Eight times a day — every day, without fail — Mike Sirignano received a text message with a photo from Mekhi Becton, who sent pictures of his breakfast, lunch, and dinner — and all the protein bars and shakes he downed in between.
Every day, Becton received a bag of those protein snacks from Louisville team dietitian Emily Artner. Sirignano wanted to know exactly when Becton ate them — a nutrient timing plan he and Artner mapped out.
This was the start of a 16-month, life-changing makeover for Becton, a prodigious, 6-foot-7 offensive tackle who had let his weight balloon to 389 pounds by the time Sirignano started working with him in January of 2019, as Louisville’s new strength and conditioning coach.
At each meal, Artner walked Becton through the football facility’s buffet line, approving his choices, monitoring his fat and carbohydrate intake. In the weight room, Becton cranked out an hour and a half of strength work, plus 45 minutes of cardio every day.
These were standard requirements for the 20-some players in Louisville’s weight-loss program — the texted photos, the cardio work. If a player neglected either, he had to do 25 up-downs as punishment. Every player slipped up that offseason — except Becton.
Always too big to hide anyway, Becton understood what this meant, with a lucrative NFL future at stake. So he attacked it — just like he’d attack a pre-draft training plan that forced him to slam 6,000 calories per day, starting at 5:30 a.m.
As Becton knows, being an elite athlete this enormous is a process, forever a process. If Becton sticks to that process, he could become a generational NFL left tackle. If not, he’ll likely torpedo his career.
By the time Louisville’s training camp started last August, he had dropped 35 pounds, to 354. He thrived last season while playing in the mid-360s, then stunned the NFL Scouting Combine by running a 40-yard dash in 5.1 seconds — at 364 pounds.
Now, the Jets, who drafted him 11th overall, hope he can become their long-term left tackle. Becton just turned 21, and has played only five seasons of high-level football, between high school and college.
But even as questions linger about whether Becton can control his weight as a pro, Sirignano has higher expectations — the Hall of Fame.
“He should be talked about with the Jonathan Ogdens and Orlando Paces one day,” Sirignano said.
***
Becton ducked and dodged, but Loren Johnson kept pelting him.
By the end of the day, Becton was covered in splotches. Playing paintball against your high school coach isn’t easy when you’re this huge.
“I always was the biggest kid,” Becton said. “I was always standing over everybody in pictures. So this is something I’m used to.”
Becton was 6-3 and 220 pounds as an eighth grader when he met Johnson, the coach at Highland Springs, near Richmond, Va. By sophomore year, he was 6-6. Between junior and senior year, he gained 50 pounds of mostly muscle. Like that, he was 6-7 and 350 pounds.
“He just was growing faster than any of our eyes could catch up with him,” Johnson said. “It was almost like you’d blink your eyes, and the next week he’s an inch taller.”
Johnson had to pull his other players aside and tell them, “You guys can never get upset when Mekhi walks out of here with 30 scholarship offers.”
“Why?” they’d say. “Mekhi’s not that good right now.”
“Well, Mekhi is 6-6 and he’s 15 years old.”
He liked to eat, sure. And he filled out his towering body. But he never binged on junk food. Becton’s mom, Semone, runs a catering business, which helped expand his palette. Becton even helped plan Highland Springs’ pregame meals, which his mom cooked. No pizza or sub sandwiches. Just hearty, sustaining food like baked chicken, greens, and potatoes.
Becton didn’t stop moving in high school, staying as lean and nimble as he could. Football season dovetailed into basketball and then into spring football. One night senior year, Louisville offensive line coach Mike Summers showed up to see Becton play.
“Hey, watch tonight, coach,” Becton said. “I’m going to get a dunk for you.”
Sure enough, Becton caught the ball on a fast break, burst toward the hoop, and slammed the ball with every ounce of his 350 pounds. The rim shook. The gym went crazy. And Summers was sold on Becton’s potential.
“We thought he was a first-round pick when we recruited him,” Summers said.
