“We got some heat coming. Stay tuned.”
Tez Johnson wasn’t talking about the Oregon Ducks’ stacked roster. Standing in front of the shiny walls of the Hatfield-Dowlin Complex, he was talking about the program’s concerted effort to thrust itself into the Big Ten with an all-new set of uniforms, dubbed “Generation O.”
Because, of course, it wasn’t enough that their full closets kept the Ducks on the front pages. It wasn’t enough that a sparkling throwback set sporting Donald Duck on its shoulders topped nationwide tier lists in 2023 on their way to a No. 8 final ranking and Fiesta Bowl victory. They needed more.
It’s almost unnecessary to discuss the history of uniforms in Oregon because it’s become so ubiquitous in the college football universe. It’s flash, style, or whatever you want to call it. “Nike U” is a popular one.
It’s just another way that innovation — a word that booms through the Autzen Stadium loudspeakers during the marching band’s pregame performance — manifests itself in the program.
“It’s in our DNA,” Oregon’s monologue proclaims during its pregame show. This season-long series explores how innovation is woven into the Ducks’ genes: how they push the boundaries of college football and live life ahead of the curve.
Johnson is one of four players — alongside linebacker Jeffrey Bassa, lineman Marcus Harper II and wideout Traeshon Holden — on the Ducks’ uniform committee, a group assembled by longtime Oregon equipment manager Kenny Farr.
Usually, the group is the decision-maker behind which combination of well-known attire the Ducks wear each week. Headed into 2025, though, their job description got even more exciting.
Farr is a lifelong fan. You can hear it in the way he talks, how he prefers using, “the team up north,” rather than uttering their name in an interview with Oregon broadcaster Joey McMurry before last year’s Rivalry Series matchup. He grew up in Merlin, Oregon, and a two-hour gameday drive for his family kept him in the seats at Autzen Stadium.
After five years as a student equipment manager while completing a history degree in Eugene, he returned to work. A season next door at PK Park with Oregon baseball was good enough for Farr to join then-Ducks head coach Chip Kelly’s program.
He hasn’t looked back. Last year’s innovations — a heat-sensitive, color-changing cleat that Farr designed with Nike employee and former Ducks safety Mattrell McGraw, and the aforementioned “Mighty Oregon” throwbacks — were groundbreaking. Farr said to McMurry, “If [we’ve] been noticed, that means usually something’s going wrong.” Now is the right time to place them in the spotlight.
Off the field and behind the camera, Bassa was bridging a gap between generations. Legendary Ducks running back De’Anthony Thomas was invited back to Eugene to reveal the first of the new uniforms, but the two were chopping it up while donning the all-black “Fly Era” combination.
“It’s been an honor,” Bassa said at Oregon’s preseason media day. “I think it was an honor to kind of just get a feel for all of the new uniforms [and] make history with Oregon going into the Big Ten, being like the first uniform set.”
Two weeks later, it was Bassa’s partner in the linebacker room, Jestin Jacobs, who donned “Gang Green” on Ducks social media. They’re “definitely” bragging about it, Jacobs said at media day, “because everyone wants to put on the uniform.”
It’s not just players on the current roster, either. Oregon’s brand is reaching across the nation and, as head coach Dan Lanning’s recruiting ambitions continue to grow, the style points certainly don’t hurt.
There’s no end to how much postulation and projection can be done about the season ahead. More than enough has been written about what’s expected from one of the most stacked programs in the country, and there’s plenty to expect from the Ducks on the field.
Just one thing is for sure: they’ll look damn good doing it.
‘On Innovation’ is a weekly series, published in the Daily Emerald’s Gameday edition, which breaks down the University of Oregon’s commitment to living ahead of every other school, on and off the football field.