Back to the College Football Uniforms
Navy and orange has been Illinois’ color of choice since football began in 1890.
Illinois debuted a matte navy shell in September of 2012 and went with that the rest of the season after wearing orange helmets since the early 1960s. An updated logo, a generic capitalized “I” in orange, made its first appearance as well.
Traditionally, the Fighting Illini wears navy jerseys and orange pants at home but in 2012, navy pants returned for four games after a two-year hiatus.
Illinois has embraced orange as its primary choice – while incorporating slightly more navy — under head coach Tim Beckham since the Fighting Illini are the only team in the Big Ten that don the bright color. The “ILLINI” wordmark has been on helmets every season since 1971 except for one – 1988. That year, Illinois sports orange shells with navy and white stripes down the middle without a decal.
The Fighting Illini basketball team has recently added fade-zigzag numerals and wordmarks to their uniforms and football has seen prototypes of the look. Several Nike Pro Combat ideas have surfaced for football including white shells with an updated logo and zigzag patterns on the shoulders of tops and sides of pants.
The Illini’s current combinations include an all-orange look, orange-white, navy-white and all-navy.
