Calling an offensive line “finesse” is like calling a man “pretty” or “delicate like a flower.”

It’s said with good intentions, sure, but it’s not exactly choice words as far as the subject’s concerned.

“I don’t like that at all, being called finesse,” Kansas University center David Ochoa said. “What’s finesse about football?”

Ochoa knows the tag has been applied to KU’s offensive line in recent years, largely due to a lack of size. Back when Cesar Rodriguez played at about 258 pounds in 2004, it seemed the whole line minus Bob Whitaker had playing weights that were dwarfed by other Big 12 Conference opponents.

Joe Vaughn? Never much more than 285 pounds, and being 6-foot-1 didn’t help the whispers that he was considered small. Ochoa? He’s never strayed far from 280. Travis Dambach always has been listed below 300. Same with Matt Thompson when he was a fixture on the line.

Searching for words to assess a line that slowly improved from the beginning of ’04 until the Fort Worth Bowl in ’05, that dreaded term came up again. Finesse.

Ochoa and the men in the trenches have worked hard to shed the label, with offensive line coach John Reagan urging them on. Though KU’s line – an average of around 297 pounds among the projected starters – still doesn’t carry the weight of Iowa State (317 average), Missouri (311) or Texas (320 among returning starters), it is getting a little thicker one day at a time.

Rodriguez, KU’s left tackle, is approaching 290 pounds now. Anthony Collins, slated to start at right tackle, is inching toward 310 pounds. Dambach and Jake Cox both are close to 300 pounds as well.

“We’re bigger and thicker than we were a year ago, which is important,” KU coach Mark Mangino said. “We need to be a physical offensive line. We’ve got to be able to run the football.”

Ochoa, a team captain, has seen the progress. So, too, have others like tight end Derek Fine, who calls himself half a lineman.

“They kind of got a little nastiness about them,” Fine said.

Ochoa, a fifth-year senior, credits Reagan for teaching the line “to love the physicality of it.”

“I looked back at the spring film the other day, watching film as we usually do,” Ochoa said, “and it was like ‘Wow. We’re pushing around people that much even compared to last year during the season.’

“I think that comes with confidence of guys you play next to.”

Besides Thompson, the bulk of the line returns one year older for the 2006 season. Ochoa, who’s in graduate school, is the leader, with Whitaker, Cox, Rodriguez, Collins, Dambach and Ryan Cantrell all having at least one start to their credit in 2005.

The line showed noted improvement at the end of ’05, culminating with 538 yards of total offense – balanced nicely between run and pass – in the Fort Worth Bowl.

Now, it’s really time to peak.

“Everybody has started some games,” Ochoa said. “We have some confidence that we can go out there and get it going from the get-go and dominate people.”