It isn't a fad, a moneymaker or even something Jake Kuresa cares to market.

But the dude has a diet deal going.

These days, diets that work can earn a fella big bucks.

It isn't that Kuresa played his BYU career as some overweight freak, obscenely big. Nor did he dangerously tip the scales to the point conditioning coach Jay Omer had to wear a helmet when finger-moving those weights on the weighing machine.

Nope, it wasn't that at all.

Kuresa is part Samoan, and genetics provide him a frame that can carry a lot of goods. Always been that way. He could package weight that would make most of us look like an anaconda in mid-cow digestion.

But after the NFL snubbed Kuresa by not inviting him to the league's combine in February at Indianapolis, he was sufficiently motivated to do something about it. He decided he'd shed some poundage, go for a more sculpted look, show them how he could move, an appearance that would look more appealing in Spandex shorts when he ran for Pro Day in mid-March.

And he did.

This past season, Kuresa tweaked his ACL on both knees. He should have missed three or four games, but he plugged along. As a junior he was faster than anybody on BYU's offensive line. This year, playing hurt, he believes it killed him with NFL folks who put on the combine, figuring he was slow. This is a guy who played in the backfield toting the ball in high school.

For the pros two weeks ago, Kuresa looked streamlined, fit, trim and fairly quick when he ran the 40-yard dash in just over five seconds. He hoisted the 220-pound bench press 35 times, a respectable feat. He ran the change-in-direction shuttles without a hitch, and his vertical leap was a neat trick against the wiles of gravity. Imagine jumping up, hoisting your 320-pound body up, your tennis shoes 30 inches above the floor.

Kuresa weighed in at 320. It was the lightest he'd been since he left Mountain Crest High. Today, he might even be 318 or 315.

During Kuresa's Cougar career as an offensive tackle and guard, the posted weight he played at was 345. It could have been 355 to 365, depending on the day, meal or fluctuation in snacks.

But in 60 days this year, once he put his mind to it, with dollar signs and an NFL career on the line, Kuresa shed pounds faster than Oprah wished she could.

The secret of his success? Nothing fancy. Nothing he had to buy a book for or read up on. Just some self-discipline, some basic eating rules, common sense and some exercise. He's learned the trick of good calories versus bad calories.

According to Marketdata Enterprises, the annual revenues of the diet industry back in 1990 was $30 billion a year.