Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Behold! The trimmer, slimmer Jared Sullinger

spt-111013-sullinger

Mike Miller

Jared Sullinger showed he was a man of his word months ago. Maybe that’s why it’s hardly a surprise he was dedicated enough to lose 20 pounds over the summer.

The Ohio State sophomore showed off his “trimmer” build at the team’s media day on Thursday. I say “trimmer” because he still weighs a sizable 265 pounds in double digits for body fat. But compared to last year’s media day when he was 285 pounds had 16.7 percent body fat, he’s almost John Henson.

That helped make him the star of Ohio State’s session. Here’s the rundown, courtesy of Brandon Castel:

With less weight to lug around, Sullinger says he’s more mobile and better equipped to handle double teams. No more plodding.

Expect to see him off the blocks and even taking 15-foot jumpers. Teammates say Sullinger’s doing that in practice and is tougher to guard.

He might even finish off a fast break or two. He apparently caught a pass at the free-throw line and stepped into the lane for a dunk.

So what caused all this motivation? He told Bob Baptist of the Columbus Dispatch that he has a photo of Brandon Knight’s last-second shot from the Sweet 16 loss to Kentucky hanging in his bathroom.

“Every morning I wake up, I see it. It’s my motivator for the day,” he said.

Maybe Sullinger should market that as a weight-loss plan. It’d probably work for Carolina fans, too.

Related posts:

You also can follow me on Twitter @MikeMillerNBC.