Penn State kicker Joey Julius opens up about eating disorder
Joey Julius has been the subject of many fat kicker jokes.
At 270 pounds, he has an atypical frame for the kicker position. That’s one of the reasons he’s been able to make some highlight-reel tackles this year.
But Julius has admittedly struggled with his weight. He even checked himself into a facility to deal with his eating disorder.
He shared this post on Facebook that documented his battle with food:
After a long consideration of not only myself, my family, and my team I have decided to go public about my absence from the team during spring ball of 2016 and thru out this summer. I was admitted into the McCallum place on may 9th for eating disorders. Due to my increase in not only weight but also depression and anxiety my team physicians started to notice not only a change in my overall happiness but also my performance as a normal human being. Throughout this whole process I learned a lot about myself. I learned that for the last 11 years of my life I have suffered through a disorder known as binge eating disorder. Although I showed signs of bilemia through stints of purging from extreme anxiety placed on myself I am certain that binge eating disorder is my true diagnosis thru extensive care this summer for about three months of treatment in St. LOUIS Missouri until July 26th. In order to come to this conclusion I have no one to thank except for Coach James Franklin and my training staff and doctors that stuck with me throughout this whole process. They all noticed that I was not myself and that I needed extensive care such as the program in St. Louis that I attended this summer. I love Penn State and everything about this program and school and continue to do what I can to bring not only respect but honor to the name that so many before me Sacrificed to create. WE ARE PENN STATE and forever will be PENN STATE! If anyone and I mean anyone guy or girl is struggling with the the same or anything similar please message me as I will be in immediate contact to help in any way i can to provide information or insight on my struggles and I would love to help. Praise be to God and thank him for my ability to be honest about this.
That’s not an easy thing for a college kid, or anybody, to admit.
Julius obviously has plenty of support from his Penn State teammates. We saw that when benches cleared after he was the victim of a cheap shot on Saturday.
Here’s hoping that Julius fully overcomes this disorder and still delivers some big-time hits on special teams.