Armando Villarreal shows one of the Utah helmets he made for their upcoming throwback game against UCLA. (Johnson Publications photo)
The University of Utah released the full uniform for its throwback game this weekend, including helmets made by Armando Villarreal of Imperial. (Courtesy photo)
University of Utah to wear ‘throwback’ uniforms, helmets painted by Villarreal
Armando Villarreal’s latest football helmet project was released earlier this week in anticipation of its game on Saturday.
Villarreal will add the University of Utah to his list of projects.
Utah brought back the idea of their old jerseys and helmets from 1966 for this year’s throwback game against UCLA.
Everything on the uniforms is the same as the 1966 version, except for the “UTES” that is on the sleeve. That replaced the drum and feather from the old uniform.
“The throwback uniforms are a big deal right now,” Villarreal said. “Everybody’s doing throwback. But they went the next step and made it look used.”
The earholes on the Utah helmets are widened and exaggerated, mimicking the helmets from the 60s.
Villarreal also “beat up” the helmets, causing real scratches and grass stains to make the helmets look used.
The rivets are also painted to “look all rusted.”
Like all of Villarreal’s helmets, not one of them is the exact same.
There were 151 helmets in this recent batch for Utah. Villarreal estimates he spent three weeks on this project.