There were sandwiches and pizza. Even ice cream at 2 a.m. On a cruise with his family in December 2018, Ethan White indulged on all tastes that would soon be forbidden.



“It was kind of funny,” his mother Rosemary White said. “We were all like, ‘OK, let’s all eat because we’re not going to eat like this going forward.’ ”



While on the cruise, Ethan signed with Florida as a three-star offensive lineman from Clearwater. He allowed himself some dietary freedom, not just because it was a relishable time, knowing restrictions and intense workouts comprised his future; he also fully expected himself to quickly shed the unnecessary weight he carried. He wasn’t worried. The people who knew him best agreed with him. The people who only knew him from photos mocked him online. He was the lowest-ranked recruit in the Gators’ 2019 class, according to the 247Sports Composite.



Two weeks after the cruise, he enrolled...