While coaches were urging guards and tackles to get bigger during the offseason, they left Kalil alone.

"Nah, they really don't worry too much about my weight," said Kalil, a second-year player who enters the season as the projected starter at center. "I think if I were to start dropping a lot or something, or get under 285, I think then they'd probably say something to me, but for the most part I've leveled out anywhere from 292 to 300 pounds.

"My weight I don't feel is as much an issue as working on my technique every day and making sure I have that right. Honestly, five or 10 more pounds isn't going to make me that much better of a football player."

That's because center is the offensive line position where size is least important. The center often has guard help in double-teaming the guy across from him. It's more important that a center be intelligent (he calls the line's plays) and agile-quick to adjust physically and mentally.

"I think if you look across the league, most of the really good centers are about the same size," Kalil told a clutch of reporters recently before eating lunch.

"We're all anywhere from 285 to 300 pounds. So the biggest thing is, they try to put guys who are a little more athletic in the middle; guys who can move around and make the calls that need to be made."

Kalil, a second-round draft pick from Southern California last year, appears to be a good fit in this massive new line, so much so that Carolina let then-starting center Justin Hartwig go after last season.

At least Damione Lewis, one of the defensive tackles who trades bumps and thuds with Kalil occasionally, thinks so.

"He is cat-quick," Lewis said. "He's so quick, it's kind of hard to get your hands on him; he's doing a great job."

Lewis called Kalil strong and smart, adding, "It makes up for him not being such a big guy. He's very stout. You just can't run up on us and try to be all tall and try to muscle us out, because it's not going to work. He's able to use his technique and get low and get up under."

"Stout" is nicely descriptive of Kalil, who may appear small standing next to the monsters of this year's line but is sort of a human version of a concrete block. Now, he's quite comfortable in his work.

He briefly experimented at guard as a rookie, but the experience could not be called a success. For one thing, size is more important there. For another, Kalil had virtually no experience at the position.

"It's so much better coming back to center," he said. "It's definitely more of a natural position for me, and that was my first time playing guard. But having that experience playing guard and understanding the offense a little better and using that in coming back to the center spot has definitely helped me out."

Now Kalil will direct the giants as Carolina tries to upgrade its power running game.

"It's definitely nice getting in there on some of that pass protection, you're blocking on a guy and one of our big boys comes and beats him up on the side," he said, grinning. "It's definitely nice having those guys around.

"I don't think they're big, sloppy guys either. They did a good job of getting some guys that definitely have some muscle mass to them and can move around a lot and have a little bit of stamina."

After an off day Sunday, Carolina resumes training camp today with practices at 9:10 a.m. and 6:40 p.m.