As soon as he walked onto the field, Isaiah Ballard had the attention of almost everybody at the Glass Bowl.

While his teammates milled around at the University of Toledo's media and photo day Saturday in their brand-new, all-midnight blue home uniforms, Ballard was fashionably conspicuous in the Rockets' pristine all-white road jersey and pants.

"That's a good look right there," UT senior linebacker Archie Donald said as Ballard walked by. "We might need to open the season in those [uniforms]."

Ever since the coaching staff unveiled the team's new threads to the players, they have been the talk of training camp.

"These jerseys are unbelievable," sophomore quarterback Austin Dantin said. "This is the first time I've gotten to put it on, and I love it. I took pictures of it and sent them to my family."

The new uniforms are the brainchild of coach Tim Beckman, his staff, and officials from Under Armour, who approached Beckman over the offseason and asked if UT would be interested in having the apparel company become the sole equipment provider to the program.

Last season, the Rockets wore Under Armour cleats, gloves, and other apparel, but they wore jerseys and pants made by Russell Athletic.

"Now we're the only team in the Midwest that wears Under Armour," Beckman said. "They came to us with the different designs from the other schools that wear Under Armour, like Auburn and South Florida and Maryland. Then we kind of picked from the different looks what we liked and didn't like."

The result was a midnight blue home uniform with white and gold piping down the sides and around the neck, and a white road jersey with midnight blue and gold piping down the sides and around the neck.

Both jerseys have "TOLEDO" written across the front with rounded-off numerals that almost give the uniforms a space-age feel, which is befitting for a team nicknamed the Rockets.

"That's the motto - you look good, you play good," Dantin joked. "Coming out here for the first game against Arizona [on Sept. 3], the crowd will have never seen these jerseys before. I think it'll be really exciting for us. I don't know how much of an edge it'll actually give us, but it's still cool."

SWANSON LEAVES: After sitting out spring practices following offseason shoulder surgery, sophomore cornerback Daxton Swanson opted not to report for training camp Wednesday and has left the program, Beckman said.

Swanson led the Rockets with seven pass breakups last season and had 31 tackles in 10 contests, including nine starts.

"Dax was a very good player," junior strong safety and Iowa transfer Diauntae Morrow said. "He had a lot of potential and did a lot of good work while he was here. But it's just the game of football. He had to leave for certain reasons, and coach Beckman always teaches us that when one man goes down, another has to step up."

It didn't take long for others to take up Swanson's spot in the defensive backfield - and even his old jersey number.

Morrow was wearing No. 5 Saturday after sporting No. 17 in spring workouts.

"I had to switch the number," Morrow said. "I'm just a single digit fan. I don't like double digit numbers."

WEBER LEAVES TOO: Also not reporting for training camp Wednesday was junior kicker Andrew Weber, a walk-on from Perrysburg who has decided to give up football.

A freelance photographer for US Presswire, Weber has had his work featured in Sports Illustrated, ESPN The Magazine, and on ESPN.com.

Contact Zach Silka at:

zsilka@theblade.com

or 419-724-6084.

First Published August 8, 2010, 1:16 p.m.