David Ochoa didn’t begin playing football until he was in the seventh grade.

That’s hardly unusual if you’re from any of 49 states, but Ochoa, a Kansas University offensive lineman, happens to be from the Lone Star State.

“Yeah, I didn’t play Pee Wee Football,” said Ochoa, a third-year sophomore from Houston. “I’m probably the only kid in Texas who didn’t. But my parents weren’t ones to force sports on me.”

The 6-foot-4, 280-pound Ochoa started playing in the seventh grade because his older brother John was playing and because that’s the first year football is offered in Houston’s school system.

“I played that year, and I loved it,” Ochoa said.

Now, as a young collegiate offensive lineman, Ochoa is paying his dues while learning the subtleties and nuances of leverage, angles and communication. He has received unexpected on-the-job training early this season, starting the first five games because senior guard Tony Coker has been hobbled by ankle injuries.

“It’s been a great learning experience,” Ochoa said. “You can practice and practice, but until you get on the field, you don’t really know all the little things you need to know and how the intensity level goes up.”

About 20 pounds lighter than most major-college offensive guards, Ochoa nevertheless is the Jayhawks’ designated interchangeable lineman. For example, he logged some downs at tackle last season and he spelled Joe Vaughn when the senior center was injured in last year’s Texas A&M game.

Vaughn, a senior who generally is regarded as the Jayhawks’ most proficient offensive lineman, hasn’t missed a snap this season, but, if he does, Ochoa will take over.

On the surface, it would appear switching from guard to center would be a complicated change, but Ochoa says it’s more difficult to shift from tackle to center because “the three inside guys basically work off each other.”

Ochoa was a part of coach Mark Mangino’s first recruiting class. In fact, if Mangino and aide Brandon Blaney hadn’t been on Bob Stoops’ staff at Oklahoma three years ago, Ochoa might not be on Mount Oread today.

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“When I was a junior in high school I went to Oklahoma’s spring game,” Ochoa said. “That’s when I met Brandon Blaney and he gave me such a nice tour, and I met coach Mangino and he was really nice, too, and that stuck with me.”

When Mangino and Blaney moved to Kansas in 2002, they called Ochoa while he was a senior at Houston Dobie High.

“I went for a visit, and I loved the area and the school,” he said.

His decision to sign with Kansas made him the maverick of the family because most of his relations either are Texas University graduates or currently enrolled in the Austin school, including older brother John who attends the nation’s largest public university on an academic scholarship.

John Ochoa, incidentally, will forego the Oklahoma-Texas game in Dallas on Saturday in order to attend Saturday’s Kansas-Kansas State game at Memorial Stadium. Then John Ochoa will return to Lawrence for the KU-Texas game Nov. 13. He won’t be traveling alone.

“I have a whole lot of relatives who are coming up for that game,” David Ochoa said with a smile.