UNC football unveiled its Unity patch that it will be wearing for the 2020 college football season in accordance with new NCAA rules.
In July, the NCAA announced that it would allow allow student-athletes in all sports to wear patches on their uniforms to support social justice issues. While not all team members are required to wear the patch, they must be identical for those who choose to wear them.
UNC’s patch was created by senior defensive lineman Tomon Fox with the help of the team’s leadership council.
“We were in a leadership council meeting and they were asking us if we had any ideas of how we wanted to move forward to add to the whole movement,” said senior wide receiver Beau Corrales. “I had an idea of a patch.”
When the NCAA said teams could wear a patch on their uniforms, our leadership council turned to @tomon_fox to create it.
Here is the story behind the uniform patch we’ll wear this season. #UNITY pic.twitter.com/Ll7SSXFdQW
— Carolina Football (@TarHeelFootball) September 11, 2020
The team turned to Fox, who designed the patch to reflect the values held highly by the team. It features a raised fist, along with words like “say their names,” which Fox said was important to reflect those who were victimized by social injustice.
“Just personally to me, it means a lot to have that patch on the front because it shows that my team is unified in equality together,” said senior running back Michael Carter.
Fox said it’s important for fans to see what is meaningful to UNC’s football team, not just as athletes but as humans.
“We want to be more than just athletes that they see on the field,” he said. “We want them to see our values, be able to see what we’re pushing to strive for in the future.”
The NCAA will also allow student-athletes to change the name on the back of the uniform where the player name is traditionally located and, as authorized by the school or conference, will allow names/words intended to celebrate or memorialize people, events or other causes. The names or words may vary by players on a team.
This decision by the NCAA reflects a move seen by many professional sports leagues since returning to action. The NBA and WNBA allowed its players to wear messages of social justice on uniforms, replacing last names. The WNBA — which dedicated its season to Breonna Taylor — played its first games with Taylor’s name across the back of each jersey.
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