ATHENS — Georgia football fans — and players — clamoring for the team to wear black jerseys apparently will have to wait 'til next year.

Coach Mark Richt fueled speculation on his radio call-in show Monday night that the team might wear black jerseys (rather than the traditional red) in one of its two remaining home games this season, saying he thinks doing so once a year “would be awesome.” But when asked about the comment at his weekly news conference Tuesday, Richt said he wasn’t referring to this season.

“No. Maybe next year,” he said.

“My goal would be to have one game next year where we could do that,” Richt elaborated. “Maybe even have a planned event before the season starts and not have a big secret about it. … Do it at a time where we’re not wearing black jerseys on a sweltering hot day.

“Georgia’s the red and black. So to have a black jersey to me is not … a radical thing at all. It’s part of who we are. …. If your colors don’t include black and you do a blackout, then maybe it’s a little more radical. But for us to be in black one game a year would make sense.”

Georgia famously wore black jerseys in a 2007 victory over Auburn and last wore them in a 2008 loss to Alabama.