Porter Gustin: There's a lot more to this Saints rookie than his ‘Larry Bird shorts’

SmashMouth · 08-12-2019, 03:55 AM

Saints rookie Porter Gustin is hard to miss on the practice field.

Every day of on-field work since training camp began a little more than two weeks ago, Gustin stands out with his No. 58 jersey pulled up, leaving his midriff exposed.

But most of all, there’s the athletic shorts, which Gustin either tucks in or rolls up high, a sight that brings back memories of OP corduroy shorts or the NBA shorts of the 1980s.

“We refer to those as the Larry Bird shorts,” linebackers coach Mike Nolan said with a chuckle. “Some guys are bringing it back.”

When asked about how Gustin wore his shorts, coach Sean Payton said the players all have their individual fashion.

But then Payton could barely contain a grin before jokingly putting the blame on head equipment manager John Baumgartner.

“At first I got mad at Bum,” Payton said. “But he said those were the requested sizes.”

There’s more to Gustin than just his fashion sense on the football field, of course.

The 6-foot-5, 260-pound Gustin joined the Saints in late April as an undrafted free agent out of USC, where he played outside linebacker and totaled 21.5 sacks.

Those days are over now, as Gustin has made the switch from outside linebacker to defensive end and he’s quickly becoming comfortable with the new position.

“I think defensive end has a lot of similarities to what I did in college,” Gustin said. “The outside backer is the SAM (strong side) backer here, so there are a lot of similar things. A couple of adjustments with putting my hand on the ground and a couple of other things, but I think it’s been a good transition.”

As to why he prefers to practice with his shorts up high, there’s an easy explanation going back to his high school playing days.

“I’d get really sweaty in practice and my shorts would be soaked, dripping and flapping around on my knees,” Gustin said. “I just got tired of it and I didn’t really like it, so I started tucking them up and it went from there. I did it in college, I do it now and it’s just hard to go back once you start doing it like that.”

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08-12-2019, 03:55 AM	#1
SmashMouth I donated, did you? Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Mandeville, LA Posts: 38,982 Blog Entries: 29	Porter Gustin: There's a lot more to this Saints rookie than his ‘Larry Bird shorts’ Saints rookie Porter Gustin is hard to miss on the practice field. Every day of on-field work since training camp began a little more than two weeks ago, Gustin stands out with his No. 58 jersey pulled up, leaving his midriff exposed. But most of all, there’s the athletic shorts, which Gustin either tucks in or rolls up high, a sight that brings back memories of OP corduroy shorts or the NBA shorts of the 1980s. “We refer to those as the Larry Bird shorts,” linebackers coach Mike Nolan said with a chuckle. “Some guys are bringing it back.” When asked about how Gustin wore his shorts, coach Sean Payton said the players all have their individual fashion. But then Payton could barely contain a grin before jokingly putting the blame on head equipment manager John Baumgartner. “At first I got mad at Bum,” Payton said. “But he said those were the requested sizes.” There’s more to Gustin than just his fashion sense on the football field, of course. The 6-foot-5, 260-pound Gustin joined the Saints in late April as an undrafted free agent out of USC, where he played outside linebacker and totaled 21.5 sacks. Those days are over now, as Gustin has made the switch from outside linebacker to defensive end and he’s quickly becoming comfortable with the new position. “I think defensive end has a lot of similarities to what I did in college,” Gustin said. “The outside backer is the SAM (strong side) backer here, so there are a lot of similar things. A couple of adjustments with putting my hand on the ground and a couple of other things, but I think it’s been a good transition.” As to why he prefers to practice with his shorts up high, there’s an easy explanation going back to his high school playing days. “I’d get really sweaty in practice and my shorts would be soaked, dripping and flapping around on my knees,” Gustin said. “I just got tired of it and I didn’t really like it, so I started tucking them up and it went from there. I did it in college, I do it now and it’s just hard to go back once you start doing it like that.” more on NOLA Attached Thumbnails foreverfan likes this.