The Ladder 2018 Offseason - Preseason - Deadline is 12/16 (Tues) at 11 p.m. EST

[Kodos]

Looks like several of us lost coordinators to HC jobs around the country. And Will Muschamp is now USC's defensive coordinator....

As always, I recommend doing players leaving on your console.

Duke and USC with a lot of high draftees and a lot of guys looking to leave early.

[Eaglesfan27]

I wish we could get Muschamp in real life...

[Julio Riddols]

I'll get on and do this now before I gotta go to work.

[Eaglesfan27]

An interesting fact about us getting Muschamp is that our old Offensive Coordinator replaced him at Florida as HC after he was fired. Our old DC went to Penn State (to become head coach) to give us the opening to hire Muschamp. While both Coordinators went to great jobs, we undeniably hired better replacements for both positions...

However, one of our superstar Sophomore Safeties, Jason Dennis, wanted to follow his DC and transfer to Penn State He was rated 87 overall and only a true sophomore...

I promised he would be a starter all year and get at least 40 tackles and he changed his mind and decided to stay.

WE also had a DT who was projected to go in the 6th round and we promised him a few things and he agreed to stay...

After that happened, we easily persuaded a bunch of guys who weren't quite as good and were all projected to go in the 7th round to stay.

The only guy we are losing prematurely is a 73 rated SS who just won't get playing time with this team and we couldn't make false promises to him. We'll miss S/CB Jerome McIntosh but wish him the best at San Jose.

In all, we managed to convince 5 key guys to stay who are all rated 85 or above...

The loss list to graduation is significant though:

SR DE Tom Jackson is a 90 rated DE who is projected to go in the 1st round.

SR DT Tony Morse is a 89 rated DT projected to go in 1st round.

RS SR DT Zach Bell is a 89 rated DT projected to go in the 2nd round.

P Clayton Adams (who handled kickoffs for ) is a 95 rated punter expected to go in the 4th round.

RS SR FB Mark Alexander didn't play much this year with the transition to the spread but he is rated 90 overall and is projected to go in the 5th round.

RS SR HB Brett Bradford was 3rd on my depth chart (sometimes 4th) but the 87 rated HB is expected to go in the 5th round.

Interestingly, Jamaal Thurman is viewed as too small to play in the pros and he is not expected to be drafted. I find that hard to believe with a 91 rating and his tremendous production.

DE James McCollum was a backup and is expected to be an UDFA with a 85 rating.

WR Dan Evans is a 78 rated RS SR who won't sniff the league.

LT Wesley Elliott is a 87 rated LT but is projected to be an UDFA. Surprising as he was an All American last year.

RS SR WR Joel Jackson is a good possession guy at a 87 rating but is projected as an UDFA.

Backup QB Rob Harris is a 87 rated QB who is expected to be undrafted.

DE TE Anthony Todd was very productive but even with a 90 rating he is expected to go undrafted...


We just lost a lot of talent... hopefully, we can reload with a full more key guys in this class..

[CU Tiger]

Our OC left try his hand as the head man at Western Kentucky.
So we promptly hired his brother who was recently fired as the HC at New Mexico State.

No underclassmen want to test the waters so players leaving were pretty painless. However shockingly only 1 player, and a back-up CB at that, carries a draft projection and even that is a lowly 5th round projection.

I wonder in the history of college football if the Heisman winner, (who was also the maxwell and walker winner) and the Biletnikoff winner has ever gone undrafted in the same year?

[Kodos]

Not sure if Macro is ready yet.

[chesapeake]

Neither underclassman that was thinking about declaring for the draft was serious.

I did lose one kid to a transfer -- an 81 OLB that was just finishing up his redshirt year. He would have been a great player in a couple of years, but I couldn't make his any kind of realistic promise for next season that was going to change his mind. The sophomore that he would have been competing with for the ROLB job was also thinking about transferring, but I talked him into staying.

[Kodos]

Will move us ahead at lunch.

[MacroGuru]

Guys, give me about 30 minutes, I will login and do my stuff. The big storm here knocked out my internet. I just got it back today.

I have had my phone only.

[Kodos]

Alright. Thanks for the heads up. Will hold until you're ready.

[Kodos]

It looks like only IU and UTSA have transfer requests this year. Although I recommend checking in-game, just in case.

[Julio Riddols]

People wanna come learn from the esteemed coach Riddols?

[Julio Riddols]

Ready to go, cap'n. 73 OVR freshman DE Eddie Jones will make a solid addition to our relatively weak pass rush.

[Kodos]

On to recruiting. This is the last week, so use those points wisely!

