Defensive tackles and nose tackles are among the biggest, strongest players in the NFL. Virtually all interior defensive linemen stand several inches over 6 feet tall and weigh well over 300 pounds; in recent years, a player approaching 350 pounds is not uncommon.

SMU nose tackle Torlan Pittman often looks small on the football field. That could be in part because he went to work between a pair of unusually big defensive ends in Kevin Grenier (6-5, 280 pounds) and Margus Hunt (6-8, 280), but SMU defensive coordinator Tom Mason has said repeatedly that it would be a mistake for NFL teams to overlook the work Pittman did

SMU nose tackle Torlan Pittman bench pressed the NFL-standard 225 pounds 42 times earlier this week, and hopes to add a couple more reps at SMU Pro Day next week (photo by SMU athletics).

Pittman’s height was listed — perhaps generously — on the 2012 SMU roster at 6-1, and his weight at 285. Just as his physical dimensions don’t necessarily draw immediate attention, neither do his stats: he collected 34 tackles (ninth on the SMU team) and one fumble recovery in his final season on the Hilltop.

Yet Mason said before the 2012 season that he feels Pittman has a chance to play professionally next season.

“In our system, the defensive linemen occupy blockers to let linebackers run free and make plays,” Mason said. “Well, within the defensive line, the nose tackle has to tie up blockers to let the defensive ends get single coverage from the offensive line, too. What we get out of him in the middle can really affect what the rest of the defense is able to do.”

Pittman said he is well aware that playing in a system that calls for him to do the dirty work in the trenches while teammates collect tackles and headlines doesn’t exactly help him jump out at scouts.

“I’m not helped by it, by any means,” he said. “But the scouts know that in this defense, I’m not going to make a lot of tackles at my position. They understand our defense, and what I’m asked to do. There are a lot of NFL teams that use a 3-4 defense and have their nose do the same thing.”

What Pittman has going for him, perhaps above all else, are quickness, a non-stop motor and enormous strength. At a time when many players are trying to trim down to get a step quicker for NFL scouts at next week’s SMU Pro Day, Pittman is doing everything he can to bulk up, and now weighs about 300 pounds. Hunt wowed onlookers at the Combine when he bench pressed the NFL-standard 225 pounds 38 times; Pittman hoisted the same weight 42 times when he tested earlier this week.

“I did 42 today,” Pittman said Monday. “I’m hoping to add two or three more next week for the scouts.”

At the NFL Combine, only two interior defensive linemen — Florida’s Sharrif Floyd and Samford’s Nick Williams — ran the 40-yard dash in under five seconds. Pittman said he has run a 5.10, and has set his Pro Day goal at 4.99.

“Anything under five seconds, and I’ll be ecstatic,” he said.

Virtually every team looks every year for interior defensive linemen who can rush the passer. Teams that run a 4-3 defense generally ask their interior linemen to do it more often, while teams running a 3-4 fluctuate with their nose tackles — some call upon their nose tackle to serve as an anchor and occupy multiple blockers, while others send all three linemen upfield. Pittman said he would be most useful on a team that runs a 4-3, playing the “4-3 nose” that plays just off the center, shaded toward one guard, like Geno Atkins of the Cincinnati Bengals.

“He’s almost exactly my size,” Pittman said, “and nobody says he’s too small.”

Mason once said Pittman could be the best player on the field without making a single tackle. Pittman laughed when told about Mason’s comment, but didn’t argue with it.

“I guess that’s true,” he said. “If my job is to take up blockers and I do that the way I’m supposed to, then Margus and Kevin can get to the quarterback, and the linebackers can make tackles. So if they had a good day, that usually means I had a good day.”

Throughout his college career, Pittman often was shorter or lighter — or both — than the player blocking him. When he took on two blockers, they usually weighed more than twice his weight … and he understands that if he makes it in the NFL, the blockers are even bigger and stronger than the ones he faced at SMU. Nevertheless, he is unfazed by the idea of waging war in the NFL trenches.

“I like it,” he said of the combat that takes place at the line of scrimmage in every game. “If they get to beat me up, I get to beat up on them, too. It’s fun.”

There is no assurance that Pittman’s name will be called when the NFL holds its draft in late April … but there’s no guarantee that he’ll go undrafted, either. Some prognosticators think he’ll be chosen in the later rounds. If not, he is confident that he at least will get a chance to go to a team’s camp as a free agent.

“I’m definitely under the radar,” he said. “The biggest part is getting them here to see me. So when the scouts are here for Pro Day, I have to perform well.

“I have to show them that I can rush the passer and hold my own against blockers. Some of those 6-5, 350-pound guys can’t move that well. I can’t make myself as big as they are, but they can’t make themselves as quick as I am. Hopefully I’ll get a chance with a team that sees the value in that.”