[Tuck4Bama]

BATON ROUGE -- If you think the recent heat wave is bad, consider LSU left guard Herman Johnson.

The Tigers' heaviest player at 355 pounds, Johnson has to battle his way though long practices in near 100-degree heat with the added weight of equipment. As much, or more, than anyone, he's looking forward to having today off.

"I'm trying to get off my feet as much as I can and get as much rest as possible," said Johnson, 6 feet 7. "This year was pretty hot. A couple of practices, a week or two ago, a lot of people were getting dizzy. We lost four linemen because of heat and had to come back the next day."

Fortunately for Johnson, he has had his weight under control since arriving at LSU in 2004 at 411 pounds. He commiserated with another LSU heavyweight, basketball player Glen "Big Baby" Davis, who came in about 360 pounds.

Johnson said he lost about 60 pounds his first year and hasn't had a problem keeping it off, though he said he'd like to lose another 10 pounds before the season.

Johnson shapes up for big season- NOLA.com