UCF Unveils Slick Throwback Helmets For Spring Game, Needs To Embrace Citronaut Past Full-Time
As UCF football gears up for its spring game on Friday night, the Knights are throwing it back. The offense is, at least.
This is not the first time that Central Florida has released new uniforms for their spring scrimmage. Back in 2021, the Knights replaced the last names on the back of their jerseys with social media handles. Last year, they traded jersey numbers for QR codes in an effort to help boost their players' NIL opportunities and grow their brands.
The changes to this year's helmets aren't quite as extreme, but they are absolutely gorgeous.
UCF has extremely close ties to NASA, being located less than an hour from Kennedy Space Center. Florida Technological University, as it used to be known, was founded in 1963 to provide personnel support to NASA. The university considers itself the "future of space exploration."
The Knights have also played a 'Space Game' in each of the last few years. They roll out NASA-themed uniforms, with a different space-related theme every fall.
In addition, before changing their name to the Knights in 1970, UCF/FTU was called 'the Citronauts.' The mascot combined two of the most important themes of central Florida at the time — the citrus industry and the space program — and it couldn't be cooler.
The Citronaut
UCF has not abandoned the Citronaut. The school rolls out their throwback mascot on occasion, with this weekend being the next instance of its revival.
Head coach Gus Malzahn surprised his players with their new lids over the weekend. While the defense will wear a new version of the standard UCF helmet, the defense will be repping the Citronauts.
On the left side of the Citronaut helmet is the helmet-wearing orange himself. On the right side, Citronauts are spelled out in script. They're beautiful.
Although UCF is rolling out the new helmets for the spring game, the team has been practicing with the matte whites throughout the last month or so.
Maybe this is a sign that the Citronaut helmets will make an appearance during UCF's first year in the Big-12? If not, they should!