If you're planning on relaxing and watching a little college football this weekend, you might want to check out the Ole Miss game against Kentucky to see a rather cool collaboration between Realtree and the University.
The new helmets will utilize the school's usual colors used in Realtree's WAV 3 camo. This is a pattern designed for use on the company's extensive line of fishing apparel, and the collaboration has been a long time coming. According to a Realtree press release, Ole Miss and the storied camo company have been collaborating on a new uniform design for several months. Realtree founder Bill Jordan was a wide receiver for the Rebels back in the early 1970s. The family has stayed close with the Ole Miss football program ever since. Bill's son Tyler is an Ole Miss alum, too.
"Most people that know our team here at Realtree know we're all big sports fans and college football consumes lots of our small talk around the office," Jordan said. "Of course, Ole Miss and the football team hold a special place in my heart as an alum and former player. As we reviewed some of our key Realtree programs and licensed products for this fall, the idea sort of just hit us - what if we offered Ole Miss a Realtree pattern that the team could consider matching their football uniforms for use on the helmet?"
In addition to the WAV 3 camo pattern on the helmet, the chin straps will also feature the Realtree name this Saturday. The university will also be selling new short and long sleeve team shirts sporting the special Realtree pattern. From the sounds of the info they shared, this may not be the only time Realtree and Ole Miss collaborate on a uniform design for the team.
Realtree
"We loved this idea from the minute we heard it," Ole Miss Vice Chancellor for Intercollegiate athletics Keith Carter said in a press release. "Today's environment around lead times for any sort of equipment has presented challenges, but teamwork between the Realtree team and our athletics staff has been tremendous. Everyone, including head coach Lane Kiffin and our student-athletes, was determined, excited and eager to see this concept become reality, and we're thrilled to launch the partnership and see how it grows in the years ahead."
Currently, Ole Miss is ranked No. 11 and kickoff against No. 7 Kentucky is set for 11:00 a.m. central time on Saturday. Check out the Ole Miss athletics website to see the new shirts being sold in this collaboration.
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