[Eaglesfan27]

This is one of the most exciting aspects of the game to me... the mad rush before signing day. I hope I chose wisely. USC is set to advance!

[Julio Riddols]

Oh man, firing this back up to recruit before I head to work. Some crucial decisions to be made.

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by Julio Riddols

Oh man, firing this back up to recruit before I head to work. Some crucial decisions to be made.

I'm 2nd and 3rd guessing my decisions... I'm going to kick myself if I let this one very special recruit get away...

[Julio Riddols]

Well, my live account reupped today and I think there is some kind of issue. Can't get my XBox to connect. Maybe tomorrow it will work.

[Eaglesfan27]

Just talked myself into making some adjustments. So, I pop the game in... and now my Xbox won't connect to Live. Wonderful.

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by Julio Riddols

Well, my live account reupped today and I think there is some kind of issue. Can't get my XBox to connect. Maybe tomorrow it will work.

I can't connect either. I wonder if Live is down...

[Julio Riddols]

Maybe.. It says it is up online, but maybe it isn't.

[Eaglesfan27]

So Live is back up from what I can tell, but my Xbox is freezing when it tries to connect to the EA servers. Very odd. Hope my Xbox isn't dying. Oh well, I'll try to make some changes tomorrow.

[Julio Riddols]

This is apparently due to a DDOS attack from a group called Lizard Squad. I wouldn't be too worried about your XBox..

I keep hoping Anonymous will just go in and royally fuck Lizard Squad in their collective asses.

[Julio Riddols]

Ok, got my recruiting done. I'm not looking back. It's between me and Georgia for an 80 OVR ATH with some real gifts. He would be the top recruit in our class if we can sign him and might change my mind about what to do with Joe Palmer. I put in over 5000 points on the kid. Somehow I still feel like that won't be enough, but if we manage to pull him in, he's going to be a big time pick up for us. I'm just hoping Georgia has to battle with other schools for other prospects too..

[Kodos]

If you've made a player's cutoff and you are in first place, will he automatically commit to you if you offered a scholly as long as nobody uses enough points to pass you?

[chesapeake]

There is a skill on the recruiting part of the HC skill tree that gives you a % chance to poach a player that another school leads on. I presume that the CPU has access to that skill as well?

Duke is done.

[Kodos]

Probably. I'm just wondering if I need to allot points to guys that I have a big lead on and I am past the cut-off stage.

[CU Tiger]

Originally Posted by Kodos

Probably. I'm just wondering if I need to allot points to guys that I have a big lead on and I am past the cut-off stage.

As you know I've tested recruiting extensively but solely in SP. I suppose this could change in a MP dynasty as some things clearly dont react exactly the same.

That said there are instances where I've seen huge leads just simply never committ ANYWHERE.

The other thing is the points arent a perfect 1:1 exchange. There are a few hard rules here I dont want to disclose and hurt myself in recruiting but there are specific times where you can be 2,500 points back for example on a guy. And you put 500 points on him and the next week you can be <100 points back. There is some hidden favorite destination factor. This is especially true if you were the favorite for a player in preseason 1 and never recruited a guy. So again one tidbit...Lets say that I was John Brown's 1 in PS 1. I NEVER ADD HIM TO MY BOARD, and NEVER spend ANY recruiting points on him. Then in post season recruiting you have worked him all year but not secured a committment. You could have a 5,000 point lead. If I were to add him to my board, postion him correctly and offer him a scholarship there is a strong possibility I could secure his committment. Even if ou added 5,000 pints to your 5,000 point lead and I only invested say 1,000 points in offseason recruiting.

[Kodos]

So it's a bit of a crapshoot. Do guys who are not full on the meter ever commit if you are first and have offered a scholly?

[Eaglesfan27]

Please don't advance yet. There is a 82 athlete who has truly special gifts and I decided I need to up my offer to him...

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by Kodos

So it's a bit of a crapshoot. Do guys who are not full on the meter ever commit if you are first and have offered a scholly?

From my somewhat limited solo play, I think that is a rare outcome.

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by Kodos

Probably. I'm just wondering if I need to allot points to guys that I have a big lead on and I am past the cut-off stage.

If I really want them, I do.

[Kodos]

No worries. The advancing is not imminent. Still mulling my options.

[Julio Riddols]

Man, I want to try and guarantee that I land this top guy, but I am afraid of losing out on 6 or 7 other guys just to go after him, and I am unsure if going all out on him will even net me a commit.

[Eaglesfan27]

I can't wait to get this one athlete onto my team. He might be my first two way player in this dynasty. Going to be heart breaking if I don't get him.

[Kodos]

Say.. What's his name?

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by Kodos

Say.. What's his name?

