It’s a rare day when the equipment guy conducts a press conference, but that was the case yesterday when Don Barnes followed Coach Gary Pinkel to the lectern in a Missouri football meeting room and described the new uniforms the Tigers will wear against Kansas on Saturday.

A mannequin dressed in the new duds was wheeled into the room on a dolly, and Barnes, Missouri’s director of equipment operations, explained to reporters all the bells and whistles of the Nike Pro Combat uniforms. The biggest change from Missouri’s normal uniform is a gray helmet with a black “M” rather than the usual black helmet with a gold “M.”

Nike designers met with Barnes over the summer to brainstorm.

“What do we have in Missouri?” Barnes asked rhetorically. “The home of the B-2 bomber at Whiteman Air Force Base. They saw that and jumped on that as an inspiration for that uniform: ‘Let’s design that thing to look like a Stealth Bomber.’ ”

Barnes said the fact that gray — it’s actually described as anthracite — isn’t one of MU’s school colors wasn’t a deterrent because Stealth Bombers are gray.

Barnes said Missouri Coach Gary Pinkel signed off on the new uniforms, which will be worn only one time. The jerseys are white with black trim. The pants are black. According to a Nike press release, the new uniforms are 37 percent lighter than current models.

Nike chose Missouri, Clemson, Florida, Florida State, LSU, Miami, Virginia Tech, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Texas and TCU to wear the uniforms one time this year. Nike picked up the tab, which is more than $100,000 per team. Each player will keep everything but the helmets, which will be auctioned at mutigers.com.

“The uniform is pretty sweet,” quarterback Blaine Gabbert said. “Nike did an awesome job.”

HEAD GAMES: Missouri tailback Derrick Washington said he’s had some lingering headaches but no nausea after suffering a concussion in the first half of Saturday’s 34-24 victory over Iowa State. Trainer Rex Sharp has been monitoring his situation. Washington wasn’t sure whether he would be able to practice today.

“These concussions are nothing to play with,” Washington said. “My head’s just been hurting for a few days. ... Rex said that’s normal. I’ll leave it to him. He said I should be fine.”

Washington said this is his first — and hopefully last — concussion.

“That feeling is something you’d never want to have,” he said. “I never want to have that feeling again. I didn’t know what happened the whole first half. We were watching film, and everything was new to me.”

Pinkel said he was “very confident” Washington will play against KU.

Recent studies have linked concussions to serious long-term brain problems, including dementia, in former football players. Pinkel said that information has made coaches, doctors and trainers more cautious about when a player with a concussion should be allowed to return to the field.

“Medical staffs know more about concussions and how to deal with them and getting guys back when they’re ready and not just asking an athlete, ‘Hey, do you want to go play?’ because generally most guys will want to play,” Pinkel said.

ALEXANDER THE GREAT: Missouri wide receiver Danario Alexander made quite an impression on Iowa State Coach Paul Rhoads. After Saturday’s game, Rhoads compared Alexander to Hall of Fame running back Jim Brown and world-record sprinter Usain Bolt.

“He’s got a little Jim Brown to him,” Rhoads said. “You look at him on the field, and you think he’s done and not going to be able to play this play very fast, and then he comes out of the blocks like the Olympic guy from Jamaica.”

Alexander, who has 1,411 yards and 12 touchdowns this year, was amused by the over-the-top praise.

“Jim Brown, he was a monster. I can’t be compared to him,” Alexander said. “That’s pretty funny. I’ve never heard anything like that.”

AT A LOSS TO EXPLAIN IT: Missouri’s kickoff and kickoff-return teams both rank last in the Big 12 in conference games. The Tigers average 18.7 yards per return — which seems especially paltry because Jeremy Maclin averaged 24 yards last year. Pinkel considers the kickoff coverage team, which has allowed Big 12 opponents an average starting point of their own 32-yard line, to be the bigger problem.

“Even if you stop them and you punt, what happens is the field position is going to switch,” he said. “Based on one kickoff, you can get in a rut for a whole quarter. So it’s a huge issue.”

With the exception of the Colorado game, when he was suspended, Tanner Mills has handled the kickoff duties. The last two weeks, he’s mostly been asked to deliver pooch or squib kicks. Against Kansas State, that strategy prevented star returner Brandon Banks from breaking off a touchdown return, but it also routinely allowed the Wildcats to start drives on their own 40.

“He’s done certainly an adequate job,” Pinkel said of Mills. “If he could kick it in the end zone every time, it would help. … We were getting a few more in the end zone than we are now. Obviously, it’s a coaching issue, because we’re not getting it done. We’re not covering it good enough. Some of the kicks have been fine, and some haven’t been.”

The silver lining this week is Kansas is almost as bad in both categories. The Jayhawks rank 10th in the Big 12 in kick coverage and seventh in kickoff returns.

FUN POLICE: Pinkel said he had never seen a play like the one Iowa State used to score its final touchdown on Saturday — a lateral to right tackle Scott Haughton — and hopes to never see one again. He compared it to the Fumblerooski play in which the quarterback leaves the ball on the ground and carries out a fake while an offensive lineman picks up the ball and runs with it.

That play was most famously run by Nebraska in the 1984 Orange Bowl, but in 1992 the NCAA banned any play that uses an intentional fumble. ISU’s play didn’t involve a fumble.

“It’s a great play, and they deserve it, but when I look at that, I think it’s like the old Fumblerooski and some of those really trick-type plays that the rules committee should really look at and evaluate a little bit,” Pinkel said. “That’s my opinion. We’re going to submit it. They won’t listen to me — I know that. If Mack Brown does it, they might listen to him.”

THE PEANUT GALLERY: Pinkel has had a run of success with walk-on kickers. For three years, Jeff Wolfert was automatic, and this year Grant Ressel is 20 for 21 on field goals and 35 for 35 on extra points.

Pinkel admits he has lucked into two great kickers, but he said Missouri does one unusual thing in practice to prepare kickers for pressure. At random times in practice, Ressel has to kick field goals while teammates and coaches try to distract him.

“We yell Grant’s name. It’s not like real life, actually, because we’re right in his face talking, throwing our hands up and everything,” Washington said. “He knocks them down, so I know he’s focused.”

Reach Joe Walljasper at 573-815-1783 or e-mail jwalljasper@columbiatribune.com.

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