didn't see this posted anywhere yet...
http://ea.xosn.com/ViewArticle.dbml?...&ATCLID=776751
There are many ways to increase the interest a recruit has in your school in NCAA Football 08. The Phone Call is where the majority of interest is earned. So how long should you Hard Sell a pitch to that player you want to sign? Which pitches should you use? What is the angry football guy for? Here are some tips that will help you move into the Top 10 recruiting classes.
Complete Your Pitches!
The football at the top of the screen will get happy as you Hard Sell his favorite pitches in which your school rates highly. This does not mean you are gaining his interest though! There is an interest bonus depending on the recruit’s mood upon hanging up the phone, but the real way to “score” in recruiting is by completing pitches. When you select to Hard Sell a pitch, the clock begins to tick. The clock will stop ticking when you back out of the pitch, the recruit hangs up on you, or the pitch is completed. When the pitch is completed, “Pitch Complete!” will appear at the upper right corner of the screen in red. Congratulations! You just increased his interest in your school.
What’s the deal with the football dude?
Keep your eye on the football at the top of the Phone Call screen. What this icon represents is the recruit’s mood during that phone call. This is based on his current interest in your school, and what has transpired over the course of that phone call. It does not represent his interest in your school overall. You will get an interest bonus by keeping him smiling when you end the phone call as mentioned before, however it is not a very big factor. You will find in the early weeks of recruiting, the player will turn sour on the call quickly. Once you start increasing his interest in your school, he won’t mind talking to you on the phone longer. So don’t worry if the recruit wants to hang up on you in week 1... he’ll come around! If he starts to frown, Hard Sell something he likes to get him smiling again. If he isn’t very interested in your school, even talking about his most important pitch might not make him smile. In that case, hang up before he does!
How often should I Hard Sell a particular pitch?
So if you are Elite in Athletic Facilities, and that is his most important pitch, why sell anything else? Why not keep pitching it for an hour or two every week? Well, variety is factored in. The key is to get him interested in as many of your school’s strongest areas as possible and pitch multiple things each week. For a school with Elites across the board, I have gotten Very High importance on as many as 6 pitches through swaying! I just pitch each of those to completion every week, along with his Most of course, and I dare another school to try and sign him. So don’t keep pitching the same thing every week. At the very least, have three good pitches to give to him every week. If you only have one thing that matches up with the recruit, it will be tough to sign him (but not impossible).
What are locked pitches?
Every recruit has 6 pitches locked from the start of recruiting. A locked pitch means you cannot sway it up or down. These pitches are Least, Very Low, Very Low, Very High, Very High, and Most. The other 8 pitches can be swayed once you reveal them with the Find Pitch option. How your school ranks in relation to the pitch will determine if you will be swaying it up or down. Swaying a pitch down can actually help your recruiting. If you are rated Poor and he has it ranked High, sway it down so the other schools recruiting him won’t be able to use it. Don’t be surprised if they sway it back up though! Sometimes after swaying a pitch, it will become locked. That only means you can no longer sway it. You can, and should, continue to Hard Sell it if your school is rated at or higher than how the recruit ranks it. If your school is rated Elite in many categories, sway those Highs to Very Highs!
How long should I talk to him?
Many people are wondering, “How long should I talk to a guy?” You have 35 spots on your recruiting board, but only 10 hours. This does not leave you with much time to spend if you divide it evenly. Not to worry though, as you can only sign 25 players anyway. There is no rule of thumb here; it really depends on your needs. I have found that if you spend most of your time on the top 7 or so players on your recruiting board, you will have a great chance of signing them (unless they are out of your league, of course). If your only need on the My School page is QB, and there is a blue chip QB that is interested in your school, don’t blink twice at spending three hours a week on him. If you have a lot of needs, or your team just needs depth across the board, then you need to be creative.
Who should you call? Once again, it depends on your needs. One thing I make sure I do is call everybody who has a clock icon in the Call column, and find the best three pitches to use for his on campus visit. Once I find those three, then I schedule the call. This way if I don’t find all three, the clock icon is there the next week reminding me to call him again and find the rest of those pitches.
Another thing to keep in mind is completing the pitch, as mentioned before. Let’s say you have 5 Elite categories that correspond to his Most, and four Very Highs (after swaying two up to Very High). One week you might hit “Pitch Complete!” on the first tick of the clock every time. Then the next week, the clock ticks seven or eight times before you get “Pitch Complete!” You get the same amount of interest in both situations, but with large differences in time spent. If he is a must have player, spend that time. If he is low on your priority list and the pitch won’t complete, consider bailing out and moving on to the next guy. There is nothing worse than spending two hours and only completing one pitch on a guy you don’t really need. I still do this way too much!
What pitches should I sell?
If you are rated Sub Par in Academic Prestige, and the recruit has the importance of academics rated Very High, Hard Selling your academics is not going to get you anywhere. If anything, it will have a negative effect on his mood ending the phone call before you have a chance to increase his interest. This is what really separates the Ohio States from the Ohios. Chances are Ohio State is going to rank highly in what the recruit wants. Ohio, on the other hand, will need for their best pitches to align with what the recruit is looking for to have a good chance of signing him.
Keep in mind that you can positively Hard Sell a pitch that your school is two steps below how important it is for the recruit. For example, if your school is rated Good and the importance of the pitch to the recruit is Very High, then you can positively Hard Sell that. However, you will not be able to increase interest if that is his Most important pitch.
Why can I Hard Sell an unknown pitch?
This is a risk/reward type situation. It takes less time off the clock to find a pitch than it does to Hard Sell it. If you Hard Sell an unknown pitch, upon completion the recruit’s ranking will be revealed and you will get an extra interest bonus for the Hard Sell. This is a big advantage for the top schools, as it will never hurt to Hard Sell an Elite rated pitch.
So that’s all for Hard Selling your pitches during the Phone Call! I’ll cover visits and scholarships at a later date. Hard Selling your pitches is where the bulk of interest is gained in your school. If you are finding the phone call portion is tedious, just leave on the phone assistance under coach strategy and let your assistant coaches handle it for you. Or call your top two or three targets and let the assistance handle the rest. Any unspent time will be used on player who you did not call that week. However, after reading my tips you will be much more successful in scoring the top prospects in the country if you call them yourself.
Feel free to leave any further questions in the comments, and I will answer them if possible. Also, let me know which part of recruiting do you want tips for next time.
Good luck and happy recruiting!
08-17-2007, 02:30 AM
