Billy Napier Says Florida Will Wear Black Jerseys, Likely by 2023

He says the jerseys will be auctioned off and the proceeds will go to military families.

Two years after Florida Twitter got its heart broken when it learned that its football team wasn’t adding black uniforms, there’s now hope. Florida coach Billy Napier told Sports Illustrated’s Richard Johnson that the Gators will eventually wear black jerseys.

“We’re gonna wear black uniforms here at the University of Florida,” Napier says. “But each one of those uniforms that we wear we are going to auction off and we’re gonna sell those and take the money and we’re gonna give that to families that maybe had some type of injury and setback and are living a little bit different lifestyle as a result of their military service and their setback.”

Napier said that it’s unlikely that the Jordan brand, the program’s apparel sponsor, would be able to prepare black jersey as early as this upcoming season but he expects it could be done by 2023.

In 2019, a tweet from Florida’s equipment team before a key matchup against LSU showed a glimmer of black pants in a photo and it sent Twitter into a tailspin. The school’s athletic director, Scott Stricklin, had to clarify on Twitter that there would be no black uniforms and all of Gators Twitter collectively shared in the disappointment.

Slow your roll, Thomas. No black this weekend.

— Scott Stricklin (@ScottStricklin) October 10, 2019

Napier is going into his first year as Florida’s coach after four seasons coaching Louisiana at Lafayette where he posted a 40–12 record. He’s already earned some popularity points. 

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