After hearing that several other teams had unveiled modern-looking helmet designs to be worn at some point during the 2012 season, it appears the Arizona Wildcats did not want to be left out. As you can see from the photo above that the Arizona athletic department sent out in an email Wednesday, the Wildcats have announced they will be wearing copper helmets at some point during the upcoming season. Here is the reasoning:
“Copper is not only associated with our great state’s mining history, but it has influenced architectural design on our campus, including our athletic facilities – most notably the ring at the top of the McKale Center, and the future North End Zone Football Complex,” athletic director Greg Byrne wrote. “As such we embrace the idea that as the University of Arizona we will incorporate copper into a special helmet design to represent our state and University. Copper will not replace our traditional colors of red and blue, and the copper helmet will be worn on a limited basis. Bear Down!”
The chrome helmet thing has already been done by none other than Oregon, as they pulled it off to perfection at the Rose Bowl back in January. To our knowledge, Arizona is the first team to go with the copper look. When I heard about it before seeing it, I must admit I was skeptical. However, it looks much better than expected. They don’t quite beat TCU’s potentially new helmets, but there’s something about them that’s easy on the eyes.
