Recruiting Strategy Guide

[zadokguy]

I noticed something fairly strange about the recruiting report box and thought it worth mentioning. There are certain weeks when the feature works fine for me, and other weeks when it prompts me to pay a $1.50 fee. Others might be coming across the same scenario. Just thought I would share.

[BadAssHskr]

Quote:

- Ten hours a week is not enough time to get all the players you want if you’re in hard-fought recruiting battles for all of them. You can’t invest a lot of time in a lot of players. You MUST get some easy commits that don’t cost you very much over the course of the season (20-30 minutes every few weeks). Target the #76 3* LT who has you second on his list -30 instead of the #44 3* LT who has you sixth at -220. You could probably get the better #44 player, but it might cost you three or four times as many minutes to do so because you’re further behind and have multiple teams to pass. The difference between the two players isn’t worth it. Instead, spend those extra minutes to get the 4* ML you’re after, or maybe add an entirely new 3* ATH that you can turn into something.

recruiting online, i don't see where a recruit has me (how many points ahead or behind i am). i know when i'm currently on the call with the guy, i see my points tally up, but where do you go to find out how many points you've actually scored with said recruit?

[joejccva71]

Awesome thread. Scad ..great stuff. Pull n Pray has pretty good recruiting tips as well. I posted a thread thanking you guys for your tips. I use Maryland (3* school) and in my first year recruiting (since reading your tips) I was able to get 24 commits for the whole first season. I got seven 4*'s but wasn't able to get any 5*'s. Pretty excited right now.

I guess the only question I have left is the x2 thing. I know it's random triggered, but does it happen to a specific recruit that gets x2 bonus or is it a random week where it happens to all your recruits.

[Pull n Pray]

The x2 thing happens randomly, but when it happens, it's for 3 different players on your recruiting board. This is a reason to your recruiting board small so that the bonus actually goes to someone that you are aggressively recruiting.

On the otherhand, just having a recruit on your board gains you points even if you don't talk to him, so this is a reason to keep your board full.

I think next season, I'll try only keeping 10 guys on my board at a time and see how that goes. I have a feeling that's probably the best way to do it. You really only need to sign about 18 guys per year to keep your roster at 70. And you have the offseason to get a fresh start with the "new" recruits.

But I wonder, when you get the x2 bonus for a recruit, do the CPU teams recruiting him also get that same bonus that week?

[philliesphan026]

Great write-up scad, lots of good stuff in here. A few questions I have in general though, to anyone who can help me out:

-I'm still confused about the Recruiting Reports timesaver... There are conflicting reports out there, some say it's free, some say it's premium content. When I try to use it I get the pop-up asking if I'd like to purchase it. Just looking for some clarification on this.

-In my recruiting-only dynasty I'm doing (no playing games, just simming/recruiting every week... AA recruiting difficulty), I have a hard time getting commits. I'm playing as UVA (3* prestige). At one point around week 12, I had about 17 guys on my board. Almost all were 3*, and I was at the top of about 10 guys' lists. I was even #1 on 2 4*s too, which got me excited. I checked every week, and week after week I'd be leading by at least 500 points above #2 (usually more). All of the recruits had visited by then and I had offered all of them a scholarship, but none of them wouldn't commit. In fact, until week 14, I only had 2 commits total (both 3*), and they were both instant commits.

What ended up happening was the second place teams ended up closing the gap (my interest bar was filled maxed out for all these recruits) and before I knew it I was either #2 on some lists or had a 1 point lead. Granted, I was going easy on the minutes on these guys (10-20 per week, quick calls... except the 4*, I gave them both 50 consistently), but none of the teams seemed to be pursuing them until the last two or so weeks, since my leads never really got smaller until then. At that point I started giving them 30-40 again, but it was no use. I ended up with 4 in-season commits... I guess what I'm getting at here is, is it wise to "go easy" on the minutes if you have a big lead? Or does that make the recruits a lot less likely to commit?

[scadh]

Quote: Originally Posted by Pull n Pray

But I wonder, when you get the x2 bonus for a recruit, do the CPU teams recruiting him also get that same bonus that week?

That's an excellent question. I don't know for certain, but if I had to guess I would say no. It seems like times when I get the x2 I tend to either make up a lot of ground or pad a lead significantly. The reverse has also happened, where I had what I thought was a strong week only to find that the gap/lead changed significantly (several hundred points). If all the CPU teams were getting the bonus on the same players at the same time, that probably wouldn't happen because everyone would be scoring huge at the same times.

I think it's likely that each team is given the bonus random weeks and the targets are also assigned randomly.

[MSU124]

How many guys do ya'll go after? The CPU only goes after 12 or so, then moves on. (offering 50 mins each)

I tried to recruit about 20 and offer 30 minutes but school keep beating me.

[Deegeezy]

Quote: Originally Posted by MSU124

How many guys do ya'll go after? The CPU only goes after 12 or so, then moves on. (offering 50 mins each) I tried to recruit about 20 and offer 30 minutes but school keep beating me.

Really? How do you know this?