Oregon football spring practice media availability

Oregon sophomore tight end Johnny Mundt leaves UO spring football practice on April 14. Mundt is one of several Ducks who used the offseason to add weight -- both in the weight room and the cafeteria.

(Thomas Boyd/The Oregonian)

EUGENE -- Standing in the middle of Oregon's sleek training room, Adam Korzun's office is all floor-to-ceiling smoked glass and dimmed lights. It is, he concedes, exactly what people envision when he tells them he is the Ducks’ director of sports nutrition.

"It's a quote-unquote 'glamorous' ideal for a profession," said Korzun, 33, who joined UO two years ago.

Except, he's rarely in that enviable office. On a recent morning, he was instead next door at the Hatfield-Dowlin football complex, de-stemming 30 pounds of green beans in Oregon's athletics cafeteria as part of the next day's menu served to the football, baseball and lacrosse teams. It’s not uncommon to find him moving a pallet of Gatorade from the Moshofsky Center next door, one of 12 that Oregon athletes will drink in a week.

Korzun represents the less conspicuous half -- the underbelly, maybe -- of Oregon football's big offseason storyline of getting bigger.

When Marcus Mariota and his offensive linemen speak of their winter weight gains, they mention their increased time and commitment in the weight room. That side of the story is both accurate and understandable: Setting personal bests in the squat and bench is flashier and more palatable than discussing setting an alarm for 3 a.m. to wake up and drink a protein shake, as some Ducks are doing.

Each half requires the other, however, and Oregon believes its hard work adding weight through eating and lifting will give it a better shot at dislodging big, burly Stanford from its Pac-12 championship perch in 2014.

"You can lift three times a day, but if you're not fueling your body properly you're not getting the gains out of it," said Korzun, a slightly balding man with a slight build whose office is somehow entirely devoid of protein-bar wrappers.

"Conversely you can eat perfectly and if you're not lifting you're just going to get big and not get stronger. It's what you do together, all the components coming together, that makes for improvement and performance."

Like all NCAA schools, Oregon is allowed to serve its scholarship athletes one specially prepared meal from its training table each day, along with a wide range of protein bars, snacks, drinks and other food before and after practices or competitions. Walk-ons can join for $8.72 per meal, which is the average price of a cafeteria meal for all students. (The NCAA is dramatically deregulated what schools can offer Tuesday, ruling athletes can now be served unlimited snacks and meals.)

The work of growing and slimming a roster goes far beyond Oregon's walls even if legislation keeps the training table’s options limited. Korzun and his staff have taken athletes to Costco a mile away for education lessons on good foods to buy and when to eat them.

"We find out what they like and make it healthy," said Korzun, who does not count calories, but instead tracks meals per day. "My personal message is, it's all on you. … Short of me placing a feeding tube for you I can't control what you eat, I can just give you the right education to make sure you choose the right things."

Serving just one meal a day means it's up to the players to fill in the gaps. The issue has gained significance in the past month, after Connecticut point guard Shabazz Napier said before the NCAA championship title game that he often went to sleep hungry because his scholarship check did not cover enough for food.

Some of the Ducks' biggest weight-gainers didn't seem to have that problem this offseason.

"Me and (offensive guard) Hamani Stevens go to the Chinese food buffet across from the arena on Tuesdays because it's a $6.99 buffet lunch and we do terrible things there," said redshirt freshman offensive lineman Doug Brenner, who added nearly 30 pounds in the offseason.

Some offseason eating stories sound like a "Man vs. Food" episode. Brenner tries to eat until what he calls "double full” -- “you eat till you’re full, then you eat till you’re double full,” he said. It helps explain why he would eat "a burrito the size of a cake and a couple cinnamon rolls" at a west Eugene breakfast joint.

Korzun grew up in a household whose family taught him to love science before going to culinary school after high school, which bored him. A sports nutrition class showed how to combine the two, a lightbulb moment that led to two sports nutrition degrees and a career that started as a sports dietitian for the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association and U.S. Olympic Committee.

Now, carb-heavy pancakes get protein powder added to them. Wings are baked, not fried. Protein-loaded burgers are served.

"The guys never know the difference," he said.

But they can sure see it. Defensive lineman Sam Kamp calls himself the “runt” at his position, but he added 29 pounds this offseason and has put on more than 50 since he arrived at Oregon three years ago. Fellow lineman T.J. Daniel added about 22 pounds and tight end Johnny Mundt 20. The list goes on.

"The responsibility really goes to the guys for buying in and following through," Korzun said. "Anybody can put on 30 pounds. Let's make it the right 30 pounds and learn that what they eat matters, and more importantly when they eat matters.

"The first step is timing. Are you eating something when you need to? The second step is composition, are you eating what you need for what you're doing? The third step is yeah, we'll put that perfect food in there. They get here at 6:30 a.m. and leave at noon, what can we get them and when?"

All three steps are seen at the training center's nutrition bar, which debuted in 2007 just steps from the Casanova Center's weight room, where all players used to lift before the Hatfield-Dowlin Complex opened next door in 2013 with its own weight room.

Behind the counter are plastic cups filled with a specially tailored recovery mix for each athlete -- nutrition facts for each are displayed on the cup on an adhesive strip of paper -- and a half-dozen refrigerators that stand hip high filled mostly with Gatorade and Muscle Milk, Oregon sponsors, but also chocolate milk.

For those on the go, two-foot tall clear plastic cylinders placed on the bar are filled with Goldfish crackers for simple carbohydrates, dried fruit, a trail mix blend and mixed nuts prepared in rotating flavors.

The bar is restocked from storage areas inside the indoor practice facility's kitchen, where a locked cage has every protein bar imaginable, along with rows of peanut butter and nuts. One floor above is the drinks. On this day, 12 pallets of Gatorade and two pallets of bottled water can be reached by a freight elevator whose brushed metal walls are scratched from countless deliveries.

"I can't tell you how many cases of strawberries and pineapple we go through a day," Korzun said.

Oregon does not use a third-party vendor for its food service, saying it is one of the only athletic departments in the country to keep its food chain in-house. Before the Hatfield-Dowlin Complex opened in 2013, training table food was transported from the main university campus across the river.

On-site cooking allows for faster turn-around, which Korzun said was key in implementing its change in feeding times. In the past athletes might practice in the morning but not eat their training table meal until dinner. Now, a full brunch immediately fuels players after practice.

Not everyone spent their winter adding weight by any means necessary, however. One of Korzun’s toughest challenges is adding mass to defensive backs and receivers while keeping them agile and lean. Offensive lineman Matt McFadden’s personal challenge was to lose "bad" weight and take pressure off joints by replacing fat with muscle. His key was staying disciplined despite living with a defensive lineman, Cody Carriger, and running back, Lane Roseberry, who spent the winter bulking up.

"Cody's having a shake and then a full meal and I'd like to do that but I can't," McFadden said. "It's all about being disciplined."

Even Brenner, who seeks out Eugene's biggest meals like he's finding a defensive lineman to flatten, says getting bigger in the cafeteria takes just as much focus as getting stronger in the weight room. It doesn’t make for as great a sound bite, but every bite adds up.

"We definitely do try to focus on eating healthy, though," Brenner said. "Large amounts of protein and fruits and veggies. Our nutritionist Adam and our whole nutrition staff is so good about that.

“We're on the see-food diet: you see food, you eat it."