Until this morning, I had heard exactly zero rumblings of any uniform changes or special uniform type events - such as those Nike Pro Combat games that a few programs have once a year or so. But then, Hunter Mitchell (Twitter handle @Snitchell13) tweeted these at the cup and, well, I'll be damned if they don't look like real photographs of real helmets.
First...
So this one is obviously a retro powder blue helmet to harken back to the Archie Manning and Billy Brewer days, something which a lot of fans have begged and pleaded the university to bring back for at least one game a year. The back story on these, for those who don't know, is that during one of the later John Vaught years, a shipment of brand new helmets arrived to campus which, despite being ordered as "navy" blue, came in this lighter blue color. John Vaught, not one to ask for a do-over, just stuck with it and had his team wear the off colored helmets. They stuck for nearly two decades before Ole Miss switched back to the traditional deep navy blue in the mid 1990's.
This helmet, in my opinion, would look excellent against the white away jerseys. It'd be a nice retro look to the uniforms of the late 1960's and early 1970's.
Then there's...
This one appears to be a matte black/blue helmet. I'm not really sure how I feel about the creeping trend of matte finished helmet - I like the glare you get from the stadium lights at night off of a brightly polished football helmet - but I'll admit that this doesn't look bad. I could see this worn with the traditional navy uniforms at home or even with the white uniforms away.
Again, I have no idea if these helmets are going to at all be used this year. These photographs look authentic enough, so I wouldn't at all rule these out for this fall.