STEPHEN TSAI / STSAI@STARADVERTISER.COM
Zeno Choi posed in a black uniform at the Mountain West Conference Media Summit in Las Vegas on Tuesday. The Rainbow Warriors will play some of their games in black helmets and jerseys for the first time since 2011.
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LAS VEGAS >> The University of Hawaii football team is about to go retro.
The Rainbow Warriors are bringing back black helmets and black jerseys this season. That will be part of a wardrobe that also will include white and green jerseys.
“It’s time to change the uniforms,” UH coach Nick Rolovich said of the Under Armour clothing line.
The black attire coincides with the return of the run-and-shoot offense. The new helmet and jersey colors were introduced at the Mountain West Conference Media Summit on Tuesday in Las Vegas.
“We’re going to bring back the old traditions of when UH used to wear black back in the day,” said defensive lineman Zeno Choi, who represented the Warriors at the meet-the-media event.
In the past, the black helmets were actually a dark green. This time, the helmets are black. Rolovich said the Warriors will wear black helmets for all their games. The Warriors had worn white helmets and white jerseys for road games.
Na Koa, the team’s money-raising group, led a drive last year in which individuals bought matte-green helmets for the players. The Warriors kept those helmets, painting them black for this season.
“It kind of pumps me up that we get to wear the black,” said Choi, who participated in a throwback game in which UH wore black three years ago. “It’s good to bring that back. Maybe it’ll bring the energy back up. It’s good to bring back old memories and, hopefully, win some games with the black jerseys and bring them back permanently.”
Slotback John Ursua, who also attended the media event, said: “It’s a good opportunity to have that same look as successful UH teams that played in the past.”
