Baseball | 7/1/2016 11:35:00 AM

ABILENE – Just about nine months after announcing its agreement with the world's leading athletics apparel company, the ACU department of athletics is ready to sport the swoosh as its five-year deal with Nike begins Friday (July 1).When ACU director of athletics Lee De León announced the deal with Nike last September, the Wildcats still had almost a full season left to play wearing Adidas. However, beginning Friday, ACU joins Texas, TCU, Baylor, SMU and Houston as the only schools in Texas to have exclusive Nike contracts."This has already been great for recruiting," De León said. "When we tell recruits we have the only Nike contract in the Southland Conference, their eyes light up. It means something to kids that we've aligned ourselves with Nike, and I think it's just one of the many things that has us uniquely positioned moving forward."Nike will be the exclusive manufacturer of all Abilene Christian game uniforms, practice gear, sideline apparel and other equipment during the life of the five-year agreement.Nike is the exclusive apparel provider for a number of major NCAA Division I universities in the nation, including Duke, Florida, Florida State, Kentucky, LSU, North Carolina, Alabama, Arkansas, Ohio State, Michigan State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Ole Miss, Syracuse, UConn and USC. ACU becomes the third school to switch to Nike in recent months, joining Michigan and Tennessee."This move puts us on a stage with some of the top collegiate athletics programs and top athletes in the world," De León said. "Adidas has been a great partner for the last three years, but Nike gives us the opportunity to really enhance the student-athlete experience at ACU. We are absolutely thrilled to be part of the Nike family."