Things have definitely been different for Alabama football since Kalen DeBoer took over for Nick Saban, but will he go as far as using an alternate white helmet?
During the SEC teleconference on Wednesday, DeBoer was asked about the possibility of bringing back the white helmets. DeBoer didn’t give a firm no, but the likelihood of a change seems very unlikely.
“Just the tradition and everything that surrounds the crimson helmets, that hasn’t even been something I’ve even thought for a second about,” DeBoer said. “There’s just a lot of pride in who we are. I’m sure that somewhere in the history you can point to different colored helmets being worn, and maybe someone is for that. Right now, we’re just keeping the focus on the main thing, and that’s our play on the field and representing the crimson helmet the way we can in the best way possible.”
Alabama wore white helmets with the red stripe and numbers from the 1950s through the 1970s. The most recent use of the white helmets was in 1983 and 1984 when Ray Perkins brought back the helmets after taking over for Paul “Bear” Bryant before doing away with them in 1985.
There are a few cases where DeBoer-coached teams have strayed from the traditional helmets for an alternate. At Washington, there were a couple of instances where they put the traditional helmets aside for a purple helmet, and they once wore a chrome helmet for a bowl game. During his stint at Fresno State, the Bulldogs wore white helmets and blue helmets when they weren’t wearing the traditional red.
DeBoer did mention that the helmet switch at Washington was part of an agreement with Adidas, the school's uniform provider. Alabama’s provider is Nike, and there is currently no contractual agreement to alter the helmets.
Earlier in the season, DeBoer made slight changes to the Alabama jerseys, adding a “C” patch just above the SEC logo on the right shoulders of the current captains.
A change in jerseys or helmets seems unlikely this season, but under DeBoer, a change in the future is not out of the question.
“A lot of these things, they don’t happen overnight either,” DeBoer said. “I’m not trying to lead on like I’m even thinking about it, but sometimes it takes a year just to get a jersey or the gear that you wear on the sidelines.”
Alabama will wear its traditional red helmets with the white stripe and numbers when the Tide host Mercer in Bryant-Denny Stadium at 1 p.m. CT on Saturday. The game will stream live via ESPN+ and SEC Network+.
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