CHAMPAIGN  Don''t be alarmed by those rumbling bellows or piercing screams coming from the subterranean level of Huff Hall.

   It''s just the guy they call Big Daddy verbalizing the strain of hoisting hundreds of pounds of weights.

   "I guess people walking around Huff might hear me from time to time," University of Illinois wrestler Karl Roesler said. "I tend to get a little excited, let loose."

   Perfectly understandable, says Illini strength coach Greg Scanlan.

   "When you have 500 to 600 pounds on your back," Scanlan said, "you''re going to hear some guttural sounds come out."

   Sound and fury. That''s Roesler''s approach to the task at hand in the weight room.

   It''s turned the former 190-pound weight-watching wrestler into one of the strongest men on campus. It''s also turned the 240-pounder  smallish by NCAA Division I heavyweight standards  into a 1998 All-American and the current No. 2-ranked wrestler in his weight class.

   "There can be guys that outweigh him by 20, 30 pounds," Illini assistant coach Steve Marianetti said, "so he has to make up the difference some way, and that''s through his strength and his explosive speed."

   How strong is Roesler?

   "Pound for pound, he''s the strongest athlete I''ve ever worked with," said Scanlan, a sixth-year strength coach who served as acting head strength coach for the UI football team in 1996. "At 235 to 240 pounds, he''s lifting numbers that 300-pound offensive linemen put up."

   Numbers like 645 pounds in the squat. Like 425 in the bench press. Like 345 in the power clean. And like 220 in the snatch.

   "Those are big numbers for a kid that''s not that big," seventh-year Illini head coach Mark Johnson said. "(Ex-UI heavyweight) Seth Brady had some big numbers, but nothing like Karl. Karl is by far the strongest guy we''ve had in our program."

   Johnson goes even farther in his praise  no small compliment considering that the former Olympic wrestler with a mantel full of bodybuilding trophies knows his way around a barbell.

   "I don''t exaggerate when I say Karl is one of the strongest wrestlers I''ve ever been around," the Illini coach said.

   To be around Roesler in Huff Hall''s basement weight room is to see and hear some amazing sights. Certainly, most of them come when the guy''s pumping some iron.

   "When you see that bar bending under the weight, you know that it''s an unbelievable accomplishment," Marianetti said. "It is kind of like a circus act. He''ll get under that bar and once he squats down, he''s screaming as loud as he can so he can get back up. He''s pretty amazing in there."

   It''s not uncommon for others in the weight room to stop what they''re doing so they can watch when the Illini senior is attempting to lift some outrageous amount of weight.

   "When he was squatting for 625 or 650 and he was really psyching himself up, all our guys stopped and watched," Johnson said. "He got the lift and everybody clapped for him."

   It''s not only Roesler''s power-lifting prowess that draws applause and sometimes disbelieving looks. When the Shorewood native''s not figuratively raise the bar to new personal heights, he''s turning the music-filled weight room into his own personal dance floor.

   "I just like to enjoy myself in the weight room," Roesler said. "I shake the rug a little bit, which is amusing. A 240-pound man."

   Roesler apparently doesn''t lack for fellow uninhibited dance companions. It seems Mahomet''s John Lockhart, Roesler''s understudy at heavyweight, is following the senior''s example in more ways than just wrestling and weight-lifting.

   "We have this little time where Greg Scanlan and me and him always dance around," Lockhart said, "just for laughs and to make everybody else laugh."

   Said Scanlan: "For about an hour and a half, it becomes Karl''s world in the weight room."

   That world has become a haven of sorts, kinesiology major Roesler says, from the demands of school and sport.

   "A lot of times, you think weight lifters and you think Hans and Frans and not all there," said Roesler, who obviously knows his Saturday Night Live characters as well as he knows a double-leg takedown. "But it''s a nice escape from the pressures of life.