***
Becton was talented enough to start from the get-go at Louisville in 2017. But as the Cardinals’ 2018 season spiraled, coach Bobby Petrino got fired in mid-November. Sirignano said many players “totally shut down” then. With no bowl game, linemen like Becton packed on weight.
Summers had initially pushed Becton to play at 350 pounds, but realized he could still move swiftly in the mid-360s. But 389? No chance. So Sirignano met with Becton last January and laid out the weight-loss plan.
“Do you have any issues with that?” he asked Becton.
“No,” Becton said, and he dove right in.
Sirignano had to prod most heavy players to do their daily 45 minutes on the elliptical or treadmill. But not Becton. He shed the weight quickly and kept it off. Near the end of last season, Becton measured 17 percent body fat — compared to 20-26 percent for most offensive linemen — with 315 pounds of lean muscle mass.
“Which is more muscle than most Division I offensive linemen weigh — and NFL players,” Sirignano said.
Can he keep the weight off and avoid ballooning again?
Sirignano has no doubt — because Becton jumping to 389 was a one-time occurrence caused by inactivity late in 2018, and he was able to drop the weight fast in 2019.
“We haven’t had an issue with it [since],” Sirignano said. “He doesn’t fluctuate like people would think with someone that size. I don’t ever see that being a problem.”
***
So why gobble 6,000 calories a day, as Becton does now while training?
It’s a numbers game.
Since December, Becton has trained under offensive line specialist Duke Manyweather in the Dallas area. Manyweather worked with Bryan McCall, who runs pre-draft programs at nearby Michael Johnson Performance, and placed a sensor on Becton for a week.
The results of the study: Becton consumed 2,800 to 3,000 calories per day, with three meals. But when he did a speed/agility workout, he burned 1,200 calories. He burned 1,100 during a weightlifting or position technique session. Manyweather typically combines two of those three workouts per day — 2,200 to 2,300 burned calories. Becton wasn’t eating enough “to recover, to perform, and to lean out his body,” Manyweather said.
Manyweather upped Becton’s intake to 5,500 to 6,000 calories daily, with two gallons of water. Becton starts consuming at 5:30 a.m. and doesn’t eat after 8 p.m. He gets five to six meals daily, with an emphasis on avocado oil, olive oil, pink salt, carbs only around workouts, and — most importantly — a rotation of proteins. That is critical, to avoid muscle inflammation.
Eat too much of one protein, and the body develops an intolerance, leading to inflammation. So Becton has a different type of protein with all five to six meals — steak, fish, chicken, shrimp, eggs. He can eat as many green vegetables as he wants. He gets a daily carb allotment.
“That’s what it takes,” Manyweather said. “He’s so metabolically efficient that he wasn’t getting enough calories in.”
Becton weighed 375 when he started working with Manyweather. He got to 364 for the combine and is 363 now. He wants to play in the 350-355 range.
“Once I started to eat more, the weight started to fall off,” Becton said.
He never wants to see 389 again. He hopes to be remembered not as a space-hogging lineman, but as a “dominant” tackle who can “finish the guy in front of him every play.”
“I think my demeanor is real nasty,” he said. “I like to see the man on the ground stay on the ground.”
So he abides by his weight-management process, as he has since last January. He can’t let up. He knows his career depends on it.
His parents came to Dallas to watch the draft with him. The food spread at their party included pizza and wings. But Becton opted for fish, crab legs, and a cup of rice — and didn’t overeat. Manyweather loved seeing it.
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He makes the Ogden and Pace comparisons, too. But Manyweather said Becton is more athletic, similar to the Eagles’ Lane Johnson. So Manyweather thinks the Jets don’t need to force Becton to play at 330 or 340 pounds. He can handle himself just fine in the 350s or 360s.
“He is something new,” Manyweather said. “That does not come around often at all. It really is generational.”
Last Thursday night, Manyweather soaked in the celebration after the Jets drafted Becton. He planned to give Becton a day off Friday from working out.
Before he could, Becton asked him a question: “What time are we in tomorrow?”
now kiss my ass
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