NCAA next gen newby here (need recruiting help)

[Deegeezy]

So I have decided that I will definitely buy NCAA for the 360 this year and play it pretty much religiously for the first time. I have played every NCAA up to NCAA 2009 on the PS2.

Last year was my first football gaming go-around on the 360 but I initiated myself with Madden. My only experience with NCAA up to this point was a quick sim dynasty to get my Madden draft classes, and more recently, a practice dynasty I am currently playing in preparation for NCAA 11.

Can someone tell me what the heck is going on with recruiting nowadays? Is there no off-season recruiting or is there just in-season recruiting? Also, how exactly do the phone calls work? I don't get it at all.

I am running a practice dynasty right now with UL-Lafayette (wanted to use a small school for this practice run) and I have no idea what I am doing recruiting wise.

Thanks in advance!

[gocards055]

There is both in-season and off-season recruiting.
The players that you put on your big board at the start of the year will stay there all the way until the next season, unless you remove them.

[Madwolf]

In season recruiting is basically all about finding your Top10 players and focusing on them.

My strategy is to basically fill my board with who I need and want. Then I offer scholarships the first week and see how the offers shake out with recruits. In the 2nd week I organize my board so that my guys with other offers are at the top, and those with offers from just me follow.

As the weeks progress focus on your Top10 guys you want to land, and adjust your board by removing players who are out of reach and adding some diamonds in the rough if you can find them.

Schedule visits as soon as you can. I generally schedule them between weeks 9-13 for best results, especially early in your dynasty when you're team isn't that well known. During that period it will take up until the last couple of weeks to land most recruits, and the idea is to have them almost 100% interested when visiting week arrives. That will nearly always guarantee you a commitment.

I'll update more in a sec.

[Deegeezy]

Thanks guys...A few random questions:

Does the pool of available players increase in the off-season like on the PS2 or is everyone immediately available? Are there players who are simply impossible to sign during the season no matter what you throw at them? Or is it possible to be done with recruiting going into the off-season?

Is it normal practice to only go after 10 guys to start? I see that in year 1 of my ULL dynasty, I have 35 spots available for my board. Would it be out of the ordinary for me to fill all 35 of my spots (I see that's what the CPU has done for me since I have it all on the CPU help setting for now)?

[clayshime]

Quote: Originally Posted by Deegeezy

Thanks guys...A few random questions: Does the pool of available players increase in the off-season like on the PS2 or is everyone immediately available? Are there players who are simply impossible to sign during the season no matter what you throw at them? Or is it possible to be done with recruiting going into the off-season? Is it normal practice to only go after 10 guys to start? I see that in year 1 of my ULL dynasty, I have 35 spots available for my board. Would it be out of the ordinary for me to fill all 35 of my spots (I see that's what the CPU has done for me since I have it all on the CPU help setting for now)?

There are players added in the off season who don't exist during the season.

I generally go after around 15 players. I never fill all 35 of my spots, and only try to recruit more than 15 if I have a major need or a stud I'm taking a shot at. Any more than that and you spread yourself too thin, can't commit enough time to guys to really make an impact or gain on another team.

[Deegeezy]

Great info...Can someone walk me through a phone call with a recruit? What exactly is the meter for and the face on the phone? I assume it is my goal to end the conversation with the face smiling?

[StormJH1]

Quote: Originally Posted by Deegeezy

Great info...Can someone walk me through a phone call with a recruit? What exactly is the meter for and the face on the phone? I assume it is my goal to end the conversation with the face smiling?

I was kind of in the OP's boat, and I was just starting to adjust to the next-gen recruiting system (like '09 quite a bit), and then they messed up the progression system in NCAA 10 and it had me so flustered that I just traded it. IIRC, players progressed so quickly that by the 2nd or 3rd year, basically every team was in the "A" range or maxed out. It totally ruined the appeal of the game for me, so I hope they fix it this year.

The smiley face, as far as I could tell, was simply how likely they were to hang up on you. In '09, your recruiting progress was hidden, so you didn't know how well you were doing. In '10, they gave you a magic meter to show how much interest you were gaining, except I don't think it was ever fully explained. Also, when you were doing adverse recruiting (against another school), there was a lot of debate over whether you wanted a + or a - to show up.

Usually, if you're doing well, you get a smiley face throughout b/c the guy is happy to talk to you. But I think it's just there as a visual cue that the guy is about to hang up on you if you keep going on a particular pitch.

[FOREST007]

Here's a strategy i use, since i always use a 1* school:

Pre-season: go through all the top players and see which players have "red" interest in their top 3 teams. Get most of them, as well as some players interested in you.

reason: most of these players don't get scholarships from top schools or they hold out until in-home visits, where you can make promises and sway them more.

Week 1 & 2: Quick call all the top prospects w/ 50-60 mins, along with a scholarship.

reason: even if they are not interested, they would start to take notice of your school.

weeks 3-6: continue to quick call the top prospects with 50-60 mins

reason: unlocking pitches and the computer gets interest gains for you.

week 7-9: drop anybody with at least 3 scholarship offers (including yours) and you are not at least top 3 on their list. also drop the lower star players that you are not really interested in. Then, go to all prospects and see which top players have not received scholarships and add them to your board.

reason: this will give you a head start with these prospects headed into the off-season.

rest of season: repeat all the steps from week 1 to week 9.

reason: to gain interest

off-season: make all the promises that you can control (example: no redshirt, solid play time, etc). other promises are easy to, like get good national exposure, if you have those unlocked.

reason: large interest gains

it's not a guaranteed method to get to the top quick, but it helps. I'm only a 2* school now, but i can still match up with teams like TCU and Nebraska.

*IT'S ALSO IMPORTANT TO HAVE YOUR RECRUITS ORDERED BY CALIBER FOR THIS*