Kansas players get warmed up prior to kickoff against Illinois on Friday, Sept. 8, 2023 at Memorial Stadium. Photo by Nick Krug

Adding some extra flair to its second and final Children’s Mercy Park game of the year, the Kansas football team will bring back its “Blackhawk” jerseys for Friday night’s matchup with UNLV.

Fittingly enough for jerseys that were implemented due to a player-led effort last season, head coach Lance Leipold also turned it over to the players to decide when KU would wear black this year — even if they didn’t necessarily have much conviction about it.

Leipold said he had been looking ahead to uniform combinations for upcoming games and turned to running back Devin Neal for his thoughts.

“He kind of blurted out something — I go, ‘When do you guys want to wear the black ones?'” Leipold recalled. “He goes, “I don’t know, just wear them next game.”

KU previously debuted the jerseys in a victory over Illinois in 2023 and reprised them in a loss to Kansas State at the end of the season, but this time around, the KU athletic department is leaning more into the branding than it did for those previous matchups.

On Monday, KU took to social media to declare a “blackout” — something it did not necessarily do through official channels when it deployed the jerseys in 2023. When the uniforms debuted, players such as quarterback Jalon Daniels took to social media to exhort fans to wear black for the upcoming game, but the effort wasn’t as organized. This time, though, KU is offering black T-shirts to the first 10,000 fans in attendance, which constitutes just about half of the crowd at Children’s Mercy Park and should result in a more visually unified aesthetic.

Safety Marvin Grant said the black jersey is his favorite to wear, and he’s excited to do so again.

“I feel like it’s something that Kansas hadn’t seen in a long time until we brought them out last year,” he added. Indeed, the Jayhawks hadn’t worn black since more than a decade earlier, and even then not all-black as they do with the Blackhawk jerseys.

KU’s early uniform choices in 2024 have presaged a lot of variety for the upcoming season. In their opener against Lindenwood, the Jayhawks broke out powder-blue alternates they hadn’t worn since 2022.

They also have, still pending, new crimson jerseys that they revealed at the start of the season, which figure to debut in one of KU’s four games at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium later this year.

“It’s cool, man,” left tackle Logan Brown said of the black jerseys. “But I mean, it’s just a uniform.”

Kansas fans in the student section go wild after a stop by the Jayhawks during the second quarter on Friday, Sept. 8, 2023 at Memorial Stadium. Photo by Nick Krug

Kansas wide receiver Lawrence Arnold (2) celebrates a touchdown late in the second quarter against Kansas State on Saturday Nov. 18, 2023 at Memorial Stadium. Photo by Nick Krug

Kansas running back Devin Neal (4) looks back as he runs in a touchdown during the first quarter on Saturday Nov. 18, 2023 at Memorial Stadium. Photo by Nick Krug