James Franklin: Defensive end Bryce Mostella 'not currently enrolled' at Penn State
Defensive end Bryce Mostella is “not currently enrolled” at Penn State, according to head coach James Franklin.
He does, however, remain on Penn State’s official roster as of Wednesday afternoon.
Mostella levied a series of allegations against Franklin and defensive line coach John Scott Jr. in a thread posted to Twitter on January 29.
Mostella stated in the thread that the Penn State staff had been “fixated” on his weight since his arrival on campus in 2020, threatening to kick him off the team if he didn’t add an unspecified amount of weight. He added that his failure to put on the weight they wanted caused a negative impact on his mental health.
Mostella tweeted that he was “hospitalized for suicidal ideation” in November of 2021, having lost 30 pounds. He said he was diagnosed with an eating disorder and heart condition.
The entire Twitter thread is viewable by clicking on the “Read the full conversation on Twitter” button below:
“He’s not currently enrolled,” Franklin said Wednesday. “So you can’t really be part of a team unless you’re enrolled in classes.”
Franklin declined to comment on the specifics of the allegations set forth by Mostella.
“As you can imagine, when things like this happen, we’re not going to have a response,” the Penn State head coach said. “We can’t have a response. It’s not the appropriate setting to do that. And obviously, in this setting, I don’t want to get into a whole lot of specifics.
“Obviously our focus is on all of our student-athletes in the entire athletic department, and specifically football, to make sure that our guys are healthy and safe. But that’s really what I can say at this point.”
Mostella was rated as a three-star prospect by the On3 Consensus coming out of high school, the No. 707 overall recruit and the No. 54 edge rusher in the Class of 2020.
Mostella played in one game last season, according to Pro Football Focus’s snap count data. All six of his snaps came on kick return coverage in Week Six. He did not play during his true freshman season in 2020.
