As the Kansas football coach completed his first recruiting class, he learned that doing so isn’t always going to be easy.

Leipold formalized the completion of a 14-player class on Wednesday, one that includes seven players on offense and seven players on defense.

That split may suggest Leipold has achieved what he wanted. But the Jayhawks, one of the youngest Power 5 teams last season, leaned heavily into the transfer market to add players with experience.

Rather than giving most of its available scholarships to high school players, Kansas added eight transfers, one from junior college, and six high school players. That’s because nearly two-thirds of the players on the team at the end of last season were underclassmen.

“We continue to work to even out our scholarship numbers,” Leipold said Wednesday, the first day of the late signing period. “We’re still unbalanced in some scholarship areas on our team. From the time we arrived, offensively and defensively, we have some positions that are heavy-laden. We worked to kind of balance that.”

Whereas most teams finalize a class each February by adding several high school players, Kansas did not. It signed just one — Brian Dilworth, a 6-foot cornerback from Chaminade-Madonna Prep in Hollywood, Florida.

The other five high school players — quarterback Ethan Vasko, offensive linemen Joey Baker and James Livingston and safeties Mason Ellis and Kaleb Purdy — signed with the Jayhawks on Dec. 15, the start of the early signing period.

Each of the transfers, including running back Ky Thomas, who is from Topeka and played at Minnesota, enrolled at KU for the start of the spring semester last month. Their additions were formalized then.

That meant Leipold’s signing day press conference included little time talking about individual players and more about how he’s trying to mold the program after his first season.

“We have a grid of how many scholarships we’re going to have allotted for each position, and we have it broken down by what grade they’re in,” Leipold said. “Right now, that is not anywhere near where we would like it to be in some areas. We’re really bunched up.”

Leipold used the defensive tackle rotation as an example. The top four players at the position — Malcolm Lee, Caleb Sampson, Kenean Caldwell and Sam Burt — will be seniors, with underclassmen behind them. And owing to depth, Kansas added zero wide receivers in this cycle because 13 of the 16 who finished the season on the team were underclassmen.

Leipold indirectly suggested previous coach Les Miles’ recruiting strategy, such as signing tight ends and fullbacks to a team that wanted to use four wide receivers, played into that imbalance.

“We’re about 10 scholarships over last season on offense than we were on defense,” Leipold said.

Dilworth, the lone high school signee, committed to Kansas on Jan. 23 following an official visit. A three-star prospect according to Rivals.com, Dilworth committed to play for Auburn in May 2020, when he was a sophomore, but coach Gus Malzahn’s firing after that season led him to reconsider his decision.

Dilworth decommitted in February 2021, then let his recruitment play out throughout his senior season, when Chaminade-Madonna Prep went 12-1 and won a state championship.

His high school football coach, Dameon Jones, said he chose KU over Louisville, NC State and UMass. He had an official visit lined up to Louisville the following weekend that he canceled so he could join Kansas.

“Just a great, high-character kid,” Jones said. “Former receiver, so great ball skills. Very athletic. Very smart. He’s going to bring a dynamic presence to that team.”

Two defensive line coaches

Jim Panagos, who was hired Tuesday, will coach defensive tackles while Taiwo Onatolu will coach defensive ends. “When we made some of our biggest improvements in our last job (at Buffalo) was when we had two defensive line coaches,” Leipold said. Special teams coach Jake Schoonover, meanwhile, will take a larger role in recruiting. Schoonover “has done an outstanding job in recruiting and our relations with high school coaches, especially with the state of Missouri and Kansas,” Leipold said.

Grunhard won’t return

Right guard Colin Grunhard, who transferred to Kansas from Notre Dame before last season, will not return to the team for his final season of eligibility because of an unspecified injury. Grunhard, from Mission, was limited through much of training camp with the injury, started the opener against South Dakota and then appeared in the game against Texas Tech as a reserve. “He has decided just to finish up his academics and his master’s degree,” Leipold said. “We truly appreciate everything that he gave our program.” … Left tackle Earl Bostick Jr., who started all 11 games at left tackle last season and seven the year before, will also return for his final season of eligibility.