Iowa sucess in the future, the hawkeye decal representing a program still growing at the time but with potential, thanks to Kinnick and the 1939 team, to grow into something more.

NORTH CAROLINA:

The inspiration for this uniform is very obvious. What better way to represent UNC than with some argyle? Like Air Force, not much else to explain here

What do you guys think?

[cjzilligen]

Iowa: Meh, they're okay. It can definately be reworked and add a couple things here and there. I think that helmet would look good for someone like UCF, but not the hawkeyes

UNC: I LOVE what you did with my team! This looks (aside from the fact that it should be the meaner ram instead of that one) absolutely flawless in my eyes.

[zachintosh66]

Love the AF and NC!

Like the concept with the green in the Fresno, but something is still off.

[knnhrvy16]

Thanks as always for the comments guys!

Yeah I understand if Iowa looks a little plain, totally understandable. What do you all think would be a good approach for Iowa in terms of tweaking it up?

I'm glad to hear UNC turned out so well, it is definetely my favorite of the ones i've done so far, personally.

How do the Arizona and Fresno updates look to everyone?

[koizim]

UNC: Yes, yes, yes, a thousand times yes! That is what the Pro-Combat series is all about! It's edgy, it's cool, and it's definitely UNC. It's just plain killer.

[Cyclone20]

that unc... beautiful

[aerodynamix]

Love the nod to Kinnick for Iowa. However, I'd make the golds match together for common sense purposes. If you have to go old gold on the helmet, might as well do the same for the numbers. Also, I know the faded logo looks quite alright...but I believe people wouldn't notice unless one is a uniform/logo fanatic like the whole lot of us here. That, and the fact that Tiger-Hawk is the one thing that separates Iowa from anyone else for that matter, I'd make the Tiger-Hawk black. That way, it's a blend of both Kinnick and Hayden Fry eras, two of the greatest times to be a Hawkeye. Well, save for right here, right now with Ferentz and the Hawkeyes' first BCS win.

As for UNC, it's flawless in my eyes. But I'd try switching the old school ram for either the Tar Heel/foot logo or the current ram that they occasionally sport. Other than that, it's pretty ace.

[Buster]

UNC looks incredible.

I really like Iowa's too, great merging of tradition and modern design.

[knnhrvy16]

Thanks for the comments everyone!

I'll tweak Iowa around a littlbe bit and fix the ram on UNC here soon.

In the meantime, I have another team finished....

....Tulsa.

With Tulsa, I wanted to emphasize on the two things that they ironically don't emphasize enough of: GOLD and HURRICANE.

It baffles me that a team named "Golden Hurricane" uses more Blue than Gold and has no trace of any Huricane whatsoever on thier uniforms. Of course, there is the flag logo, but you do not see it anywhere on the uniforms.

So I decided to take matters into my own hands.

First thing's first, I made gold the focal color of the uniform.

Second, I made a Hurricane-like pattern on the helmet and sleeves, with different shades of gold to give it the "Golden Hurricane" effect.

Thirdly, I made the collar and sleeve cuff a hurricane flag pattern, much the Carolina Hurricanes. On the pants are two Hurricane flags, just like you world see a real hurricane warning depicted.

Let me know what you guys think!

[crashcarson15]

Ditch the hurricane flags on the pants and put the swirl on the stripe instead and you've got a winner.

[cjzilligen]

Ditch the hurricane flags on the pants and put the swirl on the stripe instead and you've got a winner.

Agreed.

[lenardo]

The V actually stands for "varsity" so that the players wouldn't confuse their helmets with the JV, this was of course started in the earlier years of Fresno State's football program but it stuck

[andrewharrington]

The V actually stands for "varsity" so that the players wouldn't confuse their helmets with the JV, this was of course started in the earlier years of Fresno State's football program but it stuck

The green "V" featured on Fresno State uniforms is a tribute to the agricultural community of the San Joaquin Valley, the world's richest agricultural area in export dollars in which Fresno is located. The tribute began in 1997 when new football head coach Pat Hill instituted the green V on the back of the helmets (a tradition later adopted by the other programs) as a means of integrating the school and the community.

[lenardo]

oh, well sorry i read that in an ESPN football book

[vmd9]

oh, well sorry i read that in an ESPN football book

harrington is right...not trying to argue but the V stands for San Joaquin Valley, I read it a while back on Fresno State's athletic site.

[sacker12]

I like all of the ones that you have posted so far. My favorites are Air Force and UNC.

[Chapeeko]

That helmet for Iowa does not look anything like Iowa at all. Switch the helmet please.