Florida’s new shirts may reveal next throwback uniform

Gators Uniform Tracker
4 min readSep 21, 2021

The Gators have started selling UF throwback shirts ahead of their homecoming against Vanderbilt

A single t-shirt can tell a big story. Or, in this case, a story that has developed over 3 years.

The Florida Gators have begun selling new throwback logo t-shirts, just weeks before their scheduled homecoming game against Vanderbilt. The shirts feature a blue Jordan logo and an orange and blue interlocking UF logo — the main athletics logo in the late 1960’s and 70's. And, if history repeats itself, these shirts hold the key to the next logo on Florida’s throwbacks.

The throwback shirts being sold in the Gators Sportshop (Photo via Donavon Keiser)

Now an annual tradition put in place by Athletic Director Scott Stricklin, the Gators wear throwback uniforms every year for homecoming. The tradition began in 2019 with the return of the 1960’s throwback uniforms, first worn in 2006, for Florida’s game against Auburn. While the jersey was leaked in Summer 2019, the helmet logo was still a mystery. That all changed when the the circle F logo shirts popped up in the Gators Sportshop exactly 3 weeks prior to the game.

The shirts (both in white and blue) became reality, as Florida sported the logo on their helmet and pairing it with their throwback jersey and pants then repeated it the next year with blue throwback helmets. Now, this new throwback UF shirt, is available at the same time as the circle F throwback logo shirts in 2019 (3 weeks before the homecoming game), printed on the same “The Nike Tee” shirt, with a plain Jordan logo on the upper left chest, leading all signs to point to this being the next throwback logo on the helmet.

(AP Photo/John Raoux)

The shirt was first spotted on Saturday, as the Gators took on Alabama, as Jack Srail, host of the podcast Still Eligible (checkout their podcast here), was seen wearing the shirt in an image posted on Twitter. Later, it was confirmed that the shirt was publicly available in the Gators Sportshop with the help of GatorsTerritory Staff Writer Donavon Keiser.

Via @StillEligible

A walk through history and what this means

The interlocking UF logo was worn throughout the late 1960’s and 70’s on both white and orange helmets (a total of 5 different helmets). This opens up the possibility of a variety of throwback helmets, or, a mix and match of helmets much like the 2019 “fauxback” helmets.

1968 throwback uniform concept

The most likely scenario is white helmets with the logo, as seen here in this 1968 throwback uniform concept. Also on the table is 1969 throwback uniforms with the UF logo on orange helmets, as seen in the below concept, but that may wait until next year.

1969 throwback uniform concept

The logo appeared on the Gators helmets from 1968-1978. The famous Gators script logo was introduced in 1979.

History is looks like its gearing up to repeat itself and Gator Nation is in for a treat. The approach from Scott Stricklin over the last 3–4 years to Florida’s uniforms has been unparalleled across the country, and the throwbacks are the cherry on top. Florida will take on Vanderbilt for homecoming on October 9th, with the full reveal of the throwback uniforms coming the week of.

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