The marketing folks at Nike and UT obviously know their business quite well, because there was more than a little attention focused on the new unis in Knoxville. You may have heard about it.
Here's what we have to say about it: Cool. And good for Butch Jones and Co. for completing the PR assault. That said, clothes may make the man, but uniforms do not make the team.
Jones' step-by-step march back to relevancy for Tennessee has involved going down a line-item list covering everything across all walks. It's a long list, and almost every off-the-field item has been checked off in this overhaul of more than two years.
The Vols assembled a crack squad of phrase-makers. Team 118. Brick by brick. All of them sharp and clever and assuredly hashtag-worthy.
They went hip with their music. "Third Down for What." The pumped-in game-day stuff. It all has connected with the kids and potential recruits.
Jones is arguably the most social media-savvy head coach out there today, and that pays dividends, especially on the recruiting trail. Jones has restocked the roster in the past three classes, and Tennessee has more depth and talent on its roster than anytime in almost a decade.
All of that was cool and admirable and impressive. It also - other than the recruiting hauls, which were imperative - for the most part has been cosmetic.
The brand again has swag, a young person's word for a combination of buzz and interest and shine, and that's important. But the long-lasting swag is not about uniforms or Twitter handles.
Winning carries the most swag. Yes, it was a task akin to photographing Bigfoot riding a unicorn during Jones' first year, when the Vols had a depleted roster and a dark orange cloud hung over the program.
But entering the third season of the Jones era, each step has delivered progress, both on and off the field.
The buzz and enthusiasm has returned. So should the expectations.
The SEC East is ripe for the taking, and now a young but gifted group of Vols bring enough talent to the table to stake a claim. Can they - the young players in general and Jones and his staff in particular - stay in the moment and in the hunt now that they will be among the favorites?
Vegas has UT pegged to win eight games, tied for second most in the East and behind only Georgia. The UT-Georgia game is currently listed as a pick 'em, meaning there is no discernible difference between the teams in the eyes of the folks who stake their living on their picks.
If not now, when?
Uniform tastes change and buzz is difficult to keep, depending on the mood and the moment. The Vols' new duds are awesome and the entire project was exceedingly well-executed.
But you know what never goes out of style? Winning.
Nick Saban carries a ton of buzz wherever he goes, and he likely doesn't know a Tweet from Tweetie Bird. Saban's program has become the ultimate trendsetter because winning is the ultimate trend.
Winning never goes out of style, and now that has to be the next and most important thing on the list for Tennessee.
In truth, football gets most of the buzz because we are 10 days from SEC media days and football pushes the needle across the South.
But Tennessee got new uniforms across all sports, and quite frankly a jolt of success is needed across almost all of the sporting platforms in Knoxville.
Men's basketball is in a state of flux, welcoming its third coach in 13 months. Women's basketball is at its most irrelevent point in program history. Baseball has become a by-product of an SEC avalanche that dominates the landscape.
Still, football is the flag-bearer of almost every SEC program, and the attention that has been generated there has been noteworthy and impressive. UT matters again - and that's a victory for Jones and his staff.
But now the wins must come, because without Ws, it doesn't matter how cool your smokey grays are or how nifty that checkerboard helmet looks.
Contact Jay Greeson at jgreeson@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6343. Follow him on Twitter at jgreeson@timesfreepress.com. Read his online column, "5-at-10," weekdays starting at 10 a.m. at timesfreepress.com.