Recruiting Tips Guide?

[kcarr]

Quote: Originally Posted by TimLawNYC

The usefulness of this strategy depends on the quality of the team you're starting out with. I usually start my dynasties at a low-ranked 1-star school, and when you start out with a bad team you just need to upgrade every position as quickly as possible. In that case, you want to sign as many guys as possible in the early seasons, because even 2-star and some 1-star recruits will be upgrades over guys that are already on your roster. So when you start with a bad team, fill your recruiting board to the max and try to sign 25 players each year, without worrying so much about their overall ratings. When your team is better, you can start focusing on bringing in stud players, and when you're only trying to upgrade or fill holes at a few positions, it is better to keep your recruiting board small and dedicate tons of time to each hand-picked recruit, as c_griffin212 suggests.

Now I will disagree here. At a small school those 8 to 10 good, handpicked players can probably help you out more than at a big school. I am playing with fau and I will have to say that from what I have seen you need to bring in a couple bigtime players early in the recruiting season. Not like 4 or 5 stars, but good 3 star players, and just concentrate one 10 or 12 of then until you have them pretty much wrapped up. After that the 1s and 2s will still be there and you .can fill your roster out and improve your overall roster talent

[Deegeezy]

Quote: Originally Posted by PatriotJames

I want to know how you guys use the scouting feature? Is there a way to tell if the guy is a gem/bust before you scout? 3 hours doesn't seem like much time to scout ANYONE unless I were to focus on just 10-15 players. The strategy I'm using is once I get to about 80% or so, I stop scouting that player (unless a key attribute is missing like pass block for a lineman). Any other thoughts/ideas?

I don't like to know too much right away. I only allow myself to use 10 minutes per week during the season on each player on my board. By the time the season ends, they're all at about 75 to 85% recruited, which for me is perfect. I like their to be just a SMALL bit of mystery ratings-wise before a player is officially on the team.

During the preseason, I allow myself up to 30 minutes per player.

[shigogouhou]

Don't forget to re-check for players partway through the season! Anybody Top 8 or Top 10 midway through the season is a good chance for you to steal, because that usually means nobody's been recruiting them. They're just sitting on a few boards, maybe getting 10 minutes a week as the backup plan to the team's more preferable recruiting option.
You jump in and throw 30+ minutes, scholarships, promises and positive comparisons at those kids and you'll start "stealing" commitments from far superior schools. (This also helps you improve in that now those good schools are relying on their #3 or worse option at that position the rest of the recruiting season!)

[Mr.Coach Mode]

You can't absolutely know who the gems or busts are before you scout them. Possibly when you see big schools going after an average rated recruit that could be a tipoff. If you scout a recruit even 50% a gem or bust recruit will start to rise or drop in ratings so you don't usually need to see them at 100% i also stop around 80% to guess which they may be. I wouldn't be overly concerned even the busts are usually still 3 star players and they progress each year.

[jarato]

Offensive lineman are the easiest gems to find. Their run blocking and strength letter grades are usually less than (a letter grade below) what's listed for their bench and squat numbers. There's a chart in one of the forums topics that breaks down the equivalent letter grade and rating for 40 time , bench , and squat numbers.

[Deegeezy]

Quote: Originally Posted by shigogouhou

Don't forget to re-check for players partway through the season! Anybody Top 8 or Top 10 midway through the season is a good chance for you to steal, because that usually means nobody's been recruiting them. They're just sitting on a few boards, maybe getting 10 minutes a week as the backup plan to the team's more preferable recruiting option. You jump in and throw 30+ minutes, scholarships, promises and positive comparisons at those kids and you'll start "stealing" commitments from far superior schools. (This also helps you improve in that now those good schools are relying on their #3 or worse option at that position the rest of the recruiting season!)

This is exactly how I landed my 4 star ATH who is now my starting QB. Good tip.

[Executor]

Quote: Originally Posted by Mr.Coach Mode

even the busts are usually still 3 star players and they progress each year.

Does that mean that 1- and 2-star players do not progress at all?

[PatriotJames]

Quote: Originally Posted by Executor

Does that mean that 1- and 2-star players do not progress at all?

Wondering the same thing... they probably progress just not as much??