BELLY BOYS : 300-POUNDERS ARE A BIG PART OF FOOTBALL TODAY.

Byline: Eric Sondheimer Daily News Deputy Sports Editor 

They come up to the ball, stick their stomachs out, then try to flatten anyone in their way. They're not Bad Boys - they're North Hollywood High School's Belly Boys.

``We go bellies out because we're proud,'' said 6-foot-5, 295-pound offensive tackle Oscar Gonzalez. ``We're proud of being big because we know everyone else wants to be big.''

And how does a teen-ager become big nowadays? It's not too difficult if you hang out at all-you-can-eat restaurants, eat snacks morning and night, lift weights year-round and never turn down a chance to devour a Big Mac.

Call it a sign of the times, but high school football players in the 1990s are much bigger than ever.

``It's just unbelievable,'' said North Hollywood coach Gary Gray. ``Five years ago, I didn't have a lineman over 230.''

Now Gray has five players weighing more than 270 pounds, and he's not alone. A survey of 55 varsity football rosters from area teams uncovered 70 players weighing 270 pounds or heavier, including 18 players topping the 300-pound mark.

Last season, five of the six All-City 4-A offensive linemen were 270 pounds or bigger. Of the 58 offensive linemen selected to the All-Southern Section teams, 21 weighed more than 270 pounds, including six 300-pounders.

Comparing today's weights with those from players of the past reveals startling information:

Ten years ago, there was just one lineman who weighed more than 270 pounds on the All-City 4-A and 3-A teams. Of 43 offensive linemen chosen to the 1986 All-Southern Section team, only one was listed at 270 pounds or heavier.

Twenty years ago, of the 20 offensive linemen named to the All-City 4-A and 3-A teams, none weighed more than 240 pounds. Of the 19 linemen chosen to the 1976 All-Southern Section teams, the heaviest was 260 pounds.

Thirty years ago, of the 15 offensive linemen named to the All-City team, the heaviest was 245 pounds. Of the 30 linemen selected to the 1966 All-Southern Section team, the heaviest was 230 pounds.

James Strom, strength and conditioning coach at USC, said the size increase has been aided by advances in weight training and conditioning techniques.

In the old days, high school football players showed up in August, lifted weights for four weeks, played their games, then went on to other sports. Now, football and weight training are year-round. Players start in January and continue non-stop to September, with many teams even lifting weights during the football season.

``It's (strength and conditioning) definitely a science, and it's filtering down to the high school level,'' Strom said.

Jeff Kraemer, line coach at Notre Dame in Sherman Oaks, said the emphasis on weight training and agility drills has created more opportunities for big players to excel.

``Twenty years ago if you had a 290-pound lineman, chances are he couldn't walk and chew gum at the same time,'' Kraemer said. ``Now, with year-round weight lifting, offseason conditioning and quickness drills, coaches are able to take someone who's a big player, develop him and make him fast enough and agile enough to be a good player. It used to be maybe you had one guy over 250 pounds. That was a lot. Now there are some varsity lines averaging 250 pounds.''

One motivation for players to put on weight is the goal of earning an NCAA Division I scholarship. They believe colleges want linemen who weigh close to 300 pounds. And they're right.

``Everybody (in college) has an offensive line that's big now,'' said UCLA assistant coach Gary Bernardi. ``Everybody is 290 or 300. It's not very often nowadays you're going to recruit a guy under 246 pounds unless he's a 6-5, 6-6 guy who's real athletic.''

But Bernardi offers a warning to those high school linemen putting on weight just to impress college recruiters.

``I think a lot of times the kids think big is better, and it's not necessarily true,'' he said. ``You'd rather find a guy 265 who's really athletic than 295 pounds. The thing about (freshmen) linemen is 90 percent are going to redshirt, so before they even play a down it's going to be two years. They have time to go from 18 to 20 (years old) and develop naturally with your weight program.''

Anabolic steroids is another way to gain weight rapidly, but it's discouraged by coaches and doctors because the side effects can result in severe health problems. It's also not permitted in organized sports.

``The use of anabolic steroids at the high school level is probably 6 to 8 percent of high school athletes and non-athletes,'' according to Dr. Jim Puffer, professor and chief of UCLA family medicine.

``We would be closing our eyes if we said it's not out there,'' Strom said. ``Kids go to the gym, they're approached about it from a 24-year-old man, `This is the best thing to do.' You're a 165-pound football player. It's a tough decision. It's a roll of the dice. It could cost you your life. It's a drug, just like cocaine.''

Another safety concern expressed by parents involves the risk of injury to smaller players. They see the large number of big bodies on the field and fear the worse when collisions occur. Strom said parents have reason to be concerned.

``We have a freshman, Travis Claridge, who's 295 pounds, a 6-6 kid with professional-football strength,'' Strom said. ``I know if I was a parent and had a 180-pound defensive tackle going against this kid, I'd be real concerned.''

But players who possess the strength, size and speed of Claridge at the high school level are rare. And rule changes have helped reduce injuries, according to Puffer.

That still doesn't give comfort to those seeing increasing numbers of 300-pounders roaming high school football fields. Many of the players more than 300 pounds are considered overweight and could be more effective players if they dropped weight.

