By Chris O’Grady

When the U of L football team takes the field at Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium Friday night against the University of Cincinnati, they will be outmatched in at least one category according to the teams’ uniform provider, Adidas.

                Well, at least for a game.

                On Monday Oct. 11 Adidas announced the launch of new TECHFIT compression jerseys that will be 30 percent lighter than their previous jerseys, something that will make players faster.  Adidas’ director for football and team sports Mark Daniels also said the jerseys will increase a player’s range of motion by up to 18 percent.

                “The biggest thing these jerseys will do is make the athletes faster,” said Daniels.  “They have less material to weigh the athlete down.  And the increased range of motion, I mean 18 percent, that’s the difference between a receiver making a game winning catch or not.”

                But though the jerseys were given out and made available to all seven schools that Adidas provides uniforms for, Daniels said he expects only five of them will be wearing the new jerseys this weekend.  Other Adidas schools include the University of Michigan, UCLA, Notre Dame University, and, of course Cincinnati. 

                However, the decision on when to begin wearing the jerseys is in the hands of the coaches, and Louisville Coach Charlie Strong has decided to hold onto them, at least for now.  Cincinnati’s Butch Jones, however, will have the Bearcats using the TECHFITs.

                “It’s coach Strong’s decision,” said Daniels.  “Each coach gets to decide when to introduce them. Louisville will go when they’re ready, but they have them.  They are all ready to go.”

                The jerseys effect on game play is yet to be seen, but if Daniels right the Cards may be in trouble in trying to win back the Keg of Nails from last year’s Big East Champion.  Daniels calls the jerseys the greatest product in Adidas’s history.

                “I would absolutely put this at the top of a list of any football product we’ve ever put out in terms of game changing ability,” said Daniels.  “When players wear these jerseys they will feel like they are performing massively better.”

                Adidas said the development from the jerseys has come from work with representatives on each of their school’s campuses, including one at U of L, largely from athlete requests and feedback.