It all started when Auburn equipment manager Tyler Renard sat down one day and watched SportsCenter.

Renard saw footage of the San Francisco 49ers practicing and doing so in a uniform very similar to their game uniforms. And he loved it. Renard said he thought back to the famous saying of current Colorado head coach Deion Sanders: look good, feel good, play good.

“How can we execute this for our football team,” Renard said he asked himself then.

Renard thought that meant an updated look in practice. Since he began working at Auburn in April 2022, Renard said he and the equipment staff have been working on tweaks to the team’s practice uniform to look more realistic.

Now, that meant adding the iconic white, blue and orange “power stripe” onto pants that might not be so traditional.

At Auburn, football uniforms are an institution. Auburn’s blue home shirts with power stripe on the sleeve date back to the 1960s, according to AuburnUniforms.com. The power stripe was seen on the white road uniform back in the 1950s. The stripe was added to Auburn’s pants in the 1960s as well.

Those pants have always been white.

That tradition hasn’t extended to practice. It wasn’t until last year that Auburn had the last name’s on the practice uniforms, and when adding names on the back, Renard said he also worked with Under Armour to add the word “Auburn” on the front.

Renard said Auburn has worn navy blue pants at practice over the last two seasons. Players and fans alike both liked the altered look from the Auburn tradition, but Renard said the previous blue practice pants didn’t look as good as he wanted.

So he asked Under Armour to add the power stripe to the practice uniform, too.

“It’s a good way to get our practice look into our brand,” Renard said.

At Auburn’s first practice of preseason camp on August 3, the team ran out wearing navy pants with the power stripe. Auburn’s baseball and softball teams have worn blue pants in games before, but seeing the look on the football team known for white pants caught some eyes.

Photos of the updated look quickly spread on social media. Fans clamored for Auburn to bring the all-navy look worn by the offense to game action.

“The power stripe is such an identifiable trademark and item,” Renard said.

Renard said players asked to wear the uniforms in a game too. The look was so well-received Auburn tweeted to quell the noise.

And Renard emphasized these pants aren’t coming to a game anytime soon, if ever.

There’s a key problem: the practice pants don’t have a slot for knee pads.

But even if Renard were to add the area for knee pads to the navy pants, creating uniforms for practice is a very different process than uniforms for a game. Because of the tradition surrounding the game uniforms, any change would require many more steps and approval from top administrators in the athletic department, whereas Renard and the equipment staff have the say over the practice look.

As of now, there is no plan to pursue wearing the power stripe navy pants in a game.

Frankly, Renard sees no reason to change Auburn’s tradition.

Matt Cohen covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on Twitter at @Matt_Cohen_ or email him at [email protected]