Tennessee’s long-awaited Adidas era is about to come into view, and the rollout now has a reported schedule attached to it.
The partnership officially goes live on July 2, marking the Vols’ return to Adidas after a decade with Nike. Tennessee has been a Nike-branded athletics department since 2015, but the new deal runs for the next 10 years and covers uniforms and merchandise across the board.
According to Voice of the Vols Mike Keith on the Mike Keith show, the first major milestone is July 2, when the switch becomes official, and July 10, when Adidas merchandise is expected to hit stores.
The uniforms, though, are coming in waves.
Adam Sparks of the Knoxville News Sentinel reported Wednesday that Tennessee has a multi-day reveal planned from July 6 through July 9. The sequence, per Sparks, starts with orange uniforms on July 6, then white uniforms on July 7, Summitt Blue women’s uniforms on July 8, and Dark Mode football uniforms on July 9. Sparks also reported that the Smokey Grey design will be unveiled later.
That means Tennessee fans will need to keep a close eye on the program’s social media accounts throughout the week as each look drops. The anticipation has already been building, and a few early hints have surfaced. Tennessee safety Qua Moss and WR Tyreek King both posted photos of practice jerseys to their social media accounts last month, and those images featured the familiar three-stripe Adidas look.
Josh Heupel made clear last August that Tennessee views the move as more than a simple apparel swap.
“We’re fortunate, had a partner that wanted to make us their flagship school,” Tennessee HC Josh Heupel said about the switch to Adidas last August. “That’s going to happen in a lot of different ways and going to be a benefit to our football program.
But this athletic department as a whole too. Had an opportunity to come talk to some other guys and I think everybody’s really excited that, again, we’re going to be the flagship school for them and it’s going to provide a lot of unique opportunities for our players both on and off the field.”
Mike Matthews echoed that enthusiasm in August as well.
“I love it,” Tennessee WR Mike Matthews said about the new partnership back in August. “I mean, they’re pretty making us a priority, just in terms of just football and having us being like, pretty much just a college household name of sports. The connection with Adidas is major.”
Tennessee’s history with Adidas stretches back to 1995, when the program first partnered with the brand. That run lasted through 2015 and included a 1998 National Championship for Tennessee football, plus Lady Vols basketball national titles in 1996, 97, 98, 2007 and 08. The Vols then moved to Nike on July 1, 2015, and wore the swoosh while winning the 2024 College World Series.
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