Bob Whitaker has seen the scene enough to know when he and his Kansas University football teammates will get “the look.”

It happens when the 6-foot-5, 317-pound sophomore offensive guard and an entourage of Jayhawk trenchmen enter a Lawrence buffet, prompting a double-take from the server.

“You can just kind of see their eyes get big,” said Whitaker, recounting the offensive linemen’s weekly routine of invading a city restaurant.

The night usually continues with a movie, helping the Jayhawk blockers use their down time to bond.

“It helps us to get closer, more comfortable talking to each other, which we hope translates to better communication on the field,” Whitaker said.

The same strategy helped last season when KU’s line anchored a high-scoring Jayhawk offense.

But there have been big changes. Last year a KU lineman missed a start just once. Take away Adrian Jones to the NFL draft and Danny Lewis to graduation, and coach Mark Mangino’s team already had two question marks.

With Big 12 offensive newcomer of the year Joe Vaughn returning at center and experience at both guard spots in Whitaker and Tony Coker, KU’s offensive line seemed again ready to thrive.

But Coker went down because of an injured ankle during two-a-days, opening the door for what has become a revolving door for inexperienced sophomores David Ochoa, Travis Dambach, red-shirt freshman Cesar Rodriguez and Air Force transfer Matt Thompson.

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“We have some young kids that are really fighting their tails off, but I’m not sure they’re in the right position for the long haul,” Mangino said. “You can anticipate some tweaking of the offensive line this Saturday.”

The Jayhawks survived any possible line weakness in big home wins over Tulsa and Toledo, but the woes were evident last weekend in a 20-17 loss to Northwestern. Kansas rushed for just 47 yards on 26 carries and committed a handful of costly penalties.

While Mangino did not place all the blame on his blockers, he said those scenarios could not happen Saturday against Texas Tech.

“We’d like for our offense to sustain drives and move the chains. I think time of possession could be important in a game like this for our offense,” Mangino said.

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“We have to run the ball better. There’s no question about that. I don’t want to point the finger at anybody. Running the football is a cooperative effort. I think … our offensive line at times at times had trouble — not the entire line, but a couple of guys did.”

Which tight end Lyonel Anderson said could be solved with camaraderie.

“Every day of practice, every game is another opportunity for us to come together,” Anderson said. “The more time we have a chance to play together the better. We just have to communicate a little bitter. Communication is the key.”