Jacksonville Jaguars running back Leonard Fournette bulked up a good amount in preparation for his rookie campaign in the NFL last year. He ended up having a strong season as he rushed for 1,040 yards with nine touchdowns as the focal point of the Jags’ run-heavy attack. However, his 3.9 yards per carry wasn’t too impressive.

Fournette’s desire to improve that number has likely factored into his decision to alter his body again ahead of his sophomore campaign. He’s chosen to lose the extra weight he gained and return to his old college weight, which is what he feels is best-suited for his body.

″I feel like I play my best at that weight – 223, 224 – that’s what I played in college,″ Fournette said per John Reid of the Florida Times-Union. ″Why not? I don’t want to be average. I want to be above average, be the greatest one to play this game. I feel lighter, quicker and I have a lot of my burst.″

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Fournette had the disadvantage of having opposing defenses consistently load the box on the Jags to force Blake Bortles to throw. That obviously played a huge part in Fournette’s pedestrian yards per carry average.

Hopefully, more improvement from Bortles can allow the Jags to open up their offense a bit more this season and loosen up the box for Fournette. The addition of big free-agent guard Andrew Norwell could also have a positive effect on the running game.

If those two factors can help open things up a bit more for Fournette this season, expect him and his lighter, quicker body to take full advantage of it.