Florida to sport new look

Gators will play in ‘swamp green’

Florida’s alternate uniforms, the “swamp green” ones designed to literally look like alligators, are drawing reviews ranging from awful to awesome.

Coach Jim McElwain jokes that his “hate mail” tripled since the uniforms were unveiled earlier this week.

The ultimate appraisal comes Saturday night when the unranked Gators (3-2, 3-1) play Texas A&M (4-2, 2-1) at Florida Field, a Southeastern Conference matchup under the lights that will give the new duds a chance to shine orget shunned.

The Gators and Nike released images of the uniforms Monday, saying the project designed to “show what it means to be a Gator” took 18 months to complete.

The camouflage-styled jerseys will be paired with “swamp-green” helmets, pants, socks, shoes and gloves. There will be very little orange and blue, marking the first time in school history that Florida strayed from its primary colors. Helmets will have a Gators head logo on one side and nothing on the other. Players got their helmets and shoes and practiced in them throughout the week. They won’t see the jerseys until Saturday.

“The response recruiting and ultimately the demographicwe’re looking at, man, the excitement has been unbelievable and the response has been great,” McElwain said. “I know they’re looking forward to it. It’s a one-time deal. Nike did a good job telling the story. … It’s something that, obviously, people are talking about. That’s a good thing. Again, it’s about the kids and they’re jacked up. We’ll see howthey play in it.”

Alabama

Damien Harris has sacrificed some carries playing in Alabama’s offense, and he is OK with that. The tailback said that doesn’t hurt nearly as much as giving up one of his favorite snacks this summer.

“Honey Buns,” he said, wistfully.

Harris opted to give up one of his favorite sugary snacks to help shed a few pounds before the season. He doesn’t seem to mind nearly so much givingup some carries to Alabama’s other runners, including quarterback Jalen Hurts. Harris ranks seventh in the SEC with 500 rushing yards despite averaging just under10 carries a game.

“The way I look at it is, on every run you want to make the most of the opportunity, because you never know when someone is going to come in with fresh legs,” Harris said.