COLUMBIA, Mo. – It all started back in 2007 when Mizzou Football wore white jerseys and gold pants as QB Chase Daniel led No. 4 Mizzou to a 36-28 victory over No. 2 Kansas at Arrowhead Stadium. That began a tradition that led to gold jerseys in 2008 and Nike Beast Mode uniforms in 2009. With Mizzou returning to Arrowhead for the first time since 2011 this Saturday against BYU, the Tigers will once again don special Nike uniforms to continue the tradition.

Prior to the season, Mizzou Assistant Athletic Director for Equipment Don Barnes came up with a uniform concept that Mizzou had never worn: a white base jersey-pant combo with black numbers and an anthracite Tiger stripe overlay  accompanied by a white helmet equipped with a chrome secondary Tiger logo and facemask. The uniform combination will also feature gloves with the anthracite Tiger stripe pattern. Sticking with tradition, Barnes and the entire Football staff decided that Arrowhead would be the perfect place to unveil the new uniform combination.  Below is a look at the history of special uniforms worn at Arrowhead.

2007: In what was arguably the biggest game for Mizzou in the Big 12 era, Gary Pinkel and company decided to bring back a uniform combo that had been a fan favorite for years. Mizzou had not worn the gold-pant, white-jersey combo in years despite fans calling for Coach Pinkel to bring the look back. With the eyes of the nation on Arrowhead for a top-five showdown that November night in 2007, Mizzou surprised the fans with the gold pants and the rest was history. Mizzou went on to defeat Kansas, 36-28, and earn the No. 1 ranking in the country the following week.

2008: One year removed from surprising fans with the white-jersey, gold-pant look, Mizzou flipped the script and unveiled gold jerseys for the first time in years. The uniforms garnered such high praise from Mizzou fans that they were arguably the inspiration for one of the fans’ favorite current looks – gold jerseys and black pants.

2009: After the success that Mizzou Football had on the field both in 2007 and 2008, Nike chose Mizzou as one of 10 schools to wear special Pro Combat uniforms during the 2009 season. Mizzou chose to once again unveil these against Kansas at Arrowhead. Mizzou’s Pro Combat uniforms were called ‘Beast Mode’ and that moniker was embroidered on the collars of each jersey. Inspiration for the white jersey, anthracite pant and black-on-black helmet combo was the speed of a tiger and the fact that Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri is home to many of the nation’s stealth bombers. Black-on-black helmets and pants signified that speed and stealth-like nature.

2015: Wanting to do something that had never been done at Mizzou, Barnes and his staff chose to go with this year’s look. As detailed above, the white-jersey, white-pant look is accompanied by a helmet with a chrome secondary Tiger logo and chrome face masks. The jerseys feature black numbers with an anthracite Tiger stripe overlay outlined in chrome.

The Whiteout set for Saturday is one of four uniform themes Mizzou put into place for the season, including the Tigers Stripe (now in its second season) and the annual #GoldRush and #Blackout games. The monochromatic uniform look will also be featured during Mizzou’s game vs. Tennessee next Saturday (Nov. 21) at Memorial Stadium. As in year’s past, the final home game of the season will serve as the team’s #Blackout game in which the Tigers will don all-black uniforms. The complete uniform combination for that game will be released Friday, Nov. 20.

— Mizzou Athletics —

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Mizzou Men’s Basketball head coach Kim Anderson has announced three signings for the program’s 2016 recruiting class, with future student-athletes Willie Jackson (Cleveland, Ohio), Reed Nikko (Maple Grove, Minn.) and Mitchell Smith (Van Buren, Ark.) inking with the Tigers.

“We’re excited about the young men who have signed their letters of intent to come to the University of Missouri to play basketball,” Anderson said. “We feel like we’ve addressed some needs for our program. One of our main goals was to recruit size. With all three guys, we’ve got some bigger players.

