Penn State Kicker Announces He Is Receiving Treatment Again For Eating Disorder

Penn State kicker Joey Julius did not take part in Penn State’s Blue and White spring scrimmage on April 22 and missed a portion of the spring semester while he received further treatment at the McCallum Place Eating Disorder Center in St. Louis, the redshirt junior announced on Friday.

In a Facebook post, Julius explained his recent absence from the team and noted that he will be starting a blog shortly to detail his experience. Per , Penn State’s student paper, Julius returned to St. Louis on April 1.

“Just as an update I am doing well and the treatment is helping,” Julius wrote. “There is light at the end of the tunnel. It is just a very long tunnel.”

Julius missed part of the Nittany Lions’ 2016 spring practice session for the same reason—while he and the Penn State staff did not directly address it at the time, Julius posted about his experience handling binge eating disorder, or BED, in October, revealing that he missed part of the spring session to receive treatment at the McCallum Place. BED is among the most common eating disorders in the United States; those affected by BED recurrently eat large quantities of food in a rushed manner, often past the point of discomfort.

By the time Julius first opened up about his BED diagnosis, hewas already a mini-celebrity in college football, having destroyed both Kent State’s Kavious Price and Michigan’s Jourdan Lewis in kickoff coverage. (The kickoff return squads at Minnesota and Maryland took note; in back-to-back weeks, both teams had players lay cheap shots on Julius and earn ejections.)

Julius redshirted his freshman season in 2014, meaning he will be back to fuck up unsuspecting returnmen and provide a refreshingly honest and open discourse on eating disorders for at least two more years. His statement can be read below:

Hello friends and family. I just wanted to let everyone know since I have been asked a bunch why I was not at blue white or why I am not at school. I have been struggling over the last couple months with my eating disorder. It got to the point where I had to return to St. Louis to seek further treatment at the McCallum place. Recovery is a wonderful and beautiful thing that I am working on returning too. For anyone out there that has similar struggles I hope you too can seek help in some way. Your feelings should be completely validated and I wish you all the best in your search for recovery. Just as an update I am doing well and the treatment is helping. There is light at the end of the tunnel. It is just a very long tunnel. For my friends and family I would love to hear how you are doing and I am ready to talk to you guys. I love getting letters and have found some peace in writing them as well.... Just to reiterate recovery is possible. I would also like to announce that I will be starting a blog here shortly and will upload the link soon.