Vols pay homage to Condrege Holloway with new uniforms for game vs. Austin Peay

Tennessee is set to kickoff their home-opener against Austin Peay this coming Saturday, where they’ll be wearing some special jerseys to honor former QB Condrege Holloway.

Holloway is a former Tennessee player and was the first African-American to start a game at quarterback for an SEC team, as he led the Vols in his debut in center in a win over Georgia Tech back in 1972.

51 years later, Holloway will be honored as the team takes the field in their smokey grey uniforms this season. You can see the tribute to him in the video below from Tennessee Athletics, which also shows Holloway interacting with current Volunteer QB Joe Milton.

Check it out:

Inspired.
Original.
Distinctive.

𝘈𝘳𝘵𝘧𝘶𝘭. pic.twitter.com/1Ycq13D0pk

— Tennessee Football (@Vol_Football) September 4, 2023

The Smokey Grey Series

In August 2022 Tennessee announced the return of the Smokey Grey alternate uniform, which was first worn during the 2013 season but was not worn between 2018 and 2021. 

The Vols announced the return of the alternate uniform while also adding that the look would be worn at least once over the next four seasons and that there was “potential to scale beyond those years.”

The ‘Smokey Grey Series’ will also include a variation of the Smokey Grey alternate each season. 

Tennessee introduced its initial black alternate uniform in 2021, the first season under Josh Heupel. The uniform paired black jerseys with black pants and a white helmet with a black facemask and an orange stripe and orange Power T trimmed in black. The black helmet was added last season.

Tennessee’s Uniform Variations

Uniform variations — four different helmets and two alternate uniforms — were a constant during Tennessee’s 11-2 season a year ago.

The Vols opened in their traditional home uniform, beating Ball State 59-10 at Neyland Stadium. They were in all white in the overtime win at Pittsburgh on September 10 and wore orange jerseys and orange pants in the 63-6 win over Akron on September 17.

It was back to the traditional orange-on-white look in the 38-33 win over Florida on September 24. Tennessee brought back its Smokey Grey alternate for the 40-13 win at LSU — the Tigers wore white helmets, white jerseys and white pants at home — in Baton Rouge on October 8.

Tennessee wore its traditional home uniform in the 52-49 win over Alabama, wore all orange in the 65-24 over UT Martin on Homecoming on October 22 and debuted its Dark Mode alternate uniform — black helmets, jersey and pants trimmed in orange — in the 44-6 win over Kentucky on October 29.

The Vols wore white jerseys and orange pants in the 27-13 loss at Georgia on November 5, orange jerseys and white pants in the 66-24 win over Missouri a week later and brought out a new orange helmet at South Carolina, paired with white jerseys and white pants.