I’m not even going to get into the branding of the red block “S” that 95% of the country thinks is for Stanford.
NC State first employed the “Block S” in the late 1880s shortly after its inception and a couple of years before Leland Stanford’s farm was converted into a university.
If uniforms didn’t matter to recruits, nobody would be spending money on it.
Recruiting is only part of the equation. Alternate uniforms and gear have demonstrated increased sales in gear. A consistent “third” uniform is the highest selling, hence the move to ‘black jerseys’ that you see a lot of professional teams wearing from time to time. It’s slightly less pronounced but nonetheless still true for university teams.
At the end of the day, uniform variations and press releases for it only enhance brand awareness — something that certainly does not hurt recruiting.
