Reese's Recruiting Tips

[WMWolverine]

Misc recruiting tips:

*1. Determine your 'needs' pre-season based upon your depth chart and your previous recruiting classes; e.g. need 2 DE's, 1 QB, 2 RB's, 2 CB's, 1 FS, 2 OLB's, etc and recruit to them...

*2. Don't set your sights too high, I've missed on a ton of of good but lower ranked recruits by chasing 5-stars and top 100 players when I should've settled for 3-stars or merely top 175-250 4-stars...

How high you set your bar depends mostly on your schools prestige along with your schools other ratings; e.g. campus lifestyle, coach experience/prestige, conference prestige, athletic facilities, etc.

*3. Look at a recruits 'interest' list, his top 10 schools, pacticularly his top 5. See what they have in common, that will help you determine what pitches to try. If a kid has all tradition based schools, use that pitch, if the kid has mostly academic schools (Stanford, Michigan, etc.), use that pitch...

*4. If your Toledo of Ohio, you shouldn't be competing for recruits against Ohio State, Michigan or Penn State. You really have little to no chance unless said schools don't want him. Instead look for a recruit where your one of the higher rated [in prestige] in his top 5...

*5. Especially take notice in top recruits (say 4-stars) that have a bunch of low prestige schools (3-stars or less) in their top 5/10. These are usually kids you can get verbals from pretty easily with little competition.

*6. Even if a recruit has you #2/#3 on his list, if your pitches don't correlate well with his interests (e.g. his very high/most are your 'averages'), you may want to pass on the kid as scoring his verbal will be twice as hard as another who you match up very well with...

*7. Recruit mostly from your state, border states and pipeline states. A high % of recruits I lose for no apparent reason usually are when the kid is a thousand miles away and not in a pipeline state... These kids I think of as 'stealing' away from the home schools and are 'long shots.'

*8. Scout your recruits really well. Quite often the #20 running back will end up rated near or even above the #3 running back if the #20 running back has similar or better ratings. Same goes for every other position... Many times I've signed two players at the same position with the lower ranked one ending up with higher rankings...

On the same token, I've signed highly ranked players [e.g. 5-star] in online dynasties only to find them with disappointing ratings when my competition will sign a lower ranked player at the same position who ends up rated higher...

*9. Recruit to your 'scheme.' For example if your pass to run ratio is 75:25; make sure your o-line can really pass block. You might want an o-lineman that is lower rated that fits your scheme better than a highly rated one but is more suited for another team.

*10. Don't chase too many recruits where you ranked like 7th/8th/9th on the kids top 10 list at the beginning of the season. If you really want a player it's easy to get one or two of these types to get you to the top of his list, but gets very difficult to do that for all your recruits...

I try to fill my recruiting board with a bunch of recruit that would fill all my needs that have my school in their top 3 then add a handful of long shots [5-stars or top 100 recruits] and recruits I really want. The former group, I'll sign 85% of the time, the latter long shots I'll sign 40-50% of the time.

Not an all-inclusive recruiting guide but some very valuable tips.

[ReeseChiarlo]

The only thing I will add to that is, its good to keep a small handful of "wishlist" players. I have been able to sign 4* and 5* players the first week of the off season even if they did not have me top 5 or higher, in some cases I wasnt even on their map.

Promises are a powerful tool. In some cases they will commit without even visiting, I have had first weeks of the off season where I have had as many as 10-13 commitments, with only 7-8 of these guys actually visiting. In other cases I have been able to get someone to schedule a visit for week 2 when they did not even have my school in their top 10, all due to promises.

For promises, look to see what the kids interests are and if you can promise something that interests them, its even better. If they want to be on tv Promise them Great National Exposure, and ranked in top 10 *if you have good national exposure, and if you can get into the top 10* If they want to win a championship, promise them Conference Championships, or NCAA Championship if you can. If they want early playing time, promise them playing time, or Fresh All American. If they want proximity to home, promise them a game in their home state, then make sure you schedule a game in that players state. You get the idea. Promises are your strongest recruiting tool, at least is has been for me. Careful not to promise something that you cant uphold though, if you promise playing time, then redshirt the kid, or bury him on your depth chart, he will most likely want to transfer at the end of the season and your prestige will be affected.

[mikekim21]

A lot of the tips so far have been great but I just want to throw one more in.

Try to get states like Florida, California, and Texas as your pipeline states. They have tons of talent there every year and becoming a pipeline state will increase your exposure tremendously. I do this by not only slightly focusing my recruiting on these states, but by the middle of the offseason (week 2-3) if you still have some scholarships left, go after some unsigned players from these states.

I agree with the majority here that promises are a very valuable tool and they seem to affect them more than any other recruiting option.

[Fntsyfbgod]

My tips..

-You dont need to unlock every intrest. Just unlock 3 good ones for when they visit and you can talk to them about the top 2 when you call and be fine.

-Recruit your MAJOR needs first nothing worst than spending a bunch of time on 3 star players at the same position late when you could be recruiting 4 star players. Or worst have to keep a 60ovr walk on.

-Dont recruit more than you need. This is my preferance but I normally dont sign 35 guys if I have 20 open spots I might sign 23 and cut 3. No point cutting 15 quality players to oblivion but I guess with the excess good players this year it might not be a bad idea.

[ReeseChiarlo]

Quote: Originally Posted by Fntsyfbgod

My tips.. -You dont need to unlock every intrest. Just unlock 3 good ones for when they visit and you can talk to them about the top 2 when you call and be fine. -Recruit your MAJOR needs first nothing worst than spending a bunch of time on 3 star players at the same position late when you could be recruiting 4 star players. Or worst have to keep a 60ovr walk on. -Dont recruit more than you need. This is my preferance but I normally dont sign 35 guys if I have 20 open spots I might sign 23 and cut 3. No point cutting 15 quality players to oblivion but I guess with the excess good players this year it might not be a bad idea.

You only have 25 scholarships

[jrod27]

Quote: Originally Posted by mikekim21

A lot of the tips so far have been great but I just want to throw one more in. Try to get states like Florida, California, and Texas as your pipeline states. They have tons of talent there every year and becoming a pipeline state will increase your exposure tremendously. I do this by not only slightly focusing my recruiting on these states, but by the middle of the offseason (week 2-3) if you still have some scholarships left, go after some unsigned players from these states.

This is great advice righ here, thanks. It makes so much sense too because of the depth that these three states have. In all my years of recuiting in ncaa football, I have never purposely done this, but it seems like a great idea. I'm going to give it a shot.

hers a tip go after just anyone cause they all will be high 90 by the end of their career

[WolverinesFinest]

Quote: Originally Posted by mikekim21

A lot of the tips so far have been great but I just want to throw one more in. Try to get states like Florida, California, and Texas as your pipeline states. They have tons of talent there every year and becoming a pipeline state will increase your exposure tremendously. I do this by not only slightly focusing my recruiting on these states, but by the middle of the offseason (week 2-3) if you still have some scholarships left, go after some unsigned players from these states. I agree with the majority here that promises are a very valuable tool and they seem to affect them more than any other recruiting option.

I always thought this was a known fact ha