Kansas University football coach Mark Mangino had reporters chuckling after talking about the new age of recruiting.

With no restrictions currently in place, coaching staffs all over college football are catching up to what’s hot in teenage communication: cell phone text messaging.

“It’s a highly peculiar situation where a 50-year old man is text messaging 18-year old guys at 10 o’clock at night,” Mangino quipped. “In most scenarios outside of college sports, the FBI would have my wires tapped and wonder what I’m up to.

“But In the world of college athletics? I’m just doing my job. I’m just trying to hold on to what I’ve got.”

After Mangino wore the numbers off his old cell phone, he got a shiny new cell phone about three weeks ago. And he was behind in the game once again.

“It took me three days to learn how to text message,” Mangino said. “I had to call my son in Topeka to ask him what steps to go through to do the text messaging because I couldn’t figure it out.

“I don’t have a real passion for it,” he added. “It’s just a necessity.”

¢No Mack: There were few surprises that weren’t already unearthed by services like Rivals.com in the days leading up to Signing Day.

But there was one omission. Junior-college defensive end Aaron Mack committed to Kansas in December, but wasn’t signed because of his academic standing.

Kansas did sign three defensive linemen, but Mangino hinted that it may not have been as many as they wanted.

“We’re OK,” Mangino said. “Next year, D-line will be a little more of a focus for us. : If there was anywhere we could’ve gotten another guy, it would’ve been a junior-college D-end. But we’ll make do with where we’re at. It’s not a major setback.”

¢Up in the air: Mangino raved about incoming recruit Carmon Boyd-Anderson, a 6-foot-1, 200-pound running back out of Jacksonville, Texas. But he stopped short of guessing whether Boyd-Anderson could contribute this fall.

“That’s always a slippery slope,” Mangino said.

It may partly depend on sophomore Angus Quigley, who sat out all of last season with a badly torn muscle that has required a long recovery process.

“Every indication is right now that he will be available (for spring practices),” Mangino said of Quigley. “But he’s still getting intense rehabilitation work and treatment. We’ll wait until we get a little closer, but it’s our hope that he will be able to participate. Even if it’s in a limited manner, we’ll be excited about that.”

¢Spring practices: Spring practice dates have not been announced formally, but Wednesday’s press release did state that KU’s spring season will begin March 14.

That likely means that the spring game will be played April 14 or 15 at Memorial Stadium. A full list of dates – including possible practices open to the public – is expected to be released soon.