Not 100% sure, but it looks like next year's helmets are keeping the numbers & grey facemasks
Per Joe Bolden's twitter: Link
I don't know exactly what the protocol is for this, it's possible that they are just using last year's helmets for spring practice and will switch it up for fall practice or the season, but for now it looks like they are sticking with the helmets from last year. Personally, I'm impartial about the helmet numbers, but I do for a fact dislike the grey facemask. Thoughts?
Edit: As multiple commenters have pointed out, these are just practice helmets which are identical to those worn the previous year; they are not repainted until the summer. This helmet design has no bearing on the one that will be used by this year's team.
That's a pretty nice stainless-shelf that helmet's on.
Numbers are fine, facemasks have to go back to Blue.
Bo got rid of gray facemasks because gray is a color of ohio. Keep it that way.
Have the gray facemasks for the game in Arlington because it's a big game, but that's it.
Without agreeing or disagreeing, why should the fact that it's a big game change whether or not the facemasks are grey? Shouldn't your feelings about the color scheme be even stronger for a big game on national tv? If it's good enough for the big games it should be good enough for the rest of the games...
Some pictures for comparison.
Traditional:
Numbers and grey facemask:
Numbers and blue facemask:
Bo's first seven teams wore gray facemasks. Only in 1976 did he switch to blue. I'd bet that he never even noticed either way.
Only in the mid-70's did they begin customizing the colors of the plastic coating. When it became an option, Michigan jumped on it, albeit a couple of years after others had already switched.
ND and USC, fancying themselves as utlra-traditionalists, stayed with gray, just as they stuck with nameless jerseys.
Count me as being in favor of the best-looking Michigan uniforms, which would lose the helmet numbers (nothing more than a throwback to late fifties and sixties, as if it were just something to do) and the gray facemasks (basically the same thing; an excuse to ask what can we do to this uniform that won't make the alumni howl? And the only answer being, well we could go back to the old helmets from about '57-'68.)
Navy facemasks are a superior choice on our helmets; any other color draws attention away from and detracts from the basic design. When we had gray facemasks originally, the essential reason was that it was the only color available. The one, universal, generic color.
For a guy who made such a ridiculously big deal about " red (scarlet)," Brady Hoke has been a lot more casual about "gray." And not just on one of his polo shirts, but on our team, on the field.
And in an era supposedly marked by "traditionalists" and "real Michigan men" who "get it," we have never in the history of the program seen so many futzy uniform changes.
I know some people hate the grey facemasks because Ohio colors and all, but asthetically, I think the grey facemask is much better. USC is another prime example of the grey facemask making the overall helmet look better.
Plus, thinking about it - changing the facemasks because Ohio has grey as a 'color' is stupid to begin with (Sorry Bo). We don't wear maize away jerseys because MSU has white as a 'color'.
Numbers I can take or leave. If Hoke/the players want them, fine by me. Keep winning 11 games a season and they can take the wings off of the....ahh, I kid, I kid.
Excuse me, but isn't that an excellent reason for us to not do a similar thing?
March 13th, 2012 at 12:16 PM ^
Both of those sound like dumb reasons to do things - simply to be the same or be different.
I think grey looks better and I also think the reason for "not grey" is dumb.
Every facemask should be gray
March 12th, 2012 at 10:21 PM ^
thats because MSU is our 3rd rival or on other days not a rival at all derp derp.
huge /s if you cannot detect that.
If they keep the numbers, is it too much to ask for them to match the wings?
Exactly!
good enough for me.
Personally I don't like either. We have the best helmet in college football. Why messwith it?
I do not like the gray facemask or the numbers. For a throwback style 1-off game they are fiine, but not for the season.
I think the helmet is way too busy with all the extras and we don't need to add anything to the best helmet in football.
We don't make the decisions, but we know what we like. So if our 'opinion' doesn't matter to those who make decisions, we as fans, come to MGoBlog to discuss it. Not trying to hate on your post, but I think that's whats awesome about the blog, is that it gives us a space to voice our favorite and most disliked things.
If the team makes the decision to wear black jerseys, just keep telling yourself that and I'm sure you'll be just fine with it.
March 12th, 2012 at 10:23 PM ^
People here make way too many straw-man arguments.
And yet straw men rarely make any people-here arguments.
I dislike the grey facemasks. Grey is not in our color scheme even if some people think its asthetically pleasing, so why keep it?
The numbers are ok with me. I think it was mentioned last year that the players really enjoyed having the numbers on the helmet, FWIW.