“The thing we’re always looking for is young men who have been successful at their previous institutions and who will be great representatives of our university. All three of these young men are like that. They’ve been extremely well-coached at the high school level. We look forward to welcoming them to Mizzou to be a part of our family.”

A 6-6 small forward, Jackson has been electric for Garfield Heights High School, averaging 18.0 points, 14.0 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game and helping head coach Sonny Johnson’s group to a 24-4 record as a junior in 2014-15. Standing 6-9, Nikko powered Maple Grove High School to a 23-4 record last season while averaging 9.6 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per game for head coach Nick Schroeder. A 6-9 forward, Smith scored in bunches for Van Buren head coach Randy Loyd, averaging 18.1 points and 7.6 rebounds per game as a junior.

Jackson was named Cleveland.com Area Player of the Year following his junior campaign. On the Nike EYBL circuit for the King James Shooting Stars, Jackson averaged 8.4 points and a team-best 7.0 rebounds per game and led the group to a stout 13-4 record. Jackson chose the Tigers over offers from Boston College, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Temple and Wichita State, among others.

“Willie is a basketball player,” Anderson said. “What I mean by that is he can do a lot of different things. He’s a good defender and a guy who shoots the basketball well. He can drive to the basket. He comes from a winning program and was extremely well-coached in his high school and AAU basketball. Similar to Reed and Mitchell, he’s a person of high character who will be great for our program.”

Nikko, a traditional post-style player, also starred on the travel ball courts for Net Gain. As a sophomore in 2013-14, Nikko scored in double figures in 12 of Maple Grove’s 28 games. He chose to wear the Black & Gold over offers from Kansas State, Minnesota and Iowa.

“We’re looking forward to having Reed in our program,” Anderson said. “He’ll bring some size, which is something we’ll need, especially with the graduation of Ryan Rosburg. He’s a true back-to-the-basket player and has been very successful in high school. He’s continued to grow as a player every year. We feel he’ll continue to mature and become a great player in the SEC.”

Smith moved well up and down the floor to get Van Buren to Arkansas’ Class 7A semifinals last season. He played in the high school offseason with the Arkansas Wings of the Nike EYBL, shooting 46.7-percent from the floor and averaging 4.1 rebounds and a team-best 1.1 blocks per game during the squad’s 2015 season.

“Mitchell is a young man who addresses the need for more size in our program,” Anderson said. “He is very skilled and has continued to improve every year. He comes from a great high school program, and we feel like he has the opportunity to be able to contribute immediately, as do Willie and Reed.”

Mizzou opens the 2015-16 season at Mizzou Arena on Friday, Nov. 13, vs. Wofford as part of the CBE Hall of Fame Classic. The contest tips off at 8 p.m. and will be broadcast on SEC Network+.

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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Mizzou Women’s Basketball was picked to finish sixth in the Southeastern Conference in a vote of the league’s coaches. The selection is the highest preseason ranking for the Tigers since joining the SEC. Junior forward Jordan Frericks (Quincy, Ill.) was voted second-team Preseason All-SEC.

Mizzou received 94 total votes and each coach also voted for an eight-player All-SEC first-team, second-team and Player of the Year.

Frericks earned second-team All-SEC honors last season after leading the team with 13.2 points, 9.9 rebounds, 1.5 steals and 1.4 blocks per game. She led the SEC in rebounding, finished fifth in blocks, 11th in scoring and 12th in steals.

South Carolina was predicted to repeat as league champion and Gamecocks senior guard Tiffany Mitchell was named SEC Preseason Player of the Year for the second consecutive season. Tennessee was picked second, followed by Texas A&M, Mississippi State and Kentucky.

SEC Coaches Preseason Predicted Order of Finish
1. South Carolina
2. Tennessee
3. Texas A&M
4. Mississippi State
5. Kentucky
6. Missouri
7. Ole Miss
8. Arkansas
9. Georgia
10. LSU
11. Vanderbilt
12. Florida
13. Auburn
14. Alabama

— Mizzou Athletics —