Brittany Westerberg

This year, the men of SDSU football are putting on new uniforms whenever they get ready to go out on the field.

As part of a five-year agreement with Nike, which was signed in February of this year, the football, volleyball and men’s and women’s basketball teams will be the first sports at SDSU to wear new jerseys. The new uniform deal will soon “?trickle down to other sports,” said Sports Information Director Jason Hove.

The new SDSU football jerseys are made of porthole mesh fabric, which is both durable and form fitting. The team has a choice of what colors to wear during a game. They have both a white and a blue jersey and blue and yellow pants. The team plans to wear the blue jerseys with yellow pants for most home games, and select games (like the Hobo Day game) will see them wearing the blue jerseys with the blue pants. During games on the road, the Jackrabbits will wear the white jerseys with either the blue or yellow pants.

“I like them a lot,” senior offensive lineman Dusty LeBrun said. “I think they’re really nice. They fit a lot tighter ? and the bigger masks won’t be as hot. It seems like everybody really likes them.”

SDSU had previously contracted with Wilson Sporting Goods. Hove said that this deal with Nike has been in the works for at least a couple years.

Hove also said that having new uniforms from Nike, which he said were “very similar to Michigan,” would help the recruiting process. “There’s something about being affiliated with major companies that recruits would look at,” he said.

Not only does the agreement provide for new uniforms for athletics, but it also means that some of that new apparel will be available for purchase in the bookstore.

The bookstore is now able to carry the same gear and styles the coaches and other sideline personnel will be wearing so that “?any fans who want to wear what the coaches are wearing can,” said Bookstore Manager Derek Peterson. “It’s available at the store.”

The bookstore is stocking a polo shirt, jacket, cap, thermal fleece pullover and a hooded sweatshirt, said Peterson, which will be like the ones the people on the sidelines at football games will be wearing. There will also be generic Nike items, such as T-shirts and shorts, as well as SDSU-logoed merchandise with the Nike swish on it.

“This styling won’t be found at regular stores,” Peterson said. “It’s only allowed to be sold at the bookstore where it’s been contracted.”

The agreement with Nike, which includes a yearly allotment of products, also includes a stipend that SDSU can apply toward the purchase of other athletic apparel.