To each other, they are known by aliases: Fat Albert. Mankind. Mr. Incredible. Kool-Aid Man. Super Hero Indian. The Incredible Hulk.

For brevity’s sake, they go by the collective term “Texas Tech offensive line.” Regardless of what names they answer to, the guys who pass protect for Graham Harrell and run block for Baron Batch and Shannon Woods have been at the forefront of Tech’s 7-0 start.

The Red Raiders have had at least 100 yards rushing in all seven games this season. That’s a first in the Mike Leach coaching era. They have allowed only one sack, matching Air Force for fewest in the country.

Tech’s offensive line is doing as expected, and maybe even better, given that the unit returned four players who were full-time and two who were part-time starters last year.

“They all got to play together last year,” Leach said on Monday. “I think that helped. They work hard. Coach (Matt) Moore does a great job with them, and I think they take it upon themselves to try to improve every week, and they’ve done a pretty good job of that.”

The core members – tackles Marlon Winn and Rylan Reed, guards Brandon Carter and Louis Vasquez and centers Stephen Hamby and Shawn Byrnes – also know how to keep each other loose, the nicknames being a prominent example.

Winn is “Fat Albert,” Bill Cosby’s Saturday morning cartoon creation. Reed, who holds the Tech program’s record in the bench press, is The Incredible Hulk.” The group dubbed Vasquez “Super Hero Indian” and Carter “Mankind,” an alias of pro wrestler Mick Foley.

Then there’s Hamby, aka “Mr. Incredible” from the Disney Pixar movie, and his backup Byrnes, who teammates dubbed “Kool-Aid Man.”

How did they come up with all that?

“Usually, it’s the way we look,” Carter said. “Kool-Aid’ for the way Shawn Byrnes’ body looks. Louis Vasquez, we tell him he looks like an Indian. Rylan, The Incredible Hulk, that’s kind of self-explanatory. Mr. Incredible, which is Hamby … I think that was his own (choosing), because I think he just wanted to be incredible at something.”

As for Carter, the junior guard is known for his scares-little-children appearance: face paint, tattoos, two-tone Mohawk and gargantuan size. Could be the second coming of pro wrestler Mankind.

“It fits him perfectly,” Reed said. “Crazy and wild, all that good stuff.”

In all seriousness, Carter says he plans to spend the offseason doing some supervised mixed martial arts training to improve his conditioning for football. Carter’s also just offbeat enough to picture himself being part of WWE Monday Night Raw – or something similar – in case this football thing doesn’t work out long-term.

“I’ve actually thought about it,” he said. “That’s what I wanted to do when I was a little kid. I was going to go actually to wrestling school before I came to college, but I decided to come here. After football, you never know. You could see me on Monday nights making a couple of moves.”

In the meantime, chores remain for Saturday afternoons. Though 18 sacks allowed each of the last two years is Tech’s low since 2000, Leach isn’t ready to rank the current group as his best offensive line. He’ll reserve judgment until he sees how they finish the season.

But if their second-half performance is anywhere near the first half, they could press for that distinction. Pass protection hasn’t been a problem for Tech’s offensive lines the last few years. The line’s biggest improvement has been its contribution to the running game. Tech’s yards per carry average of 5.54 is ninth among the nation’s 119 major-college teams.

“I tell you what,” Reed said, “I think it’s scary (for opponents) to have to put more people in the box against us, to have to respect our run game all of a sudden, to know that in short yardage we’ll run it right up the middle or wherever we really want to right now. It’s great.”

Batch and Woods have both topped 400 yards rushing. Batch has the better per-carry average (7.6 yards to 5.2). Woods has twice as many touchdowns (eight to four).

“Coach Moore has helped us out a lot in the run game,” Carter said. “In the past, the run game was kind of pushed to the side and not really a focus of our offensive line. Since he’s gotten here (in 2007), he’s kind of changed things up.”

Tech football

• Who: No. 8 Texas Tech at No. 19 Kansas

• When: 11 a.m. Saturday

• Where: Memorial Stadium, Lawrence, Kan.

• Records: Tech 7-0, 3-0 in Big 12; Kansas 5-2, 2-1

• Last game: Texas Tech 43, Texas A&M 25; Oklahoma 45, Kansas 31

• Last meeting: Tech won 30-17 in 2005 in Lubbock

• TV: ESPN (Suddenlink Channel 31)

• Line: Kansas by 2