How do you make UMASS relevant?

[FBeaule04]

First off, let's say I'm not a College Football Guru but I understand there's team that are made to finish low and some who's always high in the rankings.

With that beeing said, I started a Dynasty as an HC for the UMASS Minutemen last night. Using Rebelfan1611 roster, I went down the depth chart and saw that I was in for a long season for sure.

Without playing on Varsity level and recruiting at Freshman level, I'm wondering how guys who played Dynasties over the years, make it possible for a team that low everywhere to be relevant within few years?

Recruiting is abysimal, only had 4 guys who had the team as their choice to come, then browse around the 1 star guys here and there to find gems, but getting them to commit to the team is another thing. I went from page one to last page of the Bible for recruiting, and even then, with a schedule pretty much looking for something like 1-11 or 2-10 (just hope it won't be 0-12!), how do you manage to progress?

Thanks for the income from those who tried it ;-)

[Dirty Turtles]

My strategies:

Play a soft schedule. You're in the MAC, so a good majority of games are very winnable in that conference. Schedule other weaker teams for your out of conference games. It's not like real life where you play the bigger schools to take the paycheck. This will get you some wins under your belt, boost some stats, and get recruits interested.

Try to recruit strongly in your pipeline states. The extra bonus you receive may be the difference between landing a prospect and missing out on them. Don't always recruit in your pipelines though. You should try to get new states, specifically football rich states like California, Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio, etc. Check out the number of recruits from each state and try to get pipelines in the larger states.

Determine the type of team you want and only recruit players that fit your system. If you are running the spread offense, you'll want RBs who can catch the ball and have good speed/acceleration. No need for a big lumbering bruiser of a RB out of the shotgun.

Don't let the star ratings dictate your recruiting habits. A player may be a 1* recruit, but he might be exceptionally gifted at doing something that could play well to your system.

Recruit realistically. You aren't going to win many recruits in a battle against schools like Penn State, Boston College, Pittsburgh, and other even bigger schools. The only thing you may have going for you against them is playing time, playing style, and proximity to home. The recruits might not care about any of those and so you've lost out on that time. You can beat out schools like Akron, Buffalo, Army, and maybe even schools like Temple and Connecticut.

Use cheap tactics like promising players a game in their home state or no redshirt in their first year. If you are recruiting players from states you know for sure you will play in next year the former is a great tool. The redshirt deal might be tougher, but I usually weed out low rated upperclassmen and players who do not fit my system after the first year.

Don't over-recruit. I usually try to keep my board at around 20 people. This allows me to spend 30 minutes talking to every player, and then adjust accordingly if my interest level increases or decreases. You want to stay one step ahead of the other schools.

I think that's about all my tactics.

[Pezell04x]

Quote: Originally Posted by FBeaule04

First off, let's say I'm not a College Football Guru but I understand there's team that are made to finish low and some who's always high in the rankings. With that beeing said, I started a Dynasty as an HC for the UMASS Minutemen last night. Using Rebelfan1611 roster, I went down the depth chart and saw that I was in for a long season for sure. Without playing on Varsity level and recruiting at Freshman level, I'm wondering how guys who played Dynasties over the years, make it possible for a team that low everywhere to be relevant within few years? Recruiting is abysimal, only had 4 guys who had the team as their choice to come, then browse around the 1 star guys here and there to find gems, but getting them to commit to the team is another thing. I went from page one to last page of the Bible for recruiting, and even then, with a schedule pretty much looking for something like 1-11 or 2-10 (just hope it won't be 0-12!), how do you manage to progress? Thanks for the income from those who tried it ;-)

I think the first few years you're going to need to recruit based on need and not on the "sexiness" of the recruits. The chance you'll get a 4* or 5* recruit is very low, since UMass is terrible right away.

Load up on some 1* and 2* recruits. Unfortunately you're in Massachusetts and we (as in the New England area) isn't a real hotbed for good football recruits. If it was an NCAA hockey game, you'd be all set

Since I'm doing a one star team dynasty as well, look at the type of program you're trying to run. Based on your playbook, recruit players who fit your style.

Examples:

- Do you want a pocket passing QB or a scrambling QB?
- Speed HB or Power HB?
- Would a blocking FB or a receiver FB make your team better?

Narrowing down the type of recruit(s) you're looking for will help. Once you fill your board, start scouting like crazy. There's even a category in your prospect board called "Team Needs" - use it.

Once you recruit people, you'll find that you'll get some 1* gems. Go after them as hard as you can.

Also, play as well as you can. I know it'll be hard because UMass sucks, but if you can eek out an upset here or there, it'll go a long way.

Good luck, hope I helped

[jayenomics]

Oh...huge tip...recruit speed. Speed kills. You may recruit a bunch of 1 * for a while, but get guys with 4.3-4.2 speed and they'll play better for you. They may not tackle as well, or catch as well...but speed at the skill positions will help you win games.

[b2th3m1th]

I start a San Jose St dynasty every year, they are usually in the bottom 5 teams every year. Yes I have CA to recruit from but I have tons of competition so it's hard. Here is what I do.

1. Determine your play style (I use a custom PB Pro Style Offense and 4-2-5 defense base, It's what I prefer). Do it before you start your dynasty. Figure out how you like to play then play with UMass that way, that will influence your recruiting.

2. Don't get ambitious in recruiting. Stay in your pipelines to start out. I love the new scouting feature, In the preseason, I put 20 guys on my board use an hour for each and then knock off the 5 I don't think I can get or drop way to low to waste time on to start the year.

Also don't recruit more than 15 guys at a time, Keep guys on your board you get points for just having them there but to get players you need to spend a minimum of 40 min/ week on a guy. Also pay attention to who's recruiting them and who's offered.

3. Recruit Need first unless there is a high caliber prospect interested from the get go.

4. Use the recruit search function later in the year. After you start getting commits and it will take awhile (in season) you will want to get more guys on the board. My favorite thing to do is use the search. I set the caliber at 3 stars and the commit status to 10 left. What this does is it gives you the players no one is recruiting or just have started. through the past couple of years I have gotten 3 star players I had no business getting because of this method.

Remember your first couple of years are going to be rough, but if you can land 5-10 3 star guys in each of the first 2 years it you will start seeing a real turn around in year 3.

[tumanator9]

Quote: Originally Posted by FBeaule04

First off, let's say I'm not a College Football Guru but I understand there's team that are made to finish low and some who's always high in the rankings. With that beeing said, I started a Dynasty as an HC for the UMASS Minutemen last night. Using Rebelfan1611 roster, I went down the depth chart and saw that I was in for a long season for sure. Without playing on Varsity level and recruiting at Freshman level, I'm wondering how guys who played Dynasties over the years, make it possible for a team that low everywhere to be relevant within few years? Recruiting is abysimal, only had 4 guys who had the team as their choice to come, then browse around the 1 star guys here and there to find gems, but getting them to commit to the team is another thing. I went from page one to last page of the Bible for recruiting, and even then, with a schedule pretty much looking for something like 1-11 or 2-10 (just hope it won't be 0-12!), how do you manage to progress? Thanks for the income from those who tried it ;-)

legitimately....you might have to redo the team from scratch...from recruiting and transfers. to get UMASS to a 4 to 5 star team you might need at min. of 4 years unless youre good making it 3