Syracuse, NY -- Syracuse center Dajuan Coleman is shrinking before our eyes.

The Orange 'big' man, sidelined for most of last season with a leg injury that ultimately required surgery, has dropped close to 25 pounds. SU assistant coach Mike Hopkins said Coleman weighed about 282 during fall weigh-ins last year; he's now down to about 258.

To put that in perspective, Rakeem Christmas measures the same 6-foot-9 as Coleman and weighs 250.

Hopkins said Coleman lost the weight by adhering to a juice diet. Coleman, he said, makes all of his own juice.

"You know what's amazing about it?," Hopkins said. "He can't exercise and look what that diet is doing."

Coleman has only recently started applying weight to his recovering left leg. He had surgery in January to fix an undisclosed injury that resulted from his collision with a teammate in practice. SU coach Jim Boeheim has said Coleman's return to basketball depends upon how his body reacts to the rehab.

Coleman posted photos of himself on Instagram. He has been reluctant to talk about his body transformation or his recuperation from surgery. Hopkins describes Coleman as "a pretty private person."