Good Counsel rising senior Izon Pulley
The University of Miami is in the midst of a department wide shift from Nike to adidas uniforms. The shift has long been in the works, and gives adidas another signature college brand to focus on as it braces for the loss of Tennessee, two years on from the loss of Notre Dame. All of this was anticipated. What may not have been planned was a potential recruiting bump started by the mere anticipation of Miami’s first adidas unis.
Here are some more specifics: Miami is scheduled to release it’s new adidas football uniforms at some undefined point in July. In theory, no one in the athletic department, with the possible exception of athletic director Blake James or head football coach Al Golden, should have seen the new duds. Yet one top recruiting pledge from Miami’s Class of 2016 is already bragging about the new Hurricanes uniforms as if he’s tried them on.
That’s Izon Pulley, a rising senior strongside defensive end for Good Counsel in suburban Maryland. Pulley is considered to be a solid Miami commit, so his comments would simply be a case of forward thinking pride, perhaps with a side of hopeful influence on others in the rising senior class. The uniforms could look like this leaked design, but no one would know. Or at least no one should know.
Still, Pulley should not have seen any of the new adidas uniforms, at least yet. So there’s no way he should be evangelizing for the Hurricanes based on hypothetical new uniforms, right? It sure seems like that’s something that Nike, and perhaps others, would frown upon.
Is Pulley possibly just taking a leap of faith that Miami’s uniforms will be “the new hotness”? Sure, but that would be quite the leap of faith, given that they’re both the first effort from adidas and because adidas tends to bring less street swagger than primary competitor Nike.
Of course, reputation is nothing, and perhaps Miami’s new adidas gear is truly revolutionary. That would leave just the lingering question about how Pulley got his eyeballs in front of those embargoed uniforms.