Da'Ron Payne was forced to stop last year, not allowed to go above 500 pounds on the bench press or 600 pounds on the squat.

That wasn't the case this spring.

"They let me push it a lot this spring," Alabama's junior defensive tackle said.

The result? Payne bench-pressed 545 pounds and squatted 635 pounds despite being 10 pounds lighter than this time last year.

So, Payne is still freakishly strong, even as he continues to drop weight.

The rising star from Birmingham, who was 350 pounds as a senior in high school, is down to 312 or 313 pounds. Coaches want him at 308.

"Just the way teams are playing now, it's more fast-paced and just on the ball, on the ball," the 6-foot-2 Payne said. "I just got to get ready for that."

As the Tide's starting nose tackle last year, a then-320-pound Payne posted 36 tackles, 3 1/2 stops for a loss and 1 1/2 sacks while establishing himself as one of the top young defensive lineman in the country.

With Jonathan Allen and Dalvin Tomlinson gone, Payne will likely be the leader of Alabama's defensive line and is seemingly on track for a breakout season -- aided by that freakish strength.

On the bench press, Payne was already up to 460 pounds before even graduating high school. His max was up to 500 pounds shortly after arriving in Tuscaloosa and is now only 55 pounds away from 600.

"He wasn't All-SEC. He wasn't All-American. But he had the film, the stats and everything to make him on that list," Tomlinson said. "The way he played, you would see him strike a center and put him on his butt. That's some high school stuff that he's doing on the college level. To have that much power as a true sophomore in college is unheard of, and he just came out there and he's always producing, and he's always running down the field. He's 315 pounds running 30 yards down the field to make a tackle. I respect Payne to the fullest."