As the equipment manager of a small college football team, one of my job responsibilities is to purchase equipment for the team. So every year I have to choose the best American Football equipment that I can within the budget that the school allows me. Even though we are not an NFL franchise, I still like to stay with some of the top brands when choosing shoulder, thigh, and knee pads; and the same goes for the pants and cleats and helmets.
The most difficult part of the process is the budget of course. Purchasing the clothes and equipment for 22 guys and trying get the best deal on the best equipment within my budget can be a bit of a task. For the team cleats we always go with Jordon as our vendor because they have two styles in our school colors. When it comes to choosing helmets, its difficult to choose a vendor because I go with Schutt for shoulder pads and protective shirts, but personally I think that Riddell is just the better brand and makes higher quality helmets, even though I think that Schutt is one of the best makers of American Football Equipment.
I think the only reason that I choose Reebok for gloves is that I've had a long relationship with that brand from my days of coaching high school football. Not that it isn't a good brand for gloves, but there are other brands of comparable quality. If there is one name that stands out for American Football Equipment, it would be Nike, if only because that brand is just about synonymous with sports. Given an unlimited budget, I'm sure that I would go with an all Nike uniform.
Of course I would love to be more like the NFL and outfit my team like the Steelers, Saints or Colts or any of the other franchises, but the reality is that I have an annual budget for amateur players and I have to work within my means. When all is said and done I make sure my guys are wearing the best brands and safest products so they can go out and play like champions.
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