Irvine Tackle Is Busy Turning Bigger Into Better : * Prep football: Curt Cannon wants to be the county’s best lineman. And because of this ambition, his parents’ food bill is going through the roof.

Curt Cannon, a senior offensive tackle at Irvine High School, stands 6 feet 5 and weighs almost 240 pounds. His hands are as big as a child’s baseball mitt. His thighs are the circumference of a telephone pole. Some of his clothes no longer fit.

Terry Henigan, Irvine coach, calls Cannon the best lineman he has coached in his 10 years at the school. College recruiters are lining up to deliver their sales pitches to Cannon. On the field, opponents have little chance of derailing this overpowering blocking machine.

Cannon says he is happy, but far from content. He desperately wants to get bigger, to weigh more, to be stronger. He wants to be the best high school lineman in Orange County, and will do almost anything within reason to accomplish that goal.

It’s that desire to succeed that sets him apart from his teammates and indeed, many of the county’s other Division I-A scholarship hopefuls.

At the same time, Cannon is not so caught up in the future--of who and what he might become--that he’s forgotten the present. He seems to be enjoying his senior season in high school, even as he prepares for what figures to be a promising college football career.

“Every game it gets more and more fun,” Cannon said. “I don’t think I’ve ever had a boring game.”

Irvine is 2-0 entering tonight’s nonleague game against Sunny Hills (0-2) and is fourth-ranked in the Southern Section’s Division II poll, highest in school history. And while that pleases Cannon, it also inspires him to work harder.

“Every game I want to get better and better and learn from my mistakes,” he said. “I need to concentrate more on the plays. Instead of thinking about killing a guy, I should concentrate on blocking that guy.”

Mastering his position figures to be the easiest of Cannon’s tasks this season. What’s hardest is bulking up further. To that end, he spends six nights a week at a gym lifting weights after practice. And he eats.

Often, his calorie intake is staggering--as high as 12,000 a day.

A typical day in Cannon’s eat-to-win menu looks something like this:

Breakfast--add three eggs and a scoop of ice cream to a protein milkshake.

Lunch--a ham or turkey and cheese sandwich and a soda.

Snack--another sandwich and soda.

Dinner--chicken, potato and corn or pasta and bread with another protein shake.

Snack--another shake.

Bedtime snack--another shake.

Cannon avoids junk food as much as he can. It’s not easy, though. After all, he is a teen-ager. But he wants to add bulk not fat, and chicken and pasta work more effectively than fast-food burgers and fries.

“I don’t want to be a big fat guy,” he said. “I want to put on more weight but I don’t want to be a fat blob.”

The plan seems to be working fine, though his parents’ food bill has zoomed to astronomical proportions. “I don’t know how they do it,” Cannon said, laughing.

With this yearlong diet, Cannon has gained about 35 pounds. He looks strong, and even if he gained another 30 pounds he wouldn’t be close to looking fat.

“Most recruiters looked at him this spring on film and came away impressed,” Henigan said. “They liked his hand and foot speed, but they want to know: ‘Can he put on weight?’ ”

Henigan said most high school linemen can’t afford to gain another 25 pounds without looking like something that floats above a parade route. He also said because they’re still growing, even the best high school linemen seldom weigh more than 230.

“He played at 210 last year and he was excellent,” Henigan said of Cannon, who was an honorable mention all-South Coast League selection in 1990. “I would not have cared if he came back at 210 this year.”

With the added pounds, Cannon has been better than ever this season, opening huge holes in the defense for running back Scott Seal. Last week, in a 14-6 victory over Villa Park, Seal carried 36 times, gaining 160 yards and scoring two touchdowns.

After the game, Henigan called Cannon the best lineman in school history.

This week, Henigan said, “I don’t know of a weakness he has.”

Unless, of course, you count all that food Cannon scarfs down.