Being last in the nation in recruiting

[CR3AMnCR1MS0N]

Advice from one IU fan to another.

Start off in pre-season scouting by adding 15-20 guys to your board that you want.

Do the week 1 recruiting by adding the 500 pts to players you really want, and a couple hundred to other guys, or really, just whatever you want.

Week 2, find the guys on your board that you have a good lead on (400 points or so and CPU teams losing points) and lower the number of points you give them by about 100 so you can give more points to players in battles. Also, cut players that you are losing by big margins to the CPU (around -1000 points); those points can be better used elsewhere. Finally, go to search and search whatever players you want (you choose caliber, position, speed etc.) and search for the ones who have a lock percentage of 25% or less. After the search, pull up more info on each recruit and add the ones (you want) who have no scholarship offers. Then scout them, offer them a scholarship, and give them points. You should be able to get a lot more guys this way.

Do the steps in the last paragraph each week from week 2 on, and hopefully you'll have most of your class signed by signing day so you can put lots of points into the guys you really want in the off-season. I reeled in the #1 class with Washington last year using this approach. Hopefully this helps you!

[BleedGreen710]

I have A+ on most pitches and I am a 6 star prestige team. Also I have all recruiting skills maxed. But the way I do it..

I look in all recruits and sort by those interested.. I add usually the best 35 that are interested. First I offer scholarship to all those who have me first because I get a lot of insta commits. I then decide on usually around 10-15 players I really want to get.. and give them points. If I am losing to other teams I will give max points (700), if I am winning I will usually give less then max points (500 or so). Then next week, I check all the recruits I gave points to. If I am maintaining a lead on a recruit or the lead is growing, I may lower his points a bit and give some to other recruits I am losing. It can be hard to find a balance sometimes and usually its like a game of guess and check but once you become experienced it gets easier to judge how many points will be necessary.

I schedule visits usually around week 8 when I have my rivalry game, you don't want to wait too long for your visit or you may lose out on the recruit. Usually I have the lead or am in close 2nd place with the 10-15 recruits by the time week 8 comes, and my visit usually gets a bunch of them to commit. Then I move the points from those recruits who committed to others on my board and try and get them. Also I should mention that sometimes if you search for recruits with less then 25% lock percentage you can find some 4 or 5 star guys with really good rating that no one is recruiting. You can usually get them.

As for off season recruiting.. the most the CPU will give to any one player is 3250 points, so remember that. If you are winning by 500 points, offer 3000 and you are probably going to get them. Down by 1000 points? Offer 4500. There is the rare chance of the CPU going 'all in' on just 1 recruit with all their points, but only 2-3 teams do that every year. Its tough to tell which players the CPU will invest points in though, sometimes they wont give any points to recruits. My advice is to use my strategy which will get most of your key recruits to commit in season, to avoid the offseason crap shoot. If you have a ton of guys left on your board that you really want going into offseason recruiting, its gonna be nearly impossible to get them all, especially if you don't have the 15,000 points you get for maxing the offseason recruiting skill.

[nwfdwill]

Quote: Originally Posted by CR3AMnCR1MS0N

Advice from one IU fan to another. Start off in pre-season scouting by adding 15-20 guys to your board that you want. Do the week 1 recruiting by adding the 500 pts to players you really want, and a couple hundred to other guys, or really, just whatever you want. I decided to challenge myself and take over Louisiana-Lafayette, who by year four in my dynasty, are terrible. I currently have 15 guys on my board, and doing a good job of building up steam for this year's class. Week 2, find the guys on your board that you have a good lead on (400 points or so and CPU teams losing points) and lower the number of points you give them by about 100 so you can give more points to players in battles. Also, cut players that you are losing by big margins to the CPU (around -1000 points); those points can be better used elsewhere. Finally, go to search and search whatever players you want (you choose caliber, position, speed etc.) and search for the ones who have a lock percentage of 25% or less. After the search, pull up more info on each recruit and add the ones (you want) who have no scholarship offers. Then scout them, offer them a scholarship, and give them points. You should be able to get a lot more guys this way. Do the steps in the last paragraph each week from week 2 on, and hopefully you'll have most of your class signed by signing day so you can put lots of points into the guys you really want in the off-season. I reeled in the #1 class with Washington last year using this approach. Hopefully this helps you!

Forgot about that stuff. Along with what I said earlier, I do this, as well. Good points. I'm never out of the top ten in recruiting unless I have the depth that I don't need that many players.

[WolfDawg]

I do most of the stuff listed above and doing quite well. I'm using Ohio State, so obviously the prestige is higher, BUT I'm using a created coach who doesn't have all the perks. So far I'm in week 9 and have already signed 10 players, 8 of which are 4 star, and I'm #1 on at least 6-7 other 4 star and one 5. It's fairly easy if you use the system, some of the those players I signed I wasn't using any points for, I just kept checking every week to see the +/- in points from the previous week and only focused on the ones that needed extra points, and if I fall while using max points then I consider it a lost cause and dump him.

[ggsimmonds]

I play s Maryland and am in year 3 of my dynasty and in the first two years I have had a top 5 recruiting class.

I only add players that are highly interested in my school and I avoid battles with the top tier schools. E.g. there could be two WRs interested in UMD; one has me second but behind Ohio State and the other has me third behind Virginia and UConn. I would drop the first and go after the WR that has me third depending on how far back I am for each.

Whenever possible I try to stick to my pipelines or sign under the radar players from states that I wish to make a pipeline.

Don't neglect the coach skills either. In my opinion the opener is more valuable than the closer though. The skill that improves visits is huge as well. Later on I will get the skill that allows you to put more than 500 points into a recruit.

Visits are also huge and your opponent matters. Try your best to schedule your visit against a conference rival who is a top 25 team. And make use of complimentary visits!