What strategy do you use for recruiting?

[DNMHIII]

After I set my top 15 recruits, I always go through and look for recruits that have me rated #1 and if they're a position of need, or a pipeline state I'm trying to keep or build, I'll throw them on the board and just use one 10 minute call in week one to offer a scholarship. I landed a nice 5* recruit once with only one call and it was sweet not having to spend time on him all year. If you throw guys that are 3* and have you rated #1 on the board and offer them a scholarship they'll stay there almost all year long at #1 without even another call to them.

[Old School SD Fan]

Whether you use 300 or 400 points as the rule, good to have a cutoff point. I used to make the mistake of removing recruits if I was too far down their preference list, but the lists are misleading. You can be #8 on a recruit's list, but be only 200 points down; or #2 on a list and 1,000 points down.

Better to remove the #2 recruit and work the #8 in that situation.

[StormJH1]

ashamael's post above is solid advice. My strategy is very similar with a few small differences, particularly the part about cutting players. My first year, I tend to cut tons of low-rated upperclassmen if they're buried on the depth chart. This does two things later on: (1) It gives you a higher potential for later success with a younger team, since a 62 OVR junior 7th cornerback will never see the field, but a freshman at that same rating can be redshirted or stashed and will probably be a 65-70 by the time he's a junior. (2) It creates NEED at those positions, which makes it easier to recruit them down the road. Let's say you have a senior and a sophomore only at RE. The senior is graduating, so now all the incoming freshman know that it will be just them and the junior next year. If you had four RE's and one in each class, there really will never be a "need" at that position because it will be crowded. Playing time will never be a significant pitch.

I think the main thing is just to be realistic about who you go after, and if you're going over your head (for example, recruiting a 4* or 5* with a 3-star team), try to only do it where you have a pipeline state, or if they start off really interested in you for some reason.

I've been playing NCAA games for 10 years, and I think the recruiting now is actually more challenging than the recruiting from the PS2 era games I used to be able stock up teams at will in those games, but in the NCAA 11/12, not only is recruiting harder, but the recruits themselves are not as talented. Plus, the ratings are more detailed now, so it isn't like it used to be where you could bring in the 6'5" WR with 95 speed (whether he was a 2* or a 5*) and dominate with him right away.

[ashamael]

Quote: Originally Posted by StormJH1

ashamael's post above is solid advice. My strategy is very similar with a few small differences, particularly the part about cutting players. My first year, I tend to cut tons of low-rated upperclassmen if they're buried on the depth chart. This does two things later on: (1) It gives you a higher potential for later success with a younger team, since a 62 OVR junior 7th cornerback will never see the field, but a freshman at that same rating can be redshirted or stashed and will probably be a 65-70 by the time he's a junior. (2) It creates NEED at those positions, which makes it easier to recruit them down the road. Let's say you have a senior and a sophomore only at RE. The senior is graduating, so now all the incoming freshman know that it will be just them and the junior next year. If you had four RE's and one in each class, there really will never be a "need" at that position because it will be crowded. Playing time will never be a significant pitch. I think the main thing is just to be realistic about who you go after, and if you're going over your head (for example, recruiting a 4* or 5* with a 3-star team), try to only do it where you have a pipeline state, or if they start off really interested in you for some reason. I've been playing NCAA games for 10 years, and I think the recruiting now is actually more challenging than the recruiting from the PS2 era games I used to be able stock up teams at will in those games, but in the NCAA 11/12, not only is recruiting harder, but the recruits themselves are not as talented. Plus, the ratings are more detailed now, so it isn't like it used to be where you could bring in the 6'5" WR with 95 speed (whether he was a 2* or a 5*) and dominate with him right away.

This is good stuff.

I too like to recruit a clump of players by position in different years. I'll grab 3 defensive ends every other year (or every 3 years) and let 'em fight out who gets to start. Same thing with Wideouts, linebackers, cornerbacks, offensive linemen... pretty much everything except QBs (which I still do, but I look every single year since I run a spread option and need fast QBs to do it). This is actually very realistic if you follow recruiting IRL at all.