It all led to the Leipold and company officially signing a 12-man class on the first day of the early signing period on Wednesday, which featured KU receiving letters of intent from 12 3-star high school prospects.

Leipold and his staff believe many of the new signees will be a big part of KU’s future. And you’re not keeping up if you’re not out there chasing down talent. But in recent years, with the addition of the early football signing period in December and the explosion of the transfer portal, things have gotten awfully busy awfully fast for college coaches at all levels across the country.

That’s to say nothing of teams who have to spend the month of December preparing for their bowl games or the re-recruitment of your own roster and whatever other coaching and player turnover programs now must manage on an annual basis.

Asked Wednesday if such a schedule was sustainable, Leipold provided an honest assessment of where things stand.

“For college football it is,” he said. “But it may not be for coaches. There’s only so many hours in the day. There’s only so many places you can be at one time. But there’s always somebody that’s going to do it.”

Leipold is one of those somebodies. His staff is right there with him. That’s the cost of doing business at a Power 5 program like Kansas, which is trending upward but still has plenty of work to do to get where it truly wants to go.

The college football offseason used to move at a slower pace, with everything geared toward the early-February signing day. But these days, recruiting and roster management have transformed into a 12-months-a-year endeavor. Leipold stopped short of calling the non-stop nature of the college football calendar a problem, but he acknowledged that finding a way to manage it — or even seeking change — was “a very hard issue to solve.”

Until things are different Leipold and his staff will continue to burn the midnight oil, travel when and where it’s needed and do everything they can not only to help Kansas keep pace but to find a way for the Jayhawks to make up ground.

While appearing in their first bowl game in 14 years next month has added to the craziness of the month, that’s just fine with KU’s second-year head coach.

“I’m not complaining,” Leipold said. “We’ve been given the resources to be able to do it. I tell you what, though; wherever I’m at on the energy meter right now, this is a lot more fun than last December.”

2023 Kansas Football early signees

LB Logan Brantley, 6-2, 211, Cherry Creek High, Denver, Colo.

WR Surahz Buncom, 6-3, 170, Mater Dei Catholic, San Diego, Calif.

DT Marcus Calvin, 6-2, 302, Gibbs High, St. Petersburg, Fla.

OL Calvin Clements, 6-7, 290, Free State High, Lawrence, Kan.

CB Jameel Croft, 6-0, 177, Martin Luther King High, Detroit, Mich.

S Taylor Davis, 6-0, 180, Ridge Point High, Missouri City, Texas

TE Jaden Hamm, 6-5, 225, Eudora High, Eudora, Kan.

DT Blake Herold, 6-3, 255, Shenandoah High, Shenandoah, Iowa

WR Keaton Kubecka, 6-2, 198, Westlake High, Austin, Texas

WR Jarred Sample, 5-10, 175, Cypress Ranch High, Cypress, Texas

DE Tony Terry Jr., 6-3, 240, Jackson Senior High, Bufordville, Mo.

RB Johnny Thompson Jr., 5-11, 186, Oaks Christian High, Canoga Park, Calif.