Ben Bartch's improbable path to becoming 49ers starter built on bulk via vile smoothies

San Francisco Chronicle​

a day ago

Have you heard about the third-string Division III tight end who became a fourth-round NFL draft pick in two years?
That's not a setup for a punch line. It's the story of Ben Bartch, the San Francisco 49ers ' new starting left guard who changed his football fortunes by changing positions and transforming his body. Need tips on gaining 93 pounds in a presidential term? Bartch is your man.
Bartch, 27, a sixth-year NFL veteran, is among the league's unlikeliest players. There are zero-star high school recruits and then there's Bartch, who pitched himself to coaches at Saint John's University in Collegeville, Minn., where the Johnnies compete in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference against the likes of Hamline University and the College of St. Scholastica.
Bartch arrived on campus as a 6-foot-6, 215-pound tight end from Blanchet Catholic High School in Salem, Ore. His mom, Jennifer, recalls he was a 'stringbean.' His teammate and roommate, Richard Carriveau, termed him a 'skinny twig.' Four years later — after he had four catches in his first two seasons — Bartch was a behemoth off to the big leagues: a 308-pound All-America left tackle, he became the first Division III player drafted in five years when the Jaguars took him 116th in the 2020 draft.
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Bartch called his parents after his sophomore season to tell them about his position switch. Asked whether she thought the change would pave a path to the NFL for her son, Jennifer began laughing before answering.
'No,' she said. 'Not at all. Like, not at all. … But then it was like, 'So now I guess we have to sign up for NFL+.''
Carriveau, a linebacker, explained that he and Bartch both spent their first two seasons stuck behind All-Americans. Their dream? Start for their last two years, get their degrees and get on with their post-football lives. Instead, Bartch became the fourth Division III player drafted in the first four rounds in 30 years.
'It's an insane story,' Carriveau said. 'I don't think Ben realizes it.'
Bartch is a free spirit who has a kindred spirit in larger-than-life tight end George Kittle. They recently discussed a quote that captures their shared outlook: You don't have to be fearless to be brave.
Bartch's improbable path to the NFL hasn't been his only adventure. He studied abroad in South Africa in college and served as a computer lab tutor for local children. He slept in the back of the 'Green Hornet,' his 1995 Chevy Silverado, when he road-tripped from Jacksonville, Fla., to his hometown of McMinnville, Ore., after his rookie season. His mom noted he never has been burdened by 'limiting beliefs' about the places he can go or what he can accomplish. He joined the track team as a senior at Blanchet and won a state title in the discus.
His outlook is part of why offensive line coach Chris Foerster identified Bartch to replace starting left guard Aaron Banks, who signed a big-money contract with the Packers in March. Bartch isn't a slam-dunk solution after making just 22 starts in his first five seasons of a career that was derailed by a severe knee injury in 2022.
But Bartch has appeared impervious to his stressful situation this offseason. Foerster began by saying, 'I love Ben Bartch' when asked about his new starter with a perma-smile.
'The guy's got a good attitude,' said Foerster, a 32-year NFL veteran. 'About football. About life. He's got a good perspective on things, and I like that with a guy. Because you want them to take it seriously. But life and death every day? It's seven months. It's seven days a week. And life and death every day is a tough way to live. So guys who do that usually don't make it. He cares. But bad things are going to happen. And it's how are you going to recover from them?'
A Catholic, Bartch credits his faith for a perspective that lessens anxiety and helps him handle adversity. He has made just five starts since he suffered a dislocated knee that included ligament damage three years ago. Last year, after an impressive fill-in start in a loss to Buffalo in December, he suffered a season-ending ankle injury the next week. He missed the start of training camp with a quadriceps injury. And he left practice Tuesday with an elbow injury that could sideline him for about a week.
'I'm a man of faith, and I have that trust in a bigger plan,' Bartch said. 'And I'm filled with a lot of gratitude. I think you control certain things, and there's certain things in life you can't control. I don't look back because I'm not going there. I'm grateful for it all, good and bad. Because that's life. That's football.'
Bartch is still playing football because he rarely stopped eating during his final two college seasons. The endless buffet began when he was a 245-pound tight end determined to start at left tackle. He gained 30 pounds in three months before his junior year by eating five meals and consuming 200 to 250 grams of protein a day.
His food consumption has taken on a mythical quality. His strength and conditioning coach, Justin Rost, referenced the 'loaf-of-bread story' that involved a jar of peanut butter and a tub of jam. There's also the eating-two-pounds-of-spaghetti-in-one-sitting story (Said Rost: 'I thought that was disgusting.') And Carriveau wistfully recalls his blender that Bartch used to make his 'diabolical' smoothies, as if the appliance should be residing in the Smithsonian.
Jacksonville's 4th-round pick: Ben Bartch's college transformation 😳 pic.twitter.com/Ohv53XYveV
— PFF College (@PFF_College) April 25, 2020
Bartch's smoothies were nasty enough to gain national attention before the 2020 draft, with Bartch making the concoction live on ESPN during the NFL scouting combine. As prospects worked to wow scouts, Bartch nauseated the audience. The ingredients: seven scrambled eggs, cottage cheese, grits, peanut butter, a banana and red Gatorade.
'Ben would throw up because he'd eat so much food,' Rost said. 'So then we decided he had to drink it. It was like, 'You've got to figure out how to drink some protein.' So he made this crazy smoothie. And then the smoothie made him puke because it was so disgusting. People are always like, 'You must be the guy behind the smoothie.' I disagree. It was mostly Ben's idea of what to put in it.'
'So my big contribution to the whole shake,' he explained, 'was just flavoring.'
The hard-to-keep-down smoothie was a reason Bartch began routinely knocking down linemen and linebackers late in his first season as a starter. He'd been a violent blocking tight end — Rost recalls him knocking off an opponent's helmet with a crushing blow as a sophomore — but he packed an even bigger punch after packing on the pounds.
'You watch your buddies play, but he's on offense and I'm on defense,' Carriveau said. 'So I didn't really pay attention until I started watching film and I'm like, 'Wow, I didn't know Bartch could block this well.' And then we'd go up against each other in practice and he'd lay me on my butt. And it was like, 'Where did this come from?''
Bartch became an NFL prospect because he retained the movement skills of a tight end despite adding the equivalent of about 12 gallons of water to his frame during college. Foerster noted his flexibility and athleticism make Bartch a 'good fit' for the 49ers' offense, which requires offensive linemen to sprint to make second-level blocks.
'I wasn't a fat kid my whole life, and that's no disrespect to my brothers that are bigger dudes,' Bartch said. 'But I think that's been an advantage as far as being able to move and bend in different ways.'
Bartch has to work to remain a bigger dude, consuming about 5,200 calories daily to maintain his 315-pound frame. He said he has given thought to his post-football future when he can shed weight, but he's in no rush to get started.
He's still busy enjoying a life no one imagined for him when he was a third-string Division III tight end. Not even Bartch, a free spirit never burdened by limiting beliefs, fully envisioned the heights he'd reach and just how big he'd become.