The University of Central Florida long has been cutting edge in its marketing and uniforms; chrome helmets, NASA-themed ensembles and the innovative 'Bounce House' moniker for the Knights' raucous home venue.
New UCF football coach Gus Malzahn, along with new athletics director Terry Mohajir, are taking things in wildly forward-thinking direction on the Knights' uniforms.
During their spring practice Saturday, Knights' players debuted jerseys with their Twitter handles on the back in place of the nameplate.
“This is the new age of personal branding,” Malzahn said following UCF's work, “and we're going to embrace it within the NCAA rules.
“That's who we are and that's who we're going to be.”
Geoff Collins first utilized Twitter handles on the backs of jerseys three years ago at Temple for the Owls' spring game.
Yet this move from UCF looms perhaps larger than ever with incoming Name, Image and Likeness legislation and proposals sweeping collegiate athletics and particularly college football.
Both NCAA leadership and government entities are involved with NIL proposals unfolding, and the NCAA is talking to multiple third-party companies about implementing and regulating student-athletes' abilities to earn money for everything from promotional appearances to product endorsements and more elements.
College athletics' governing body has even added a questions-and-answers N.I.L. section to its Web site.
Congress two months ago saw a bill introduced on the floor to make Name, Image, Likeness “a Federal right for college athletes.”
In other words, Malzahn & Co. are embracing the inevitable and likely scoring major recruiting points in the process.
“You look at what, 322,000 living alumni and the average age is 36; 72,000 (students enrolled) and they're all on Twitter,” Malzahn said. “Some of these big schools, their average age of alumni is 65 and they're on Facebook. So we've got a big advantage, OK?
“My mom's on Facebook. She checked it last night, matter of fact.”