By Mason Kelley

GoHuskies.com

When Travis Feeney arrived at Washington as a freshman, the future was uncertain. Like any first-year player, there were no guarantees about how his career would unfold.

He remembers walking down the Husky Stadium tunnel five years ago – before the renovation – wearing the program’s traditional gold helmets. Back then, anything was possible, but nothing was promised.

“As a freshman running out there, you don’t know if you’re going to get out on that field,” he said. “You don’t know if you’re going to start or if you’re even going to play. Now knowing this is my senior year. I’m starting. I’m playing. To wear that uniform one more time in front of the home fans is going to be awesome.”

As the Huskies’ captains discussed uniform combinations before the season, Feeney thought it would be good for the program to go with a throwback helmet of sorts for the seniors’ final home game.

He suggested to his teammates that, during Friday’s 12:30 p.m. Apple Cup matchup with Washington State, they suit up in the gold helmets they wear every day in practice.

“I thought it would be a cool idea to wear the helmet we came in with, the one we wore our first couple of years,” he said.

When Feeney was a freshman, the program had one helmet. No white lids. No black helmets, just the traditional gold.

“Let’s finish it off in what we came in with, what we practice in every day,” he said.

Why? Well, the idea was about more than looking back on something special to this group of seniors. The helmets the team wears in practice every day represent the program’s past. There is a history Feeney and his teammates want to honor.

“This has been the Dawgs’ helmet forever,” Feeney said. “We had the purple helmet before, but other than that, this has been the sign of Husky football. I think this is a good way to represent ourselves as we go out Friday.”

These helmets don’t shine like the chrome gold the program wore at Oregon State last week. These helmets have been beaten up throughout the year. The gashes in the paint are symbol of a season’s worth of hard work. The marks are a testament to the effort required to build a program.

The only difference this week will be the stripe over the crown of the helmet and “W,” which was added to each side of every helmet Tuesday.

“It represents us, all the practicing we do, all the hard work we put in, and all the history we have,” Feeney said. “It’s a thank you to the alumni, all the people who represent us, everybody who supports us.”

Feeney and the rest of Washington’s seniors want to go out the way they came in. They want to thank the fans and the players who paved the way.

“It’s going to mean the world to me,” Feeney said. “It’s the last one, the last ride, the last home game. I’m just going to leave everything out there. To be able to wear what we came in with, that’s something unique. That’s something special. That’s something you always dream of.”

Once the game starts, though, a helmet is just a helmet.

“It doesn’t matter what we wear,” Feeney said. “We could wear our practice jerseys out there. It doesn’t change how we’re going to feel about the game. We could wear jerseys from 20 years ago, we’re still going to be the Huskies.”