<table> </table> LAWRENCE | Kansas center Ryan Cantrell has noticed a change in Jeremiah Hatch and Jeff Spikes, KU&#8217;s redshirt freshman tackles.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s fun to watch them in practice,&#8221; said Cantrell, a senior captain. &#8220;If they do mess up, it&#8217;s fun to see their reaction compared to early in the season where they might just kind of shrug it off and say, &#8216;I&#8217;ve got more time to figure it out.&#8217; You can see the anger and the sense of urgency in them now.&#8221;</p><p>Spikes has noticed the shift in his and Hatch&#8217;s demeanor, too.</p><p>&#8220;We know at this point that we can be better,&#8221; Spikes said. &#8220;If we mess up on a play that we&#8217;ve run 80 or 90 times during the week, we are mad at ourselves because we know what we&#8217;re supposed to do.&#8221;</p><p>The maturation of left tackle Hatch and right tackle Spikes has been obvious during Big 12 play. They have combined with KU&#8217;s veteran interior linemen &#8212; Cantrell, Adrian Mayes and Chet Hartley &#8212; to help revamp the Jayhawks&#8217; running game into one of the team&#8217;s strengths nine games into the season.</p><p>KU running back Jake Sharp has been the beneficiary, rushing for 561 yards in 96 carries &#8212; an average of 5.8 yards &#8212; in league play. Sharp&#8217;s biggest game came against Kansas State&#8217;s woeful run defense last weekend when he ran for 181 yards and four touchdowns. Sharp may be on a roll, but he knows who should get the credit.</p><p>&#8220;I wasn&#8217;t getting touched until the second level,&#8221; Sharp said. &#8220;That&#8217;s all attributed to the offensive line.&#8221;</p><p>In nonconference play, KU rushed for 3.4 yards per carry and could not sustain a rhythm with any of its running backs. So what happened? KU offensive coordinator Ed Warinner said it was a matter of staying patient and figuring out how to mesh one of the running backs&#8217; strengths with the strengths of the offensive line. That process took time, but they eventually settled on Sharp and a less complicated blocking approach up front.</p><p>&#8220;We were a work in progress,&#8221; Warinner said. &#8220;We have simplified some things, made it so they know who they are blocking, come off the ball and go block that guy, not have a lot of thought processes going on, which has helped them.&#8221;</p><p>The KU coaches also decided to switch Hatch to the left side and slide Spikes to the right before the Big 12 opener against Iowa State. The improvement in the running game can be tracked directly to the win over the Cyclones.</p><p>Spikes and Hatch, who are roommates, wouldn&#8217;t be starting together this year if not for the early departure of first-team All-America left tackle Anthony Collins to the NFL. Collins, now with the Cincinnati Bengals, hasn&#8217;t left the Jayhawks high and dry, though. He talks regularly on the phone with Spikes and Hatch.</p><p>&#8220;He told me, first game of the season, &#8216;You&#8217;re going to mess up, you might give up sacks you&#8217;re not supposed to, and I won&#8217;t accept it,&#8217;&#8194;&#8221; Spikes said.</p><p>&#8220;Every game, I learn things I didn&#8217;t know before. Every game, I get better.&#8221;