Hours before the Terrapins football team led the Byrd Stadium crowd in the night’s first rendition of its victory song, the Terps — and what they were wearing — were already a national topic of conversation.
With less than 20 minutes before kickoff, the Terps transformed their entire attire — cleats, pants, jerseys, helmets, sleeves and gloves — into one of the more eye-catching getups ever seen in college football.
Highlighted by a helmet and shoulder design based off the Calvert (black and yellow) and Crossland (red and white) arms of the Maryland state flag, the new Under Armour uniforms paid tribute in seemingly every way imaginable to the state’s distinctive banner. The jersey numbers, cleats and gloves all featured a custom state-flag print, and some players sported shooting sleeves that mimicked the shoulder designs.
The Terps’ never-before-seen threads debuted minutes after they had donned their brand-new white jerseys, red pants and turtle-print helmets in Byrd Stadium for the first time. That a new combination even existed surprised many — the program had unveiled four jerseys, four pants and two helmets two weeks ago, but coach Randy Edsall held off on one design.
It wasn’t an easy transition in the locker room.
“It was stressful,” kicker Nick Ferrara said. “Those uniforms are really tight, and it takes three or four people to put them on.”
Reactions quickly poured in from across the country, from rapper Wale to NBA superstars to nearly every national football writer in the country. And most of them weren’t exactly complimentary.
“OH GOSH! Maryland uniforms #Ewwwwww!” tweeted Miami Heat forward LeBron James.
“And I thought #UGA uniforms were bad. Holy smokes, #Maryland unis hurt my eyes,” ESPN college football writer Mark Schlabach tweeted.
“Man university of Marylands football team have some ugly jerseys lol,” Philadelphia Union midfielder Freddy Adu tweeted.
“Didn’t they hate on it?” quarterback Danny O’Brien asked afterward. “We loved them. … Creating that buzz is what’s great about college football.”
And there certainly was one. At one point last night, “Maryland,” “Terps” and “Under Armor” were all trending nationally on Twitter, while “Maryland” stood as No. 1 on Google Trends.
“These Maryland uniforms are shockingly hideous. But guarantee you, they’ll be talked about on every show tomorrow. National pub for Terps,” ESPN commentator Skip Bayless tweeted.
In his postgame press conference, Edsall said that the players didn’t see the full jersey until yesterday afternoon, when the coaches unveiled them with an Under Armour video.
“They knew something was up,” Edsall said. “But you should have been in that room when that video came on. … Those kids were so excited.”
Despite the nationwide backlash, Edsall confessed a bit of jealousy over the team’s attire. After growing up just across the Maryland-Pennsylvania border and regularly attending Terps games in his youth, he knew the significance of the uniform transcended just splashy colors.
“I wish I could’ve worn one of those shirts with the Maryland state flag on it,” Edsall said. “They’re playing not only for themselves, but they’re playing for every Maryland player that went through this program and they’re playing for every person in this state.”
ceckard@umdbk.com
