Kansas University football coach Mark Mangino spoke highly of his fourth recruiting class Wednesday, specifically of a quality similar in all its members that has nothing to do with on-field capabilities.

“After they committed to the University of Kansas, they kept their word, they didn’t visit anywhere else, didn’t commit anywhere else,” Mangino said. “That makes me feel like we did a good job of finding kids with character and resolve.”

Such resolve is becoming harder to find. More than a half-dozen players who committed to KU backed out and went elsewhere before Wednesday’s signing day, a trend that Mangino said was getting more popular by the year.

“I am in favor of an early signing period,” Mangino said. “Talk about saving money and holding kids accountable … I think the early signing date would have some merit.”

Mangino said his staff was trying to calculate how much money KU spends “baby-sitting” recruits, or making in-home visits to athletes already committed to the program to ensure that they won’t stray.

He said roughly one-fourth of KU’s recruiting budget was used on that.

An early signing period doesn’t appear to be coming anytime soon, though, so the increased flip-flopping of commitments won’t be going away, either. Mangino and his staff are well aware of the annual dangers of impressionable teenagers, and they say they’re prepared for it.

“It is a hazard that comes with college football recruiting,” Mangino said. “It’s going to be there for a long, long time.”

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In good standings: Mangino said that not all of the 25 signees were academically eligible yet, but he expected most of them to become eligible. Only a couple are considered “long shots.”

Kansas University football coach Mark Mangino comments on recruits' making and maintaining commitments during a news conference in which he announced KU's 25-member recruiting class. Mangino, who spoke about the class Wednesday, says he's in favor of an early signing period.

One is thought to be Darius Warner, a defensive end out of Texas. If Warner doesn’t qualify, he likely would be placed at Garden City Community College, according to rivals.com.

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Bacheyie back: Showing up on Wednesday’s list was an old name: Tang Bacheyie, a safety from Windsor, Ontario, who originally signed with KU in 2003. His arrival in Lawrence was postponed two years because of academic issues and an injury.

“Those two things coupled together forced him to defer his entrance until now,” Mangino said.

Bacheyie came in as a semester transfer and currently is on campus.

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Throneberry story: Oklahoma defensive tackle Jonathan Throneberry is thought to be the latest pickup in the class, accepting a scholarship offer Tuesday and signing Wednesday.

Throneberry was interested in KU the whole time, but the Jayhawks ran out of scholarships at defensive line in December. But after several players changed their commitments, Throneberry was back in business — and his high school coach claims it’ll pay off in the long run for KU.

“He has excellent size, strength, and he’s very athletic. Great footwork,” Lone Grove High coach Kevin Foster said. “Defensively, they had to double- and triple-team him.”