Offensive lineman Bryce Effner arrived on the Penn State campus on June 24, 2018. He weighed 265 pounds.

Since then, the 6-foot-5 Illinois native has gained one pound every 10 days. That’s three pounds a month. Three hundred pounds is now just a late-night snack away.

On purpose. It’s been Eff’ing crazy.

How did he do it?

“Chick-fil-A,” he said, hardly waiting a half-beat to digest the question.

Just Chick-fil-A, I asked.

“Mostly Chick-fil-A and some late-night Subway orders,” he said in all seriousness, with only a hint of a smile. “Mostly those two places. You just have to eat and eat, work out and drink a lot of water.”

“Ewww,” went a chorus of his teammate, listening in on the conversation. Effner’s diet, to them, was tough to stomach.

Effner doesn't care. It’s all for a purpose.

“I came in at 265 and I weighed in at 299 last time we checked,” Effner said last week, his freshman year of college now under his — er, ever-widening — belt. Remarkably, his body fat has stayed pretty much the same, going from 19% to 21%.

“I gained mostly muscle,” he pointed out. “Mostly muscle. Make sure you get that down.”

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Effner addressed this weighty issue last Wednesday, during Penn State’s first-ever no-longer-a-freshman media day on the PSU practice fields. He was surrounded by a gaggle of super-sized teammates who giggled at his every answer.

Food is funny, especially when you’re a lineman. And it’s a big deal. Effner was surrounded by six other young Nittany Lions, who with Effner weighed in at a collective ton or so. They were his peers of a certain scale, more or less. Usually more.

Effner came to PSU 11 months ago a bit on the small side. (Really, at least weight-wise.) His motivation for adding lbs. was pretty simple:

“Do you know how hard it block 300 pound-dudes across the line of scrimmage from you when you’re only 265?” Effner asked. “It’s hard! It’s really hard, that’s hard it is. I put on weigh not because I wanted to, but out of necessity.”

Effner redshirted in 2018, spending his time working on the scout team, eating and ordering take-out. Food is important to Effner. On Penn State’s GoPSUSports.com website he lists “hunting, off-roading and grilling” as his chief hobbies. He’s an altruistic sort as well, having volunteered at Feed My Starving Children and a homeless shelter back home in Aurora, Illinois.

So, he respects food. And he has packing on the pounds down to a science.

ON THE MENU

When it comes to Chick-fil-A, Effner has two options, one on campus on the ground floor of the HUB student union building, not far from his dorm. There’s another a few miles away, on North Atherton Street. He has his order at Chick-fil-A down to a science.

“Two sandwiches and a large fry,” he said without hesitation. “I hate the turtle back fries, though. I don’t put any sauce on my sandwiches. I’m a purist. I take it seriously. I don’t do soda. I’m not a big lemonade guy. I do water. I get one of the tall ones and chug that. “

If Effner is doing CFA on campus, he washes it all down by walking a few steps past the HUB food court to grab his favorite smoothie, a mixture of pomegranate juice blend, mangos, strawberries and peaches that is billed as “the antioxidant Shangri-La.”

“After I’m done with Chick-fil-A, I’ll often go to Jamba Juice and get a Pomegrante Paradise,” Effner said. “You gotta get the sugar. The sugar and carbs are what is good for gaining weight.”

Effner has a go-to order at Subway as well:

“Turkey Italiano. On Italian bread. No mayo. I hate mayo. I go just meat and cheese, with salt and vinegar on it. Sometimes I’ll put chips on the sandwich. It depends. If I’m feeling wild, I’ll get jalapeno. A cookie? Maybe, it depends on my mood. If I had a hard day, I’ll get a cookie.”

ANOTHER COURSE

Effner’s great food race isn’t over.

“My goal weight is 305, 315,” he said.

So, how many more Subway Turkey Italianos ’til you get there, I asked.

He bit on the question: “At least 30,” he replied.