...the numbers at all. We can see their numbers on their jerseys, fergodsakes! A clean, consistent helmet without individualized numbers emphasizes a unified team appearance, too!
I don't care about the facemasks. From a receiver's standpoint, I wonder if a lighter colored mask is less obtrusive visually?
Wow, and here I was about to call bullshit on Firstbase's point. That's good to hear, although I still doubt it would make a sizeable difference once players get into the flow of the game.
is a throwback item. Back in the day-- think Fifties and early Sixties-- facemasks just weren't painted all that often. So everyone had 'em, regardless of school colors or rivals.
At this point I'm impartial either way. I like how the grays look, but I also like preserving the traditions of Bo. Either way looks fine as far as I'm concerned.
Curious to see how long the numbers last. Could this become a Hoke era thing?
I'm personally not a fan of either the numbers or the facemasks, but I can't really see them keeping either permanently..
So Bolden will be #35, huh? I bet he's gonna be a badass in the Maize and Blue.
The gray facemasks were the practice set all year, and the helmets won't be reconditioned until after spring practice anyway, so they'll be using whatever is on hand. Which means gray facemasks and numbers.
All of this probably means just about nothing for next year's uniforms, though it seems likely the numbers are back for at least the conference season based on the comments from last season.
Thanks, this is the information I was looking for with this post. Isn't it odd though that they still make new helmets for guys like Bolden (freshmen), despite knowing that they will all be changed later? Why not just make the change now
The greyface masks are great! They give the uniform an old school feel to them. If anyone wants to spend their energy complaining, spend it on getting rid of the carnation yellow/highlighter look. If you notice, more teams are going back to the siver face masks. It was very commonplacefor teams to wear them back in the day--despite grey not being in the color scheme.
The greyface masks are great! They give the uniform an old school feel to them. If anyone wants to spend their energy complaining, spend it on getting rid of the carnation yellow/highlighter look. If you notice, more teams are going back to the siver face masks. It was very commonplacefor teams to wear them back in the day--despite grey not being in the color scheme.
Make the maize of the numbers match the maize of the wings? Please?
This is much more reliable than that photo. Bolden is getting this official helmet for practice (as he is now on the roster), whereas this recruit probably just got some souvenir helmet to hold for his visit; they wouldn't make one for him before he was on the roster.
no numbers no grey
I would ask the players but it has been said that darker color face masks diminshes retinal reflectivity, and the A surface should not be of a reflective but a matt finish.
are hideous. Don't care about fask mask color. Whatever is easier to see out of is best.
If the players are saying that it's easier to see out of the gray, then let them have that. I'd rather them have better vision on the field than having them look traditional. But it's strange that no other team complained about it before, if that is indeed the case.
The numbers don't really sway me one way or another.
No stickers please. Way too cluttered and messy. And it takes the focus away from the team as a whole.
Look, if you simply don't like the look of the stickers, fine—it's a personal preference.
But stating that they "take the focus away from the team" is ridiculous, given that they were instituted by the guy whose iconic phrase "the team, the team, the team" is one of the video clips that's blared at ear splitting levels on the Big House Hokeatrons.
Are you saying that Bo Schembechler was insufficiently concerned about the team as a whole?
I think one of the arguments for taking away the stickers initially was that it rewarded an individual. Thus, making things less about "the team" and more about whomever had more stickers. But for all I know, the person who made the argument just hated the cluttered look and played off that sort of idea because people would eat it up. I kind of see that point of view. But no, I just hate how insanely cluttered it looks.
I dare not make any assumptions on Bo lest I be stuck down by the Gods of football.
Lloyd Carr did away with the stickers, or at least it happened under his watch.
And you're mischaracterizing the stickers anyhow. They weren't a "reward"—they were handed out to signal a particular achievement of the player. Back in the 70s they were frequently termed "extra effort" stickers: you recovered a fumble, intercepted a pass, made a key block or a key tackle, etc. and you received a sticker. What you call a "reward" I can just as logically term a "recognition of achievement on behalf of the team."
To me, it's strictly a matter of personal preference, just as the questions of numbers or facemask color are. Trying to assign deeper significance to them is pointless, IMHO.
I'm a traditionalist - someone tell me which one of the 2 dozen different helmets and designs I'm supposed to like!
March 12th, 2012 at 11:24 PM ^
This design is clearly superior. Also, we need to go back to the semicircles of leather on our jerseys.
