Hail to the Red Wolves or is it Howl to the Red Wolves?
Washington Redskins fans are twiddling their thumbs in anticipation of the team’s new name. Reports say an official announcement to the name change is “imminent” and could come any day now. Earlier reports suggested the team will move away from the Native American imagery of before.
Thus, a number of names have popped up as suggestions for the new name. However, one particular name is sticking out and gaining support from fans, Red Wolves or RedWolves.
Former Washington player Fred Smoot ignited the fire during an interview with NBC Sports Washington. Now, the hype of the name is flaming.
“If you’re going for a total re-brand, you can go Red Wolves. I’ve never heard anybody say anything about that. The Wolf is almost a spirit animal for Native Americans. I think the Red Wolves would be one of those things that I heard nobody say that I think would be a great one. I can just see FedEx Field and the 80,000 people just howling like Wolves. That would really be something.”
Fred Smoot via NBC Sports Washington
Since, the likes of Dwayne Haskins, Kevin Durant and Will Compton have threw their support to the name.
Saturday evening the speculation of the potential new name grew with longtime DC sports personality Chick Hernandez giving what could be a clue to the new name.
Redskins Twitter went on the prowl to find out if Hernandez was dropping a clue or just flaming the speculation. Turns out Ray Brown, a former NFL offensive lineman and coach, went to Arkansas State. Arkansas State changed its mascot in 2008 from “Indians” to “Red Wolves.”
Surely, that could be pure coincidence. However, the architect of the Red Wolves name then added to the speculation with a hint of his own.
Smoot’s tweet was met by replies of support from numerous fans, including Redskins insiders, Hernandez, Lake Lewis Jr and Al Galdi.
Could it still be just the guys having a bit of fun to the brewing speculation? Possibly?! But, then current Washington defensive lineman Jonathan Allen threw fans into hysteria with his tweet.
For quite some time Washington Warriors seemed to be a favorite choice to theorize the new name being. And it could still be reality. But, at this point given the growing support, anything other than Red Wolves may be a huge letdown for Washington fans.
