With weight off his mind, Deiters helps to shape up NU's O-line

In the winter of his junior year at York High School, Neal Deiters stepped on a scale and saw a number that cemented his discontent.

Weighing in at 342 pounds was more than the normally gregarious Deiters - and his 6-foot-8 frame- could bear.

"I could feel it," Deiters said. "It was uncomfortable. And that's when it did come down."

No more polishing off 16-inch Mamma Maria's pepperoni pizzas while watching TV. Less time participating in the family's after-school eating ritual described by his mom, Kelly, as "grazing."

"There was always someone in the kitchen from 3 to 9 o'clock," she said.

Now a relatively chiseled 315 pounds, Deiters has grown into his role as the youngest and newest starter on Northwestern's offensive line.

When the Wildcats line up against No. 12 Penn State on Saturday at Ryan Field (3:30 p.m., ESPN), the redshirt freshman right tackle will be asked to control the edge against a defensive unit that leads the nation in points allowed (8.9 per game) and paces the Big Ten in sacks and tackles for loss.

Since this game serves as Deiters' third career start, no one expects dominance.

But Northwestern offensive line coach Adam Cushing sees Deiters' discipline at the training table - "he works very hard at not having an extra plate when everyone else on the O-Line is having a second plate," he said - as something that carries over to the field.

"I see improvement every single day he's out here," Cushing said. "He's a young player, but he's showing signs of really understanding the game better every day."

The recent gold standard for Northwestern offensive linemen is Zach Strief, the 2005 Football Writers Association first-team all-American right tackle who's in his fourth year with the New Orleans Saints.

Cushing doesn't want to measure Deiters against the 6-foot-7, 320-pound Strief -but doesn't exactly discourage the idea they'll one day be able to display similar resumes.

"He certainly has the ability to be a phenomenal football player," Cushing said. "It would be unfair to compare him to an all-American at this point in his career because he's so young, but he's got every ounce of the ability and every ounce of the toughness and attitude to be a great offensive lineman."

Deiters also possesses a certain level of humility - armchair psychologists might refer to it as a big man's instinctive reflex to cut himself down to size - that suggests Cushing's words won't swell his head.

When asked to boast about any particular weight-room achievements, Deiters volunteered an anecdote that indicated he showed up in the summer of 2008 at Northwestern as the stereotypical 328-pound weakling.

"When I came here, I couldn't do a body-weight dip to save my life," Deiters said. "Now I'm doing 6-to-10 reps at a time, which is cool. Because with as much weight as we carry, it's hard in the first place, so that was big for me."