A lot of people have come to love Penn State kicker Joey Julius during the 2016 college football season. Julius handles kickoffs for the Nittany Lions and has become an internet darling due to his size and the fact that he has totally lit up kick returners a few times this year.
But as it turns out, Julius’ size has caused him problems for more than a decade. He left the program during the spring for an undisclosed medical reason, and on Monday, he announced on his Facebook page that this leave had to do with an eating disorder.
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As Julius explained, he left Pennsylvania for the McCallum Place Eating Disorder Center in Missouri. He claims that this process helped him learn that he’s suffered from an eating disorder for the last 11 years, and that he spent three months in the facility.
Julius cannot get enough credit for opening up about something like this. This is something extremely personal, so for him to be so blunt and forthcoming about his battle with binge eating disorder is really inspiring. Plus there is a stigma around mental health, especially with regards to men having eating disorders, that makes revealing something like this really difficult.
Keep fighting the good fight, Joey. Oh, and keep lighting up returners, because that never stops being wonderful.
