Tennessee football: Smokey Greys returning, but Vols shouldn’t abandon black jerseys

They haven’t worn them since a 41-0 loss to the Georgia Bulldogs at home in 2017, a game that started a massive downward spiral for Tennessee football and resulted in Butch Jones’ firing. However, it appears that the Smokey Grey uniforms are coming back.

UTSports revealed Thursday that Nike is bringing the uniforms back for 2022, and there will be a specific design for them each year that the Vols will wear for one game through 2025. This comes after they wore all black jerseys twice last year.

There has been a debate about which uniforms should be Tennessee football’s alternate combination. Why not both? You can mix each one in when it fits best. This year’s Smokey Grey uniform will have the original design, called Smokey Grey OG.

The debate really began when Jones took over in 2013. Lane Kiffin shocked everybody by bringing out black jerseys with orange pants when the Vols beat the South Carolina Gamecocks in 2009. Derek Dooley came in and didn’t add any flare to the uniforms.

However, when Jones took over, there was a thirst for alternate uniforms. He and Dave Hart brought in the Smokey Greys as a way to introduce excitement and have the uniforms coincide with the feeling of fall and how Knoxville looks in October.

Although both went by the wayside once Jeremy Pruitt took over, there were efforts to bring back the black jerseys, and that’s exactly what happened in 2021. Now, though, Tennessee football has a chance to incorporate both, as both fit with the Vols.

Smokey Greys fit for the exact reason they were intended to. The grey and orange works well in the fall and really looks like Rocky Top outside. However, black and orange is a Halloween combination, and college football does take place in October.

As a result, the Vols can use the Smokey Greys one time in the midst of fall except for the Vols’ home game closest to Halloween. That could be the time they bring out the black uniforms. If the game is on Halloween, they should where the orange pants again with the black jerseys.

One thing Danny White clearly understands is that if a coach is part of what may be considered a failed tenure, everything about that coach doesn’t have to be rejected. You can bring back the black jerseys even if Kiffin started them, and you can bring back the Smokey Greys even if Jones started them.

Going a step further, White understood the need to bring back Checker Neyland last year. This has been a problem with Tennessee football for a while. They keep going for the complete opposite of the coach they hired, and you don’t have to reject 100 percent of things from a failed tenure.

By the same token, you should never embrace 100 percent of things from a successful tenure. Every situation is different. Heck, if Josh Heupel wants to bring back the orange pants that Dooley wore, that would be fine too.

Cuonzo Martin didn’t stop wearing the orange blazers when Tennessee basketball faced the Vanderbilt Commodores and Kentucky Wildcats just because Bruce Pearl was fired. Pearl did start that tradition, and it was a fun one to hold up.

All of these gimmicks are fun for the fans, and they don’t impact the merits of the coach. As a result, they shouldn’t be dependent on who the coach is. Taking that into account, Tennessee football did the right thing bringing these back, and they should keep both uniform combinations for the future.