Tackle Bryan Bulaga (left) slimmed down to 300 pounds to aid in his recovery from a torn ACL, but he’s now playing around 320. Credit: Mark Hoffman

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Green Bay — Before Bryan Bulaga could get up to 320 pounds, the most he ever weighed during his football career, he had to get down to 300.

The Green Bay Packers offensive tackle had played at 315 pounds since his sophomore year at the University of Iowa and felt he needed to get bigger and stronger in anticipation of a return from a torn ACL he suffered in his left knee during the team's intrasquad scrimmage last year.

Upon arriving at the IMG Academy training facility in Florida to begin the long road back, a plan was crafted to both rehab his knee and reshape his body. The first order of business was losing about 15 pounds.

"When I first got down there, we cut weight tremendously," Bulaga said. "I got down to as light as I've been in a long time.

"We cut a lot of weight just to take stress off that knee when I (was) rehabbing, when I (was) running, when I was doing drills for rehab, just to keep weight off it. Once I got to a point where I was totally comfortable and pain-free in the knee, then we started slowly putting the weight back on."

The added weight and strength were noticeable when Bulaga took the field July 26 for training camp.

Bulaga, who was a first-round pick in 2010 as a 21-year-old junior eligible, is now 25, and some of the fat he carried has turned into muscle. The weight he has put on is most evident in his broad shoulders and massive biceps, but his hips and legs are stronger, too.

"To me, it was, 'What amount of weight could I put on where I still feel confident moving laterally in the run game and the pass game?'" Bulaga said. "I'm at the weight now where I'm very comfortable with it and feel like I can anchor down with it against bull-rushing-type D-ends and speed-to-power guys that take the edge and come in hard on bull rushes.

"I'll be able to anchor down, sit down, and still be able move with that weight, is what my goal was this off-season."

The added stability was evident early in camp when Bulaga put on the pads for the first time in a year and proceeded to go 3-0 in the one-on-one pass rush drill. First, he rode Clay Matthews to the outside, then on successive turns he turned back the powerful Julius Peppers.

Bulaga downplayed the one-on-one drill (he's 6-1), saying it wasn't as much about winning each of his seven turns as it was having a videotaped account of his hand and foot work. Due to a freak hip injury that ended his season after nine games in 2012, and the knee injury last year, Bulaga has missed the Packers' last 26 games and has a lot of rust to work off.

Complicating matters is that this will be the second time in two seasons Bulaga will be changing positions. He started at right tackle his first three seasons but was moved to left tackle after the 2012 season and was playing there when he suffered the torn ACL.

Due to rookie David Bakhtiari's emergence at left tackle last season, Bulaga was moved back to the right side during the off-season and told it was his job again. Now at about 320 pounds, Bulaga's mission is twofold: prove that he can carry the extra weight on a reconstructed knee and re-establish the foundation he had built at the position.

"I think it's more of an adjustment this year just because of the knee that was repaired is the leg I'm pushing off of all the time," Bulaga said. "I think it's adjusting to that, seeing your set on tape and understanding where your feet are in space and getting used to that again.

"Once you get so many reps, then you're comfortable with where you are in space, where you feet are, hands and everything, it's really not a big deal. It's just like riding a bike again."

Offensive line coach James Campen said he had no problem with Bulaga putting on weight as long as it was lean muscle mass. It used to be that left tackles had to be the most nimble of the pass blockers, but with defenses moving their pass rushers from side to side and fewer teams being predominantly right-handed, the right tackle can't be a plodding giant anymore.

All you have to do to understand how important it is for Bulaga to be nimble this year is review the tape of the 2012 game against the Seattle Seahawks, the Packers' opponent in the season opener this year. Rookie Bruce Irvin used his speed to both beat Bulaga outside and to get him off balance and in position to be bull-rushed.

"All I know is he's bigger and a lot stronger," Campen said. "He's a big man who plays with power. Now it's just a matter of refining those techniques and getting them ingrained in him.

"Bryan is a consummate pro. He'll make sure he's fundamentally sound."

Campen said there was no discussion after the season about Bulaga needing to get stronger, even with the Packers going to a power running game with bruising back Eddie Lacy. But lined up next to mauling guard T.J. Lang, it certainly doesn't hurt to have another linemen with the ability to handle the strongest of defensive linemen.

The fact that Bulaga's strength was added gradually and through the process of rehabbing his knee makes it more palatable to Campen. But he also expected this kind of development as Bulaga's body matured.

"He just worked his butt off and got bigger and stronger and added lean muscle mass," Campen said. "He's a young guy. David's the same as him. He came out as a junior. And David's added strength and weight. Any time you have that lean muscle mass and you have good weight behind you that's terrific.

"As long as you can move and accomplish everything you want to accomplish with it, that's outstanding."