Penn State defensive end says program neglected his mental health

It has been a rough past few months for the mental health of Penn State defensive end Bryce Mostella. In a Twitter thread posted Saturday, the redshirt freshman detailed how the Nittany Lions coaching staff contributed to his November hospitalization for suicidal ideation.

Mostella claimed that gaining weight was the team’s top priority for him when he joined the program in 2020. Listed at 6-foot-6 and just under 230 pounds, he understood the need to get stronger to compete at a higher level. However, despite trying his best, he struggled to reach the goals set for him.

The defensive end said the inability to put on weight led to his diagnosis with anxiety and depression, which he revealed to head coach James Franklin and defensive line coach John Scott. Although he had hope to receive support in light of the news, that unfortunately wasn’t the case.

“In the coming months (Franklin) made it clear to me he wasn’t satisfied with my progress,” he wrote. “The narrative went from me being ‘a hard worker who’s going to figure it out’ to someone who ‘doesn’t care about football or the team.’ Every encounter he insisted that I didn’t want to be at Penn State and didn’t want to play football, contrary to what I continuously told him.”

Franklin allegedly told Mostella if he didn’t gain an unspecified amount of weight by December, he would be kicked off the team and lose his scholarship. The defensive end lost 30 pounds from that point, weighing the lowest he had since his freshman year of high school. This led to his hospitalization on Nov. 3 for suicidal ideation, and he was later diagnosed with an eating disorder and heart condition.

Since the beginning of August, Mostella claimed his mother made multiple attempts to contact Franklin and Scott regarding her son’s mental health. She never received a response. Scott later told her that he had changed his number, which Mostella said is not true. While he was in the hospital, Mostella was removed from the defensive line group chat.

When he finally got back in contact with the staff, they dropped a bombshell on him.

“I was given 2 options, transfer or medically retire,” he wrote. “The option of returning to the team wasn’t shared with me however upon asking it was stated that I was within my rights to do so.”

He said staff members told him they would take care of everything and to focus on getting better. He medically withdrew from the semester, which he now says was a big mistake.

Mostella came back from winter break to find out he had no classes. He needed to re-enroll, but because he did so late, it is likely to be delayed until next summer.

“I now have to find a way to pay the school $3,000+ because I’ve been staying at my on-campus apartment and I have nowhere else to go,” he wrote. “I can’t go home, since there is no room for me to stay there. That is all. The only goal of this was to make people aware of the situations, and types of people you may be dealing with if you or a loved one engage with particular systems.”

Mostella seems intent on continuing out his career with Penn State, so hopefully, he is able to get this mess worked out before next season. It will also be interesting to see if Franklin, Scott or any of the Nittany Lions staff have a response to the defensive end’s allegations.