EUGENE – The University of Oregon football team will utilize a new look in 2006 that promises to be unique in the world of college football as well as striving to enhance the performance of those players wearing them.

The Ducks’ game-day apparel will consist of four different colors of jerseys and pants to go along with three different helmets Oregon is expected to wear at some point during the coming season.

But of greater importance is the advanced design and technology of the uniforms will help to diminish the weight of the uniforms by 28 percent when dry and help make them 34 percent lighter under wet condiditions. The jerseys and pants also encompass a diamond-patterned grid on the shoulders and knees, respectively, to improve the durability of the product in areas susceptible to greater wear.

In addition to the green, yellow and white uniforms Oregon has employed in the past, it will add a predominantly black version to the wardrobe similar to the uniforms the Ducks unveiled in last year’s 56-14 win against Oregon State. The option of helmets Oregon will have available will expand from the one green version that it has worn since 1999 to an all-white variety and a third yellow helmet that is still in a developmental stage.

The new-look attire also will include "Oregon" inscripted down the left leg of all four pants while "Ducks" will appear on the front of the jerseys above the numbers to help further enhance the identity and exposure for the university.

The uniform designs are a result of a two-year process that involved Nike designers and Oregon alum Tinker Hatfield, vice president for special projects at Nike, Todd Van Horne, creative director of U.S. sport apparel, and a committee of the school’s past and present football players.

Players offered their input and sketches of what they envisioned the direction the uniforms would take, with the Nike designers developing those concepts into reality.

Oregon players involved in the process included wide receiver Cameron Colvin, tight end Tim Day, quarterback Dennis Dixon, tight end Ryan Keeling, free safety J.D. Nelson, tight end Dante Rosario and receiver Jaison Williams.

This marks the fourth significant evolution of football uniforms that Nike has developed for Oregon since they first designed the game-day apparel for the Ducks’ appearance in the 1996 Cotton Bowl. The first major redesign took place in time for the 1999 season, followed by a revision in 2003.

- www.GoDucks.com -