Jonathan Stewart reveals his favorite Oregon Duck uniform of all time
When you’re talking about your favorite Oregon Duck football uniforms, it’s not exactly a small pool to choose from. Back in the mid-2000s, Phil Knight and Nike really started to change the game in terms of innovation and style on the gridiron, using Mike Bellotti’s Ducks as his canvas.
While Oregon had seen different iterations of uniforms over the years, the rapidness of the uniform cycles started to pick up, and the college football world started to take notice.
It started with tire tread on the shoulder pads and knees, with the team name on the thigh, and from there blossomed into wings, both on the shoulders and the helmet, different colored helmets, different colored facemasks, and new patterns altogether.
In the summer of 2024, Oregon is unveiling a new set of uniforms, dubbed “Generation O.” The news of that release has the fan base buzzing with excitement.
This past week on the Sco-ing Long Podcast, I dove into the uniform discussion with my co-host Jonathan Stewart, an Oregon legend who was around for the inaugural wave of uniform changes back in 2006. I asked him if he could name his single favorite Ducks’ uniform of all time.
“The stormtroopers,” Stewart said with conviction. “It was straight to the point. It was all-white, and it had your treads on the shoulders. And it just reminds me of playing the University of Washington, and we destroyed them in that stormtrooper outfit, and I’ll forever remember that.”
(Photo by Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images)
Stewart wasn’t wrong about destroying the Huskies, as Oregon won 55-34 up in Seattle that year in 2007.
What I pointed out on the podcast was the fact that the simplicity is what made those uniforms so special, and the fact that they were flashy and clean without trying very hard.
“It was like wearing a tuxedo,” Stewart said. “That’s exactly what it feels like. I’m wearing a tuxedo today and I’m going to whoop your tail.”
