To support his girlfriend’s ongoing cancer treatment, Tennessee linebacker Arion Carter shaved off his long hair over the weekend. It was a move that surprised his girlfriend and inspired Vol Nation.
Volquest’s Austin Price posted the video to X on Sunday night. While shaving his girlfriend’s head, Carter began to shave off his own hair. His girlfriend, Mariah Bryant, couldn’t believe what she was seeing. At first, her jaw dropped in surprise. Then she couldn’t hold back from smiling.
“Aye, we twinning now!” Carter said. “Twins!”
According to Price’s post, Bryant is a 24-year-old BSN Trauma ICU nurse in Nashville. She is “fully recovering” from Stage 2 breast cancer with chemotherapy. But as her hair started to fall out from the treatments, she decided to go ahead and shave it all off. Little did she know that the veteran Tennessee linebacker would end up doing so, too.
Meet Mariah Bryant, a 24 year old BSN Trauma ICU Nurse in Nashville & the girlfriend of @ArionCarter. She is fully recovering from Stage 2 Breast Cancer with Chemo Treatments. Her hair started falling out so she had him cut off the rest & he surprised her by cutting his too. 🥹🥰 pic.twitter.com/28RhJSzDcT
Advertisement— Austin Price (@AustinPriceless) June 15, 2026
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The video made Tennessee fans emotional online as they commented with their reactions.
“I didn’t have Arion Carter making me tear up on a Monday morning on my bingo card, but yet here we are,” one user said.
“Prayers for Mariah! Arion continuing to prove what an amazing young man he is. May God bless them both,” another user said.
“Nobody fights alone,” one user said. “Prayers for a full recovery.”
“Man!! We are praying for total healing for her! Arion Carter you are a real one!” Brian Staley, the father of Tennessee receiver Braylon Staley, commented.
In just 12 hours of the video being up, which included an overnight stretch, the video already has more than 325,000 views on X. It’s garnered nearly 60 comments, 377 retweets/quote tweets, and 3,100+ likes at the time of this publication.
Arion Carter is one of the top leaders on Tennessee’s football team. While he did flirt with the NFL Draft and the transfer portal this past offseason, Carter will be returning to Tennessee for his senior season this upcoming fall.
Despite missing some time with an injury in 2025, Carter still led the SEC with 7.6 tackles per game. In his breakout 2024 season, Carter led the Vols’ playoff defense in total tackles on the season.
The Smyrna, TN, native is a three-time Fall SEC Academic Honor Roll selection, a 2025 SEC Football Leadership Council selection, an All-SEC Second Team selection, and a Jason Witten Collegiate Man of the Year semifinalist.
Carter returns to Tennessee as the leader of a stacked linebacker room that also includes Jeremiah Telander, Edwin Spillman, Penn State transfer Amare Campbell, Jadon Perlotte, and others.
