Penn State football’s student-athletes will wear new uniform patches, helmet stickers, and warmup shirts this year to symbolize the team’s “journey for unity,” it announced Tuesday afternoon.

The small patch, which features an outline of Pennsylvania and two hands joining, will be worn above each uniform’s Big Ten logo on the right shoulder. It’ll also be featured on the back of each helmet.

“Penn State football student-athletes will wear a logo in competition this year to symbolize our journey for unity,” the team said in a statement. “Our goal is to construct a culture of respect, appreciation, and empathy for all differences. We are a country, state, and institution rooted in diversity, shared experience, and hope.”

Earlier this year, the NCAA ruled student-athletes could wear patches and words on uniforms to support social justice causes. Penn State acknowledged the changes months ago and said it would work to develop a cohesive plan and message for the team.

“We believe now, more than ever, we can help create a better society by publicly and peacefully acknowledging our pursuit to move beyond simply tolerating differences to recognizing these differences can enrich our commonwealth,” the team said.

Penn State Athletics said the new logo “was born” out of discussions between the football program’s leadership council. Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Sandy Barbour said she’s especially proud of the student-athletes and staff’s work on the campaign.

“Penn State United is one of many steps we have and will take as an athletics department to address social justice issues facing our country,” Barbour said. “At Penn State, we are all committed to fostering an environment of inclusivity, respect and appreciation throughout our 31 ICA programs.”

Athletics added Penn State’s other team can choose to adopt the same logo or introduce their own social justice initiatives when their seasons resume.

Penn State football will begin its season on the road against Indiana at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, October 24. The game will be broadcast nationally on FS1.

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