LOOK: Linebacker Darius Snow Designs Alternate Jerseys For Michigan State Football
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One of the most highly anticipated parts of the return of Michigan State Football in 2023 is the chance to see redshirt junior Darius Snow in a Spartans uniform once again.
Snow suffered a season-ending leg injury in MSU's opener against Western Michigan last September, and his absence was felt throughout the Spartans' disappointing 5-7 campaign. The fourth year Spartan was not a full participant in Michigan State's spring practice, which took place from mid-March to mid-April, but there is optimism in East Lansing that he'll make his way back on to the field and play an important role this fall.
While Snow has been busy working his way back to full health, he's also been pouring himself into one of his passions off the football field — graphic design. Last week, Snow shared three of his own designs for alternate uniform concepts for MSU, and generated a fair amount of excitement as a result.
As a fan of college football in general, and someone who enjoys sharing their opinion on alternate uniform designs, I thought it would be fun to take a closer look at each of these three combinations and share my thoughts. Feel free to share your own thoughts in the comment section as well. Without further ado...
Black-Out Concept 01
I'm going to be honest here — I'm something of a traditionalist and/or purist when it comes to college football, and I typically don't like it when programs who don't have 'Black' in their traditional color scheme wear all-black uniforms.
With that said, this is a really cool design for Michigan State. Snow pulls off a good mix of honoring the Spartans' traditional uniforms while introducing the 'Black-Out' look.
The chrome 'Gruffy Sparty' logo really pops on the helmet. I like that Snow went with a larger logo than what we've seen from MSU when they've utilized 'Gruff'. The chrome logo with chrome facemask would really stand out on the football field, and would quickly become a fan-favorite in my opinion.
I think the mistake a lot of programs make when introducing 'All-Black' uniform concepts is that they can often look vastly different than the uniforms the team wears week in and week out. Snow leaves the textures and overall design of the uniforms alone, which I think is a wide choice. The uniqueness comes from the helmet and logo, and that's done well.
Black-Out Concept 02
Snow gives a variation to his 'All-Black' concept here by working in some green. The biggest difference here come on the helmet, where one side features a traditional green Spartan helmet logo, with a Gruff Sparty logo on the other. While this isn't a bad look by any stretch, I don't think it 'pops' the way the chrome logo does on the above concept.
As far as the green on the jersey and pants, those help the patterns and textures stand out a little more, but once again I prefer the first concept.
Green-Out Concept
Of the three designs that Snow shared, these are the ones I like best. While they are very similar to the uniforms that Michigan State wore at home against rival Michigan in 2021, it's once again Snow's helmet design that take these to a new level.
Snow describes the Gruff logo as "amassing entire side of the helmet". I love the idea of taking that outline and making it stretch across the entire side of the helmet. The visibility is great, and it prominently features one of the coolest logos in Michigan State's repertoire.
The glove design, likewise, jumps out as well. There's a good base of green there, with a good blend of white to make them stand out.
Final Thoughts
It would be really cool to see Michigan State turn a couple of these concepts into reality at some point in the future. I like Snow's designs much better than the Spartans' current 'Neon' alternates — though a lot of that comes from the fact I think the Neon uniforms are downright awful.
Michigan State wore alternate uniforms that featured bronze in the mid-2010s, and I think Snow's designs are superior to those as well. While I'll never beat my chest for 'All-Black' uniforms for a program whose primary colors are Green and White, I understand the appeal of the 'Black-Out' concept for players and younger fans.
Finally, the use of a larger Gruff Sparty design on the helmets should become a mainstay. It's been cool to see MSU feature that logo on the helmet in years past, but I think it has yet to be perfected. Snow's use of Gruff in the concepts above is an improvement.
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