The last time I heard a man with a Texas twang passionately insisting that Kansas is the place that all recruiting must start for the Kansas University football program, Don Fambrough was the man doing the talking.

Monday, in a far swankier office than the one Fambrough occupied during his two stays as head football coach, another energetic Texan preached the importance of convincing Kansas boys that there’s no place like home.

“I’m fixing to start in my own backyard,” Beaty said.

And he did. Lawrence High coach Dirk Wedd said he enjoyed a 45-minute visit Monday afternoon with Beaty and old friend Clint Bowen, the assistant head coach/defensive coordinator. From there, the coaches visited Baldwin High’s Mike Berg.

Lawrence High Class of 2016 defensive end Amani Bledsoe will also receive visits this week from Oregon and Florida State, to name a couple.

Baldwin’s man-child offensive lineman Christian Gaylord of the Class of 2015 re-opened his recruiting after Nebraska fired Bo Pelini.

Meet-and-greets with Bob Lisher at Free State, Gene Wier at Olathe North (eight Kansas state titles, would be ideally suited for on-campus high school recruiting coordinator job at KU), Tony Severino at Rockhurst, former KU quarterback Kelly Donahoe at Blue Springs High in Missouri are on today’s schedule for joint visits from Beaty and Reggie Mitchell.

“I really think he’s got a lot on the ball,” Wedd said of Beaty. “You kind of leave after visiting with him, and you think he’s your best friend. He’s one of those guys who has the ability to warm to a stranger pretty quickly. I guess that’s probably why he’s such a good recruiter. He makes you feel like a lifelong friend.”

Charlie Weis’ plunge into juco-heavy recruiting backfired from here to South Bend and back, a bad gamble that will cost Kansas depth-wise for the next few years.

“The majority of our football team will be based on high school players we can build over time,” Beaty said. “Something that we can build to last.”

Wedd said he had no doubt Beaty was sincere about his goal to load the roster with Kansas scholarship players and walk-ons, some of whom will earn scholarships after two seasons.

Told of Beaty’s Kansas-first plan, Lisher said, “I hope so. You look at K-State’s roster compared to KU’s, and it’s unbelievable. So I hope so.”

Kansas State’s roster lists 54 players from the state, KU’s 19. Walk-ons are easier to recruit now since the rules changed a year ago to allow walk-ons to have access to all the same meals as the scholarship players. In-state tuition makes it easier to land in-state walk-ons.

Beaty’s Texas recruiting ties helped him get the job, and he’ll mine those to help him keep the job. He’ll have someone on his staff re-opening the pipelines to Oklahoma and Missouri, in that order.

All it takes to appreciate the importance of in-state recruits is to look at the Orange Bowl rosters from 1968 and 2008. Much changed in 40 years, but one thing didn’t. If Kansas wants to reverse its losing ways, it must respect local coaches and recruits. Beaty gets that. It will take time to heal wounds created by the previous two regimes spanning five years, and he knows he must be at once patient and relentless toward that end.