[Eaglesfan27]

Ok. No more 2nd guessing myself. I'm ready to advance

[CU Tiger]

I will try and get my recruiting done tonight.

Kodos,
I've seen a lot of players commit before their meter was full early in the season. As it goes later its much more rare if possible.

The timing on a scholly offer is very interesting and Id love to see a group of folks test it. Ive seen lots of trends there but nothing definitive.

[CU Tiger]

Done recruiting and set my ready to advance indicator light.
Hope I made the rigth choice.
I really need a LB and have slight leads for several other positions so I put all 10,000 points on my top LB prospect...needed to overcome a ~1,000 point hole and outbid others so we will see

[Eaglesfan27]

This is the most excited I've been to see a MP stage advance in any game in a long time...

[Julio Riddols]

Me too.. So hard not to want to go back and change the time I allotted to my prospects..

[Kodos]

Okay, some last-second adjustments ... Hold on to your butts!

[Kodos]

Alright. It worked out better than I thought it could. Got my top 5 guys, plus a guy I gave up on and didn't allot points to!

[Julio Riddols]

I managed to snag Frederick, the ATH I was after. He'll be our starting QB really soon, but will probably line up at WR and RB a good deal this year. We'll probably have a few packages for him at QB too. Missed out on a couple other guys I wanted pretty bad, but overall, this is an ok class. I think we'll do better next year as our recruiting skills continue to improve. I'm hoping to bring in a top 20 class, and it'll probably be mostly LBs, DE's and WRs.

[Eaglesfan27]

I was after 3 5 star players and then was putting a few points towards a bunch of other players... I changed it up to really favor one of the 5 stars, the athlete Jimmy Stewart. It cost me a very good (but I didn't think he was a game changer) 5 star WR in Mike Moss who chose Stanford. The first time I put 5,000 into him, the 2nd time I put 4,000 into him. I'm not sure if the 1000 points would have made the difference. The great news is that the 3rd time I only put 500 into a 5 star S that I had a big lead on and I got him.

The first time I put a 500-1000 points into a bunch of other guys. This time I didn't put any into them. As a result, I lost a few guys who I thought I might get. But, surprisingly, I got a DE who I don't think I lead on and I put 0 points into...

Interestingly, I had a huge lead for the #2 punter in the nation. The firs time I put 1,000 points into him. 2nd time I put 0. He chose not to sign anywhere... sometimes I see those guys just appear on the top team's roster I think... I'll be watching for him, Kyle Duncan. If not, I'll deal with a walk-on punter or my kicker handling the punting.


Anyway, we close with 2 great players and 1 nice depth guy:

CB/Athlete Jimmy Stewart has elite speed, acceleration, agility, and coverage guys. He is the 82 athlete I had to have and I got him. He also has some nice RB skills and while CB will be his #1 role, I could see him getting some carries each game. Interestingly, no one even put big points into him... I won him by a huge margin but had a decent lead going in...

SS Stephen Odom - Had a big lead going in, but I wanted him and put more points into him. He is the #1 SS in the country and is a fast ferocious hitter.

DE Marcus Ervin is a 3 star who will add nice depth.

I'm excited the way we ended the recruiting phase

Of note, one of the guys I didn't put points into the 2nd time but did the 1st time, I lost to FAU by 600 points. He is a good speed back... gulp.

[Kodos]

Is that the 94 speed guy? I decided not to pursue him because his other skills weren't so spectacular.

[CU Tiger]

I need to go check on my class then.

I adjusted after I posted last night and put 500 points on ATH Tutins and 9500 on a MLB who I had to have (otherwise I didnt have a MLB to start the season with)

[CU Tiger]

Oh boy....I signed 3 new targets and 8 players total. Really all I wanted. The CPU added 10 players that arent even on my board. Now its time to start weeding through here and seeing what crap they gave me.


Ok, here is one of the odder things Ive ever seen.
I think everyone is familiar with recruits signing who arent on your board.
Simple enough usually I go to top classes, view signees. Compare them against my out of game list. Then go to search prospects, interest in my school is top school and there they are.

Well Like I said above the CPU added 10 players to me (all of which will be cut, btw) Searching by FAU as favoroite and sure enough 6 of them show up. The other 4? Well I had to go into the all prospect database and scroll and all 4 show up with a green bullseye indicating a signee but all have other schools listed as their favorite and show locked in to them. Never seen that level of weirdness before.

[CU Tiger]

BTW Tutins is the only ATH I signed and he is an 85 speed guy. And it says USC finished 9th 6,185 back for him.


-Edit- Maybe Berry or Flowers is who you are talking about? Both were CPU gimmes and I never recruited, scouted or added either to my board at any point...