Monday, June 13, 2011
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
'M'unveils'legacy'uniforms for Notre Dame game

By MICHAEL FLOREK
Daily Sports Editor
They're not throwbacks, retros,
or alternates.
They're legacy uniforms.
Friday night, three months to
the hour before the Michigan foot-
ball team will play against Notre
Dame in Michigan Stadium's first
night game, Michigan Athletic
Director Dave Brandon unveiled
Michigan's uniforms for thegame.
The uniforms are blue with a
block 'M' on the front, in an old-
school stitched pattern. Jersey
numbers are on both sides of the
gray face-masked helmet as well
as on the left shoulder, where a
captain's 'C' would be in hock-
ey. Alternating Maize and Blue
stripes are on top of the shoulder
pads.
"The uniform is really an
aggregation of multiple elements
of our football uniforms, going
past decades," Brandon said. "We
really should think of it as a legacy
uniform. If you were in Schem-
bechler Hall and you walked by
the wall that has team pictures
going back all the way to the late
1800s, you will see that there are
subseantial chan es and a lot of

different looks that these uni-
forms took on over time.
"And what we really wanted to
do as part of this special event is to
grab key elements from those dif-
ferent team uniforms and incor-
porate them into something that
our players wear and have a lot of
fun and get excited about in this
big game against Notre Dame."
The announcement was made
inside a suite at Michigan Sta-
dium.
With many of the current foot-
ball players on hand, junior quar-
terback Denard Robinson and.
redshirt senior defensive end Ryan
Van Bergen modeled the uniforms
for the assembled crowd.
Robinson echoed many of the
sentiments the players had already
expressed about the uniforms.
"These uniforms are amazing,"
Robinson said. "I love them."
These uniforms have been a
year in the making. And they'll
only be worn once. The jerseys
will be auctioned off for charity
after the game.
According to Adidas Director of
Sports Marketing Chris McGuire,
the company went through
approximately eight different ren-
ditions and also worked with the

athletic department to make sure
they were legal for game play.
With the block 'M' on the front
of the jersey being the biggest
feature, the numbers on the front
were the biggest problems. NCAA
rules require teams to have num-
bers on both sides on their jerseys
and that they be at least an inch-
and-a-half wide.
"We worked with the officials,
and with the conferences and we
worked with Notre Dame to cap-
ture that element in a way that we
don't think will affect the compe-
tition but really gives us a chance
to fully develop the theme," Bran-
don said.
The uniforms had some com-
petition for breakout star in the
event. The 6-foot-6, 283-pound
Van Bergen impressed people with
his modeling abilities, particularly
fellow defensive end junior Craig
Roh.
"I loved it right away," Roh said
of the jerseys. "It's innovative, it
speaks to the tradition that Michi-
gan has and Ryan Van Bergen just
looks great in it."
Added Van Bergen: "I would
consider myself an amateur mod-
eler ... I'm ready for America's
Next Top (Model)."

Above: junior quarterback Denard Robinson gives his thoughts on the 'legacy' uni-
forms Below: Adidas renresentative Chris McGuire exolains the jersey's design.

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