The NFL likes to limit how much unique swag players can wear on game days. But one of the last bastions of creative uniform freedom is the mouth guard. Now, players can’t put logos or brand names or personal messages on them, but other than that, they are fair game.
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At Alabama a few years ago, during Nick Saban’s final stretch as the head coach of the Crimson Tide, a few defensive backs—Terrion Arnold, Brian Branch, and Kool-Aid McKinstry had a tradition of wearing green mouthpieces. The traditional Saban likely wasn’t a big fan of that. The lime green didn’t exactly go with the crimson and white of Alabama’s uniforms.
One day, the legendary head coach decided to invite former Alabama running back Bo Scarbrough, who won two national championships at Tuscaloosa in 2015 and 2017, to talk to the team. According to Arnold, who’s now with the Lions alongside Branch, Scarbrough called out the players for wearing green mouth guards, pointing out the obvious that Alabama “ain’t green”.
“We was all in the weight room, coach Saban had him come and talk to us. And when he came and talked to us, he was like, ‘Ya’ll over here at ‘Bama, ya’ll wearing green mouth pieces? We ain’t green!’ In my head, I’m like, you gonna be direct? There’s only three people that wear green mouthpieces. Say it! Go ahead and be direct!”
Then, in a show of solidarity, Alabama’s Heisman-winning QB at the time, Bryce Young, now with the Carolina Panthers, decided how the players would respond to Scarbrough’s message: they would all wear green mouth guards that week.
“After that, that’s when I gained respect for Bryce, because we had him in the locker room, Bryce was like, ‘Man, we all wearing green mouthpieces this week.’ I was like aight, bet, I’m on that, like, you’re quarterback saying that, I’m on that.”
The green mouth guards, as part of a uniform that was largely crimson and white, are already strange enough. But Branch added even more flair to his mouth guard look. He stuck it in the top of his helmet instead of in his mouth, where the mouth guard can do some mouth guarding. He has continued that trend with the Lions, whose uniforms are Honolulu blue, silver, and white.
A lot of players do the same between plays. But they put the mouth guard in their mouth during the action. Branch leaves his in his helmet throughout the game. And the reason for his little tradition is simple: he says he can’t breathe very well when he puts it in.
Sometimes, the most obvious answer is the correct one.
