Within seconds of the football being snapped, Kmet, an offensive lineman for the Bonita Vista High School Barons in Chula Vista, Calif., knows if the defender he's facing spends his free time lifting in the weight room or lounging in front of a television.
"It's a mix of being quick on the field and having the weight to play on the line," explained Kmet, who splits time in the spring between track and field and lacrosse teams. "I'm trying to get bigger, stronger, faster every day."
Once an anomaly in pro football, 300-pound linemen are no longer uncommon even in high school. A check of this season's rosters for the nearly 100 teams in the San Diego area reveals about 40 athletes weighing at or above 300 pounds.
Some, like Kmet, a 6-foot-4, 310-pound senior, make a conscious effort to put the right kind of weight on their hulking frame.
They focus on building muscle by finding the right balance of nutrition and exercise, maintaining that regimen whether starting a playoff run or in the middle of the offseason.
"It's a full-time job," Kmet said. "Everything revolves around football."
Many others, though, fall into the same trap as their less-active peers - eating high-calorie meals from a burger joint or taco shop and spending hours in front of a television, video game console or computer - especially once the football season ends.
It's a pattern of behavior that has health care professionals concerned.
"We are seeing now that 30 percent of adolescents are overweight," said Dr. Santiago Horgan, director of the Center for Treatment of Obesity at the University of California San Diego. "Clearly, it's a big problem.
"We're not teaching the right lessons. We are creating the wrong attitude."
According to Horgan, overweight and obese adolescents are more prone to physical ailments and disorders including type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, sleep apnea and respiratory problems.
Without action, Horgan said, statistics show that overweight and obese adolescents grow into overweight and obese adults.
"That's why we have to be aggressive with kids and the adults around them," said Horgan, who is on the forefront of research on adolescent obesity and how to combat it. "Obesity is lowering life expectancies."
Jerry Ralph knows too well the struggle that comes with obesity. A former high school athlete himself, the longtime St. Augustine High School, San Diego, football coach started to add extra pounds when his playing days ended.
Five pounds here turned to 10 pounds there. Ralph said he even lost 100 pounds at one point through diet and exercise, only to gain it all back, plus more.
"My players have seen what I have gone through, the struggle for a prideful person like me to gain so much weight," he said.
Ralph dreaded the thought of simply walking across a football field. He said he couldn't make it home without stopping at a neighborhood drive-thru.
But it was the family he came home to each night that inspired him to make a change.
"Not being able to play with my kids and throw the ball with them was so devastating to me," Ralph said.
After months of careful planning and research, Ralph decided it was time to take care of himself for a change. Eighteen months after surgery, he has lost 175 pounds (he now weighs around 205) and even completed a local marathon.
"I'm so determined not to allow that to come back," said Ralph, who has maintained his weight loss for eight months and has inspired friends and relatives to take better care of themselves. "Now, what I can give (his family, athletes and school community) is truly a gift from God."
Ralph said every day is difficult for someone battling their weight. Still, as professional and college linemen become heavier, the perception that more pounds can guarantee the success of a high school athlete is still on the minds of teens and their parents.
But more weight doesn't necessarily translate into a better chance at playing beyond high school.
San Diego State University football coach Chuck Long said linemen are the toughest players to recruit.
"They're the hardest to find and the hardest to evaluate," Long said. "For the linemen, it's all about projecting where they will be down the road."
Long said that while a 6-foot-6, 300-pound player might pique his interest at first, there are other key factors such as a lineman's foot speed and athleticism to consider.
Coach Ron Burner at nearby El Capitan High School preaches the same thing to his athletes. Like many coaching staffs, Burner and his assistants hope strict standards on diet and exercise set during the football season evolve into lifelong wellness habits, regardless of where athletes end up after high school.
Burner not only educates his players on topics like nutrition and strength and conditioning, but also holds meeting with parents about similar topics.
To combat the potential yo-yo effect common in the offseason, Burner said he encourages his athletes to play sports in the winter and spring seasons.
For those not involved in other sports, more schools are offering a physical education class geared toward football players and are keeping their weight rooms open year-round after the traditional school day ends.
It's that combination that Bonita Vista coach Carl Parrick said has allowed Kmet to improve dramatically over his senior year, most noticeably in the regular season's final three weeks.
"He is a player," Parrick said. "He's a (Division I) kid now."
