Recruiting Tips (NCAA 14)

[Strategizer]

Quote: Originally Posted by Rain816

How do u offer Scholarships??? Cant figure it out to save my life... Plz help

You can hit x (or I assume a on xbox) on either the prospect overview screen or bonus point screen (I think). You have to have at least 50 points unused.

[wolverinemaniac]

Quote: Originally Posted by fcboiler87

I'd like to know the answer to this as well. It seems like this has been an issue for a couple years so I wouldn't be surprised if it still does it but would be nice to hear from those who have the game.

its walk-on's....

[StoneCalf]

Quote: Originally Posted by whotookmybowtie

In 13 I kept having the issue of a lot of lower rated players signing on with me even if they weren't on my board or given a scholarship. I had all CPU assistance off so I don't know how it kept happening, has this been fixed in 14?

Quote: Originally Posted by BIGFOOT999

It does happen.

Oh well, it's an annoyance. You would think having recruiting assistance off would do what it's supposed to.

Late into my '13 Dynasty, I started signing smaller classes (trying not to oversign). One season, with about 3 weeks left in the offseason, I wrapped up and stopped recruiting at 21 signed. Then at the end, I found I had 4 more signed (the CPU did it), including a four star. No big deal, I just cut them to stay within my house rules, but it skewed my class ranking true rank.

Quote: Originally Posted by plak89

UGHHHHHH

ditto

[fcboiler87]

Quote: Originally Posted by wolverinemaniac

its walk-on's....

This discussion has been had many times on here. It is the CPU filling your 25 scholarship max for you if you don't meet it yourself. The players are rated and were in the database. The game generates a player that was not available in recruiting if you are in need of a true walk on, say for instance I signed 25 players and needed a FB but didn't sign one. The game will generate a player that will show up on my roster after off season recruiting. It will be a poorly rated one, typically less than 60 overall. The rated guys it gives you at the end of recruiting were rated recruits and are often quite good. You can keep them if you like and justify it by calling them walk ons but to me and many others its cheesy and unjustifiable. I will never keep a CPU assigned player out of realism.

[volsman]

Is anyone going to put together a guide this year? Some really good stuff in this thread

[JLoco11]

I did 2 seasons so far (mostly simmed to test things out before the rosters come out). And I'm pretty comfortable with what I will be doing when the rosters are created:

1 - Coaching skills are HUGE! The higher a coach rank, the more chance they will you get leads in recruiting. Pay VERY close attention to schools you are recruiting against, in particular the coaches Recruiting level.

Some are obvious (Texas, Bama, Oklahoma etc). Some aren't like Ohio and UConn that gave their coaches some ridiculously high recruiting levels for some reason.

If you go for a smaller school, you will notice how hard it is to recruit. If you take a larger school, you will have a much easier time.

2 - If you go with a low level recruiting coach, you WILL get stomped. It's almost pointless going into a dynasty at level 1 when the CPU doesn't set the same limits. You may choose Texas A&M, start at level 1, but have to recruit against Brown and Stoops who both have extraordinary recruiting boosts that you can't limit at the dynasty setup

(The only place to limit the CPU recruiting ability is the Edit Coaches features at the main menu... you can alter a team's recruiting skill)

3 - Focus on the positions you need only. Like most said, 12-15 recruits is fine. Going for 25 recruits at the same time will result in you getting very little.

4 - Go to each recruit, and see what Bonus points you can earn. For example, you might have a TE targetted, and part of his bonus is "Get 100 receiving yards with a TE in a game". To get that bonus, get your TE 100 yards in a game. Pay very close attention to what in game bonuses you will earn.

5 - Get as many coach skill XP points as possible in game. Getting coach points to rank up will be crucial to compete in the earliest years.

6 - Schedule visits at the end of the year for recruits. And make sure you schedule recruits that complement each other. If you have a Scrambling QB and Pass protecting OL, they don't mesh and do not give you a recruiting bonus. If you have a Run Blocking OL with the Scrambler, you will get a bonus.

Also, don't schedule recruits at the same position if there is only 1 starter. For example, 2 QB's, 2 C's or FS's. You can schedule 2 WR's or CB's or OLB's because they have multiple starting spots, but not the single position starters.

7 - If you're in the lead of a position, you can ease off a bit on the points depending on your lead. If you see you're up 1,000 points, you pretty much have that recruit. If you're up 200 points, you'll be in a battle, but you might be able to ease up on full points if you want to invest elsewhere.



Now, one thing I did out of curiosity was to make a few coaches mid-season, and take a look at how the CPU was setting up points.

EVERY team maxes out their recruit points in only 10-12 candidates. Every single one. Plus, as I mentioned with recruiting points, the bigger schools have more advantages. Oklahoma, Texas, Bama, V-Tech etc were putting 700 points per recruit, with 400+ bonus points. My smaller school was giving 550 + 300 bonus points if I was lucky. So each week, I was losing 300 points per recruit against the big schools.

So if you're wondering how come you're not catching the CPU, it's because they literally throw every point they have at a recruit. If you see a big name school ahead of you, just leave the recruit, you will not win that battle. You can't catch the top schools in the game if you're smaller than they are.

