By Jonathan Stout
Media Services Assistant

For the first time in program history, the Campbell football team will sport white helmets in 2014. The helmet will feature the Campbell "Camel head C" logo on the right side and numbers on the left, also a first in Campbell football history, after featuring a black helmet with the "CU" logo for six seasons.

The new Campbell helmet also features a thick black stripe with an orange outline that runs down pointing towards the end of the helmet.

Equipment manager Josh Tate, with the help of the special teams duo of Jarrett Ozimek and Adam Lutz, designed the new helmet for the 2014 season.

Tate, a 2012 Campbell graduate, has been with the program for seven seasons. The Kernersville, N.C., native was the team's head student manager for four seasons prior becoming the head equipment manager.

"The kickers are very good at graphic designs, and I had them help me since they're good with the graphic design programs," Tate said. "I told them what I wanted and they made it for me."

Lutz is a senior who majors in graphic design. Ozimek, a redshirt sophomore, is minoring in graphic design and spends many hours custom designing helmets and jerseys on his computer as a hobby.

According to Lutz, he served as more of a "proofreader" for the project, giving his input when Ozimek would submit a new design.

Tate said the planning stages included designs with black, orange and white helmets, but the group ultimately decided the white helmet since the new design gave the equipment the "pop" they were looking for.

"Right after the season I started thinking about a new helmet and I had many designs rolling around in my head," Tate said. "I just kept thinking about what I could do different from everyone else. The 'CU' (logo) can be so many different schools.

"I wanted to be different, and not many schools put numbers on the side of the helmet, that's a more traditional look. Everybody is getting away from it, and they want a big logo across the side."

The new helmet mixes the traditional with new design, creating a unique "hybrid." Lutz said he anticipates the design being a staple in the Campbell football brand, even as a useful recruiting tool moving forward.

"I think the design will stick around for a while," he said. "They might change colors and get another helmet, but everyone likes the stripe and the number a lot. It looks really good, so I think that will stick around.

"With recruiting it's a good tool because it shows that we're trying to get better, get better gear and look better. You look at Oregon and that brings a lot of people in, so if we have really cool jerseys and helmets I think that will bring more people in."

Other new additions to the helmet include an American flag, the Campbell word-mark along the back bumper of the helmet and a 3-D "CU" on the front bumper above the facemask.

"I think the new helmet looks a lot sharper than the matte black one," Ozimek said. "All it had on it was the 'CU.' There's a lot of small details on this new helmet. When the recruits see that, it looks more like college and not high school."

According to Tate, he anticipates the team keeping the white helmet for years to come but said the squad may have a second "alternate" helmet in the next few seasons.

"With the coaching change and everything, I just felt like we needed to take a step in another direction," Tate said.  "We'll lose the black look for a year or two and then we'll step back in the traditional light for a bit.

"My main goal is to make the players look the best when they go out on the field. My motto when the recruits come in is 'look good, feel good, play good.'" When they do that they go out there and play."