UCLA football to don new Adidas LA Midnight alternate uniform

The traditional powder blue and gold of UCLA is now set to turn a few shades darker.

On Tuesday, UCLA’s athletic department unveiled the Adidas TECHFIT L.A. Midnight uniform, which the Bruin football team will wear on Nov. 15 in a Friday night home matchup with the Washington Huskies.

The new uniform is primarily black with blue and gold shoulder stripes and numbers, and comes complete with gloves that, when intertwined, resemble the Los Angeles skyline at night.

In the last two seasons, the Bruins have worn alternate uniforms in some of their most polarizing games. UCLA wore an all-white uniform in a 50-0 loss to USC in 2011 and then donned the navy blue L.A. Nights uniform in a 66-10 win over Arizona last season.

Past seasons’ scores aside, the uniform’s announcement yielded varying emotional responses, starting with a nonplussed Jim Mora.

“I don’t know, I’m thinking about Nebraska,” said Mora following Tuesday’s practice. “I couldn’t care less about the uniforms.”

Mora said he identifies with the definition of the word “uniform” in that his “team looks best when they all look the same,” but mentioned that he does allow some variance with accessories, from wristbands to towel placement.

Unlike Mora, some of the team’s players liked the idea of changing the uniform routine. Redshirt sophomore quarterback Brett Hundley, who recently sported a visor and a towel that hangs to the back unlike most quarterbacks, expressed his excitement with the atypical garb.

“They’re going to be sweet,” Hundley said. “We’re going to be swagged out for the game. It’s going to be a turnt up Rose Bowl. It can be intimidating, I’m sure, when we walk out with the all-black. It’s going to be a different style for UCLA, but it’s going to be fun when we put them on.”

Right Fit at Right Guard

At right guard, freshman Alex Redmond donned the traditional blue and gold for the first time as a starter on Saturday.

After spending the majority of his time in fall camp with the second-team offense while fellow freshman right guard Caleb Benenoch saw the majority of the time with the starters, Redmond peaked at the right time according to Mora, thrusting himself into the starting lineup just in time for UCLA’s season opener against Nevada.

Redmond said offensive line coach Adrian Klemm told him he had earned the starting job just a few days before the game, leaving a jubilant Redmond with a reassuring, ‘Easy, big fella.’ Playing in front of 60,000-plus in his first game at the Rose Bowl, Redmond said his energy from earning the starting nod kept his motor running throughout.

“To be honest, it was probably the best feeling of my life,” Redmond said. “I was so excited, I was so pumped. Even though we ran some plays like six times in a row I felt good. It was incredibly fun.”

Behind the scenes of UCLA’s 345-yard rushing performance on Saturday was an offensive line that obliterated Nevada at the point of attack, opening up sizable holes for the Bruins’ corps of running backs. On some of the longest runs of the evening, Redmond went head-to-head with the Wolf Pack defensive line, wrestling defenders to the ground while running backs like redshirt junior Jordon James sped by.

For Redmond, who was the Orange County Register’s 2012-2013 Wrestler of the Year, the physical line play came naturally. Still, he said, he and his fellow offensive linemen have more work to do with eleven games left to play.

“I think we performed well as a team,” Redmond said. “Our offensive line, we were clicking and we all made mistakes, but we played well. I played well, but there’s so much room for improvement now. I’m just trying to get better.”