NCAA Jersey Size Guide: Your Size Depends on the Sport, Not the School

Professional leagues each have a house cut, and a college jersey inherits the cut of the sport it was made for. A university football jersey is boxy and short-hemmed, because it is a football jersey. A university basketball jersey is long with a wide shoulder, because it is a basketball jersey. Nothing changes at the college level except the crest.

That is genuinely good news for sizing. It means the chart you use is the chart for the sport, and it means a college jersey will behave exactly like the pro jersey in the same sport. Football roomy, basketball long, baseball full and buttoned, hockey loose, soccer slim — the sport decides.

The one thing that does change on campus collections is production runs. Colleges are produced in smaller batches than pro lines, and a campus collection can shift trims or fabric between releases. That is why a product page chart always beats a general guide — if the two disagree, trust the product page.

Measure your chest, find the band on the left, and read across. Each column is the size you would order in that sport. This is the fastest way to answer “what size am I in a college jersey?” without hunting for a different chart per college.

Two notes on reading it. Chest is measured under the arms with the tape level across the fullest part of the chest. And because the cuts differ so much, the same chest can land on the same letter in two sports and still produce two very different garments — compare the letter and the sport's fit description before you commit.

Once you know which sport the jersey belongs to, the chart in front of you is a shortcut. If you want the full picture — sleeve lengths, shorts and pants sizing, how the garment behaves after washing — go to the dedicated guide for that sport:

• Football: roomy and boxy, cut to sit over a t-shirt. NFL jersey size guide
• Basketball: long hem, wide shoulder, sized on the chest. NBA jersey size guide
• Baseball: button-front with no stretch at the placket. MLB jersey size guide
• Hockey: the loosest cut we carry, with a long raglan sleeve. NHL jersey size guide
• Soccer: slim and short, sized closely on the chest. Soccer jersey size guide

If you are not sure which sport a campus jersey is made for, check the product page. It will say football, basketball, baseball, hockey or soccer, and that word is what decides your chart.

Youth college jerseys are charted on age, height and chest together, and they are the sizes students and younger fans wear. Toddler sizing runs on height and weight alone.

When height and chest point to different rows, follow height. A young fan grows upward first, and a jersey that is one band short in the chest is the one that gets left in the drawer.

For a teenager who has outgrown the largest youth size, move to the smallest adult size in the right sport rather than a youth size that is technically still within range — adult cuts are longer rather than much wider, which is the right direction for a growing frame.

If you are buying from outside the United States, the letters on a college jersey are US sizes. Use the conversion below to find your equivalent before you read the sport chart — converting first and then sizing is far more reliable than guessing from a letter you recognize.

The same conversion for women’s tops, and for shorts and pants, is on our full size guide. Note that bottoms convert on a different scale from tops — do not carry a top conversion across to shorts.