[JLoco11]

Quote: Originally Posted by JLoco11

I did 2 seasons so far (mostly simmed to test things out before the rosters come out). And I'm pretty comfortable with what I will be doing when the rosters are created: 1 - Coaching skills are HUGE! The higher a coach rank, the more chance they will you get leads in recruiting. Pay VERY close attention to schools you are recruiting against, in particular the coaches Recruiting level. Some are obvious (Texas, Bama, Oklahoma etc). Some aren't like Ohio and UConn that gave their coaches some ridiculously high recruiting levels for some reason. If you go for a smaller school, you will notice how hard it is to recruit. If you take a larger school, you will have a much easier time. 2 - If you go with a low level recruiting coach, you WILL get stomped. It's almost pointless going into a dynasty at level 1 when the CPU doesn't set the same limits. You may choose Texas A&M, start at level 1, but have to recruit against Brown and Stoops who both have extraordinary recruiting boosts that you can't limit at the dynasty setup (The only place to limit the CPU recruiting ability is the Edit Coaches features at the main menu... you can alter a team's recruiting skill) 3 - Focus on the positions you need only. Like most said, 12-15 recruits is fine. Going for 25 recruits at the same time will result in you getting very little. 4 - Go to each recruit, and see what Bonus points you can earn. For example, you might have a TE targetted, and part of his bonus is "Get 100 receiving yards with a TE in a game". To get that bonus, get your TE 100 yards in a game. Pay very close attention to what in game bonuses you will earn. 5 - Get as many coach skill XP points as possible in game. Getting coach points to rank up will be crucial to compete in the earliest years. 6 - Schedule visits at the end of the year for recruits. And make sure you schedule recruits that complement each other. If you have a Scrambling QB and Pass protecting OL, they don't mesh and do not give you a recruiting bonus. If you have a Run Blocking OL with the Scrambler, you will get a bonus. Also, don't schedule recruits at the same position if there is only 1 starter. For example, 2 QB's, 2 C's or FS's. You can schedule 2 WR's or CB's or OLB's because they have multiple starting spots, but not the single position starters. 7 - If you're in the lead of a position, you can ease off a bit on the points depending on your lead. If you see you're up 1,000 points, you pretty much have that recruit. If you're up 200 points, you'll be in a battle, but you might be able to ease up on full points if you want to invest elsewhere. Now, one thing I did out of curiosity was to make a few coaches mid-season, and take a look at how the CPU was setting up points. EVERY team maxes out their recruit points in only 10-12 candidates. Every single one. Plus, as I mentioned with recruiting points, the bigger schools have more advantages. Oklahoma, Texas, Bama, V-Tech etc were putting 700 points per recruit, with 400+ bonus points. My smaller school was giving 550 + 300 bonus points if I was lucky. So each week, I was losing 300 points per recruit against the big schools. So if you're wondering how come you're not catching the CPU, it's because they literally throw every point they have at a recruit. If you see a big name school ahead of you, just leave the recruit, you will not win that battle. You can't catch the top schools in the game if you're smaller than they are.

To add 1 more point to my wall of text...

Altering a coaches recruiting skill, seems almost mandatory before doing a dynasty. Based on the default skill points EA gave coaches, Nick Saban is the only coach given the Insta Commit skill in the game. It's a bit much to be honest.

There is no question he's the best coach in college, and the best recruiting coach in the game.... but Bama already has tons of advantages, and you stand no choice against them at all. His tree has 6500 points per week, 700 per recruit, insta commit and 2000 per visit. Doesn't matter if you're Texas, USC, Florida, Notre Dame, Oregon or Ohio State, no big school can even come close to that.

Altering coach skill points before the season is a must if you want a fairly even playing field. That doesn't mean "nerf" him to hell, just balance out how powerful Bama is compared to other schools. He should lead the pack, along with the other major schools... but he's so far ahead of the other big schools it's impossible to recruit against Bama and win. You just have to hope they don't want your recruits.

[k5james]

Quote: Originally Posted by JLoco11

To add 1 more point to my wall of text... Altering a coaches recruiting skill, seems almost mandatory before doing a dynasty. Based on the default skill points EA gave coaches, Nick Saban is the only coach given the Insta Commit skill in the game. It's a bit much to be honest. There is no question he's the best coach in college, and the best recruiting coach in the game.... but Bama already has tons of advantages, and you stand no choice against them at all. His tree has 6500 points per week, 700 per recruit, insta commit and 2000 per visit. Doesn't matter if you're Texas, USC, Florida, Notre Dame, Oregon or Ohio State, no big school can even come close to that. Altering coach skill points before the season is a must if you want a fairly even playing field. That doesn't mean "nerf" him to hell, just balance out how powerful Bama is compared to other schools. He should lead the pack, along with the other major schools... but he's so far ahead of the other big schools it's impossible to recruit against Bama and win. You just have to hope they don't want your recruits.

I'd argue it's almost like that in real life. How many guys did Bama offer last year that they didn't land?