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Can Randy Gregory be dominant despite light weight?

Personal issues aside, there were some on-the-field questions about star Nebraska pass rusher Randy Gregory heading into this year's NFL draft that contributed to a monstrous slide into the second round.

Scouts worried about his ability to play the run and, in turn, his ability to bulk up and maintain a certain weight.

As he told Bleacher Report in a recent interview, he played most of his career at or below 240 pounds but will attempt to arrive at camp around 255.

"I think I actually did OK playing at the weight that I played at in college," Gregory said. "I was 235, 240 pretty much my whole college career. I've heard people say that I played bigger than my actual weight.

"I think if people actually sit down and watch game film, they'll see that I don't actually get pushed around as much as people say I do. I think people just assume, 'He has a light body. He's a pass rusher. He must not be a good run defender.' But I think if you ask anybody on the staff, Coach (Rod) Marinelli or anybody else, they'll tell you I'm doing a good job setting the edge and added weight is only going to help me. So I'm planning to add more."

Gregory expanded on his problem gaining weight -- "I could lose two pounds breathing air right now" -- which reminds us a little bit of another controversial pass rusher selected high in the draft a few years ago.

Aaron Maybin, selected No. 9 overall by the Bills in the 2009 draft, always struggled with maintaining weight and didn't have any measure of success until he was used as a situational pass rusher on third downs with the Jets.

Gregory, it seems, could lean one of two ways. Jason Taylor made a career out of being an artful pass rusher at 240 pounds. Maybin, Dion Jordan and, to a lesser extent, Barkevious Mingo, have not worked out according to plan.

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