For the second year in a row, the Tennessee football program had its new “Smokey Grey” alternate jersey leaked by Dick’s Sporting Goods after the retailer had a mannequin wearing the jersey on display on Friday afternoon.
Whereas last season’s uniform honored Condredge “The Artful Dodger” Holloway, the first black starting quarterback in SEC history, this year’s design prominently displays the Tri-Star from the state flag on the sleeves.
There’s a large Tennessee wordmark across the chest above orange numbers with a white stroke, which is carried over from the 2023 design. The original “Smokey Grey” alternate uniforms, which the Volunteers wore from 2015-17 and during the 2022 season, had orange numbers, meanwhile.
The biggest difference between the previous two iterations of the “Smokey Grey” uniforms and the design that leaked on Friday is the lack of shoulder yoke, which were anthracite on the original version and orange on the Holloway-inspired set.
The jerseys will presumably be paired with the “Smokey Grey” helmets the Volunteers debuted in 2015, which feature a mountain design in different shades of gray and an orange Power “T” on the sides.
The original version featured an anthracite facemask and a thick orange stripe down the center that culminated with a checkerboard pattern on the back, while the Holloway-inspired set had a thin orange stripe and a light gray facemask for a vintage look.
The pants were also gray for both iterations, with the 2015-17/22 set having a matching stripe down the sides and the 2023 uniform featuring the program’s familiar double orange stripes. It’s unclear what this year’s pants will look like.
The uniforms are part of a four-year initiative that Tennessee announced in 2022, during which the Volunteers planned to wear “Smokey Grey” uniforms for at least one game each fall through the 2025 season.
The program owns a 5-1 record in gray uniforms, including wins over Georgia in 2015, Florida and Nebraska in 2016, LSU in 2022 and Austin Peay in 2023. Tennessee’s lone loss in gray came at the hands of the Bulldogs in 2017.
