Texas A&M has no plans to sell Kenny Hill jerseys
Texas A&M fans hoping to adorn their wardrobe with a Kenny Hill jersey are going to be out of luck this season.
According to ESPN.com, two retailers approached the university about producing jerseys with the number 7 for the Aggies new star quarterback and both were turned away. Texas A&M decided prior to this season that it wasn’t going to create jerseys with numbers on them for the foreseeable future. The decision was made in light of the current litigation regarding the use of player likenesses. A&M, and schools such as Arizona and Northwestern, are trying to avoid future liability.
“Texas A&M has a long history of using the number 12 on jerseys out of respect for Texas A&M’s famous 12th man tradition,” Shane Hinckley, interim vice president of marketing and communications at Texas A&M told ESPN.com. “As previously stated, we will only be using the number 12 on jerseys going forward despite requests for other numbers.”
Hill impressed in his first career start by throwing for 511 yards and three scores against South Carolina. He broke school records for single-game passing yardage and completions, two records held by former Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel.
According to ESPN, a Texas man already has applied for the trademark “Kenny Football” even though Hill said after the South Carolina win that he didn’t like the nickname. During Tuesday’s press conference, Hill said he preferred the nickname “Kenny Trill,” though not sure how catchy or marketable that will be.
Even though the school won’t officially be selling any Hill merchandise, expect the usual amount of street merchandise to start popping up, especially for A&M’s season opener this weekend against Lamar.
For more Texas A&M news, visit AggieYell.com.
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Graham Watson is the editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at dr.saturday@ymail.com or follow her on Twitter! Follow @YahooDrSaturday
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