From late March until today we’ve made our way through 25 uniform concepts for Notre Dame football. Twenty-five! When we started I swore I’d never do a gold jersey concept out of principle. I’d rather see the Irish wear black, gray, or some other non-school color first. Then I saw THIS cover from Sports Illustrated and okay fine I kind of like the way that looks I’m going to try this and see where it goes.
In recent years, gold jerseys have become common for several Notre Dame teams including baseball, lacrosse, hockey, and most famously recently with the men’s basketball team. So, we should probably prepare ourselves for ND Football wearing a gold jersey at some point. Especially since 18 Stripes are such trendsetters!
During the 2003 spring game the Irish (well, half the team) wore an all-gold uniform during the early stages of monochromatic design mania and it’s pound for pound the worst look in school history. Thus, my trepidation.
The above SI cover is from Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, alma mater of numerous Irish players including Dayne Crist and most recently C.J. Sanders. That high school used to have carbon copies of their more popular college brethren but in recent years have decided to branch out into several different looks.
Today’s concept borrows heavily from this look from ND High in western Pennsylvania:
I could write a dissertation on the necessary shade of gold and needless to say it’s the issue when it comes to a jersey on a football field. One of our attempts featured a more olive/brown old gold while the second a more yellow/mustard gold a little more familiar for folks because of the basketball team. You can see the differences below.
Ultimately, we went with the richer and more vibrant gold. It also ended up looking similar to LSU’s “Gridiron Gold” that they wore during the Leonard Fournette era.
I immediately thought of another Notre Dame high school here in PA. Notre Dame Green Pond…
http://www.trbimg.com/img-582ff17f/turbine/mc-live-lehigh-valley-high-school-football-upd-010/650/650×366
You know what? I may have mixed up the N.D. high schools cause that’s the same uniform.
This is what happens when these are done 5 months in advance.
Yeah the stock photo you used is from the same game I posted haha. All good!
You definitely went with the right shade of gold – I like these! However, with the other, more brown shade, I don’t think I would like them
I’m the opposite. I like the old gold better. These are too close to Michigan colors. Maybe a gold that is in-between the two?
I do like the white helmet with the blue and gold accents much more than I thought I would. Very sharp!
Im in the Coyote camp. The brown gold is the better of the two. The yellow seems more like a HS set than a college.
How does the high school shades of colors vs. college shades of colors break down, exactly?
Just wait for future concepts for “Michigan” colors.
🙂