``If guys are 6-4, 6-5, that's one thing, but if a guy is 6 feet and he's over 300 pounds, he's eating too much,'' said Westlake line coach John Kidder, a former UCLA offensive tackle. ``It's easy to get too big. I don't remember ever going out to dinner or ordering a pizza (in high school). My mom made dinner, we ate a good meal and I think that's very rare. Now, when a kid's eating dinner, he's probably getting 3,000 calories by whatever dinner he's picking up.''

Strom said he's constantly trying to teach USC players about nutrition.

``They go by Taco Bell, they go by McDonald's,'' he said. ``It's the hardest part of my job creating good eating habits.''

Imagine the reaction of restaurant managers when Monroe High School's Pedro Lomeli (6-6, 342 pounds) and Jose Gurrola (6-1, 315) walk through the door looking for the buffet table.

``They see them coming in and they start putting food away,'' Vikings coach Don Senegal said.

When North Hollywood's Gray took linemen Steve Ephraim (6-3, 295 pounds) and Jon Hicks (6-3, 260) to dinner at a ribs restaurant last summer, Gray was in awe at what he saw.

``People were amazed watching them eat,'' Gray said. ``They had a pile of bones a foot high. It was non-stop eating.''

Ephraim's mother, Rachel, said she spends an average of $125 to $150 per week on groceries. She also has to shop for triple-X shirts, size 44 pants and 19-inch collars.

``Half a gallon of milk at one setting is not unusual,'' she said. ``When his friends come over, I check the refrigerator shelf to see it's still there. They eat me out of house and home. You think it's funny? How would you like to have them for a week?''

Ephraim was 5-11 and 165 pounds before entering North Hollywood. Then he grew and grew for football.

``I was a little guy going into 11th grade,'' Ephraim said. ``I hit the weights hard and grew. I'm dedicated to the weight room. It was my home. I'd come home only to sleep. Since I'm playing football, I love the weight.''

His mother wasn't a big fan of his weight gain, then learned to accept it.

``At first, I was scared,'' she said. ``That's a lot of weight for any kid to have. I didn't think that was normal. But watching him play, it's a treat because I feel protected. As long as he's healthy and the doctor says it's good for him . . . truthfully, he's proud of it.''

Teammate Gonzalez is equally proud of his size.

``I feel quick and strong,'' he said. ``If you know how to use your size, it's a big advantage. You come up to the line and it's, `Wow.' They either get intimidated or you use your strength and size to push them away.''

With five linemen weighing 270 pounds or more and three 300-pounders, the joke around Monroe is that water breaks have been replaced by food breaks during practice.

No one is bigger than the 340-pound Lomeli. A typical day of meals for Lomeli starts with breakfast that includes four pieces of toast covered with peanut butter and a large soda. For nutrition, he has two chicken breasts and a 64-ounce soda. For lunch, there's a bowl of spaghetti and 44-ounce soda. Dinner features a Chinese buffet.

Notre Dame's Kraemer said the biggest eater he's seen was All-Southern Section lineman Edgar Nava, now at Valley College.

``All the kids would go to Edgar's house, his father would get out a turkey and Edgar would eat the turkey,'' Kraemer said. ``He had an appetite second to none,'' he said.

Canoga Park 242-pound lineman Vince Rodriguez said he once ate five Whoppers for dinner. North Hollywood's Gonzalez remembers, ``One night we might have had 100 to 150 chicken bones sitting in the middle of the table'' after one of his eating binges.

Gray said when physicals are done in the preseason, he receives lots of notes from the doctor with the word ``obese.''

``He looks at it as obese,'' Gray said. ``We look at it as big football players.''

One of Gonzalez's favorite plays is a block designed to take advantage of his size.

``I push them, they'll fall and I'll jump on top of them,'' Gonzalez said. ``After awhile, you lay on somebody, you're 300 pounds and the other person gets tired.''

It's part of life playing football in the 1990s, getting sat on by a 300-pound lineman.

EATING

A typical day of meals for 295-pound N.H. lineman Oscar Gonzalez:

Breakfast: Two cups of noodle soup, doughnut, apple.

Nutrition: Burrito, chocolate milk, Snickers bar.

Lunch: Double cheeseburger, fries, soda, two bean burritos.

Snack: Two turkey sandwiches.

Dinner: Steak, two baked potatoes with butter, two glasses of Kool-Aid.

Snack: ``Whatever's in the refrigerator.''

A typical day of meals for 295-pound N.H. lineman Steve Ephraim:

Breakfast: Bowl of cereal, three pieces of white toast with butter, glass of orange juice.

Nutrition: Two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, a burrito, milk, orange juice.

Lunch: Turkey sandwich, baloney sandwich, bag of potato chips, Powerade.

Dinner: Three helpings of spaghetti, four pieces of bread, milk, cookie.

Snack: Glass of milk, apple.

CAPTION(S):

3 Photos, Photo Illustration, Box, Chart

Photo: (1) ``We're proud of being big because we know everyone else wants to be big,'' said offensive tackle Oscar Gonzalez, second from left, a member of North Hollywood High's Belly Boys along with Jonathan Hicks, left, Steve Ephraim and Tony Talamantes.

Myung J. Chun / Daily News

(2) GONZALEZ

(3) EPHRAIM

(Photo illustration--cover) 300-pound players like Monroe's Pedro Lomeli are no longer a rarity on high school teams.

Cesar Cuebralo / Daily News

Box: EATING (see text)

Chart: BIGGER, FASTER, FATTER