Suiting up for game day

The+Lions+football+team+poses+after+beating+McNeese+State+University+on+%E2%80%9CSenior+Day%E2%80%9D+23-6.+The+players+wear+uniforms+sponsored+by+athletics%E2%80%99+partnership+with+Adidas.

Gerard Borne

The Lions football team poses after beating McNeese State University on “Senior Day” 23-6. The players wear uniforms sponsored by athletics’ partnership with Adidas.

Gerard Borne, Staff Reporter

At the university, Athletics partners with Adidas to provide the sports apparel for the official university teams.

In 2008, Athletics inked a contract naming Adidas the Official Athletic Apparel Provider for the university through 2021.

“We have been in a partnership with team Adidas for a while now,” said Athletics Administrative Coordinator Linda Alford. “Southeastern football and team Adidas date back to far as I can remember. We have had a great run with Adidas so far and hope to keep that up in the future.”

For football, each jersey costs over $100. With over 100 current players and multiple styles, this can add up quickly.

“The uniforms are custom ordered, so the color combinations are innumerable,” said Alford. “The basic uniform is green, gold and white. Every piece of the uniform has fascinating touch or detail to it. Embellishment options are numerous, so the color combinations are very vast.”

With the combinations of green, gold and white, another thing that is unique to the football uniforms is the fit of the material. 

“One really cool thing about the uniforms is the tight fit that they have,” said Alford “Jerseys are form fitting, so it makes it harder for the opposing team to grab a hold of our players. A lot of people don’t notice that, but a lot of teams tend to do that.”

However, problems like durability arose with the tight fit uniforms.

“The first year Adidas came out with the Techfit, tight fit, jerseys, they had to be replaced after the first game,” said Alford. “Jerseys were ripping after the first game. Adidas has since corrected this defect, and we couldn’t be happier with the product Adidas has given us.”

Different uniform combinations can be worn on game days. The football team wore white pants and jerseys for the game against Northwestern State University, white pants with a green jerseys for the game against Houston Baptist University, and green pants and jerseys for the game against McNeese State University.

The players are also satisfied with the deigns of the uniforms.

“I really like the football uniforms,” said Juwan Petit-Frere, a junior wide receiver.”The combo jersey I like was the white jersey and white pants, but my favorite part of the jerseys are the design of the numbers.”