Why Nebraska Football Won’t Have Alternate Uniforms in 2024

During his appearance on the Sports Nightly radio show, Nebraska head football coach Matt Rhule said the Huskers will not wear an alternate uniform in the 2024 season.   

Rhule said “there’s no alternate uniform this year.”  Nebraska has worn one alternate uniform per year since 2012. 

Due to design and production lead times needed to make the 125+ uniforms for the team, plus all of the retail merchandise, Nebraska and Adidas work two years ahead.  This means any decisions on alternate uniforms for 2024 were made in 2022.   

Coach Rhule did not go into detail on why “there was nothing planned for this year”, simply saying it “was just sort of a philosophical decision.” 

Personally, I think “philosophical decision” is Rhule’s polite way of alluding to who made the ultimate decision: former Athletics Director Trev Alberts.  While I’ve long believed that Alberts was not a fan of Nebraska wearing alternate uniforms – he was a big proponent of maintaining a consistent “brand” across all of NU’s teams – I will acknowledge that Alberts was pretty busy in at this point two years ago. 

For perspective, let’s flash back to the summer/fall of 2022: 

Phew.  I can see why Alberts would have been too busy for something like alternate uniforms.   

But, good news!  In 2022, it was clear Nebraska was on track to have its 400th consecutive sellout at some point in the 2024 season.  The Huskers could bring back the 1962 throwbacks they wore for the 300th sellout in 2009.  Most fans would be perfectly happy with the decision, and the “order alternate uniforms” box* would be checked off Trev’s to-do list. 

*The original alternate uniforms from 2009 – helmets, jerseys, and pants – were auctioned off to fans after the game.  Therefore, new uniforms would need to be ordered. 

And yet, for some unknown reason, that didn’t happen.  I have no idea why, but I have three possibilities (and my DMs are open to anybody who would like to discreetly share details).  This is where I’m unsure of what happened next.  

Today, Husker stores are selling a Frank Solich tribute jersey.  While Solich was not on the 1962 varsity team (his playing career was 1963-65), the jersey looks a lot like what Nebraska wore in 1962 (and again in 2009).   

Maybe the timing is a coincidence.  It is quite possible that Nebraska is choosing to honor a former player, assistant, coach, and still very beloved Husker with a one-off replica jersey.  Maybe it’s an NIL deal!  Or, maybe – at some point – the plan was to do 1962 throwbacks for 2024, but something fell through. 

We’ll likely never know what happened.  Regardless, NU missed the window to get alternate uniforms for 2024. 

* * * 

So, now what? 

Could NU wear a previous alternate uniform?  We know from multiple recruiting photoshoots that a handful of Blackshirt alternate jerseys from 2019 and 2020 still exist in the NU equipment room.   

I don’t know if they still have enough to outfit the entire team for a “blackout” game in 2024.  Probably not, but you never know. 

In his radio show, Matt Rhule noted that “if our players had their druthers, they would definitely … come out white on white one game, or red on red one game.” 

As I’ve previously written, his Baylor teams went monotone in 16 of his 39 games at Baylor.  Maybe a color rush game becomes a reward for an upset or complete victory? 

What does all of this mean for 2025?  We know Nebraska chose to not do alts for 2024.  Rhule said Adidas is currently working with NU (he specifically named equipment manager Jay Terry and NU’s marketing team) on an alternate for 2026.   

But what about 2025?  This would be another decision made by Trev Alberts (presumably with input from Rhule), so who knows if Alberts made a “philosophical decision” to sit out 2025 as well.  If Nebraska does end up with an alternate uniform in 2025, expect it to be tame. 

* * * 

As for me, I’m perfectly fine with Nebraska not having an alternate uniform this year.   

While I’m a little disappointed that Nebraska once again blew an opportunity to go all out to celebrate an important milestone, I’m well aware of Adidas’ history of failures.  Avoiding another Noid is always a win in my book.   

On his radio show, Rhule – who played at Penn State under Joe Paterno – said “many people know that I’m a traditionalist.  I love seeing traditional uniforms.”   

I agree. Nebraska can – and usually does – look much worse with its non-throwback alternatives than the iconic scarlet and cream uniforms. 

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