   "You go in ... you forget about your troubles for two hours. Push, pull, life is simple, and at some levels I appreciate that and enjoy it. It''s a catharsis."

   But don''t misinterpret Roesler''s musings on weight lifting and his happy-go-lucky demeanor in the weight room. When it''s time to "throw around the weights," as he says, the former Class AA champion from New Lenox Providence High School is all steely-eyed business.

   "He''ll be skipping around the room, but then, right when he steps under the bar, you see his face change," Marianetti said. "With the amount of weight that Karl lifts, he has to be extremely intense."

   It was the amount of weight that Roesler wasn''t permitted to carry around  on his body, that is  that made him an enthusiastic convert to the higher weight divisions. Halfway through his high school career, Roesler figured out that cutting pounds was a whole lot tougher than adding them.

   "I was 135 pounds as freshman and then I went to 140 the next year," he said. "I cut lot of weight in high school. Finally, I had enough with weight cutting. I wasn''t feeling that well, so I jumped up to 171 my junior year."

   The change did Roesler''s wrestling career a world of good. As a junior, he placed fourth in the state meet. The following year, he went 46-0 en route to the 189-pound crown. In those two years, he won 86 of 90 matches.

   At that point, said Roesler, "I really started hitting the weights to try to put on the size to see what I could do for college."

   It proved to be time well spent. As a redshirt freshman, Roesler not only became the UI''s starter at 190 pounds, but placed a surprising fourth in the Big Ten meet to advance to the NCAA Championships. The UI athletic department named him its Male Newcomer of the Year.

   A severe foot injury the following year basically put Roesler''s career on hold, the sophomore appearing in 11 matches. But when he returned last season, it was not only as a born-again starter, but as the heavyweight replacement for Brady, who had graduated.

   Like his predecessor, Roesler would have to work harder than ever in the weight room to put on and keep on the pounds.

   "We''re not that big," the 6-foot Roesler said of Brady and himself, "and we''re competing with 285-pound men. I''m probably naturally 210, so for me to stay at 230 to 240, I have to not only watch my nutrition  make sure I get my proper intake  I also have to (weight) train to keep the mass."

   Scanlan estimates it takes Roesler 6,000 to 7,000 calories a day to maintain his current weight. That and more visits to the weight room in-season than wrestlers in other weight divisions typically make.

   A six-day-a-week lifter in the offseason and preseason, Roesler rarely lifts fewer than four times a week during the season. That''s twice the number as other UI starters.

   The payoff for all that extra work last season was a 30-10 record that included a team-high nine falls. After placing fifth in the Big Ten meet, Roesler went 4-2 in the NCAA Championships to finish seventh and earn All-America honors.

   "Seeing a kid that''s made that much improvement in a short amount of time is really unbelievable," Johnson said. "Like Seth Brady, he had to make himself a heavyweight. He had a good model in front of him, but he''s taken that model and just taken it bigger, stronger, faster."

The word from Ward

   We know how strong Karl Roesler is. How about some other Illini? Leo Ward, in his 12th year as a strength and conditioning coach at the University of Illinois, lists his top five Illini in the weight room:

Name Sport Years

Tim Simpson Football 1988-91

Ward''s Comment : "At that point, one of the strongest players to go

through the UI football program"

Howard Griffith Football 1987-90

Ward''s Comment : "Great leg strength, and worked very hard at areas of

the body that needed improvement."

Jon Llewellyn Wrestling 1988-91

Ward''s Comment : "Worked hard to develop himself into a national champion.

Spent a lot of extra time in the weight

room and also in his practices."

Frank Hartley Football 1988-90

Ward''s Comment : "Naturally strong. Probably the strongest tight end

we''ve ever had here."

Jeff Teach Track (shot put) 1991, 93-95

Ward''s Comment : "Probably the most powerful athlete that came through

here that I''m aware of. Great at Olympic lifting, and

for his body weight, pound for pound one of the

strongest, if not the strongest, athletes to come

through here."