Let's Talk Recruiting (CFB 25)

[georgiafan]

Re: Let's Talk Recruiting (CFB 25)

great read i do something similar myself

Thanks I enjoyed and still going to do more testing while I wait around for the real one to start

[Millsey]

Re: Let's Talk Recruiting (CFB 25)

If I get a player to sign with me before I scout, is there a way to see if they were gem or bust? Cant scout after signing but don’t know if end of season it’ll show?

[RogueHominid]

Re: Let's Talk Recruiting (CFB 25)

Is there a breakdown of what the average rating is for each star level?

I’m sure it’s a range, but even a range would help me think through my likely outcomes as a 1 star school in my rebuild.

[georgiafan]

Re: Let's Talk Recruiting (CFB 25)

Is there a breakdown of what the average rating is for each star level?

I’m sure it’s a range, but even a range would help me think through my likely outcomes as a 1 star school in my rebuild.

Roughly
2* 50-59
3* - low 60’s

Get the offseason training perk for a few key positions I personally like the ones that have more people like OL/DL. Then pay attention to dev traits and upside when you sign them

[RogueHominid]

Re: Let's Talk Recruiting (CFB 25)

TY!

Recruiting YR1 as GA State and my top options are 2 stars, which means they’ll need to red shirt most likely.

[georgiafan]

Re: Let's Talk Recruiting (CFB 25)

Here is my super long research on how to realistically build your team with 2* recruits while having fun

One of my biggest pet peeves is people that shame me for using my elite favorite team. Because the way to do it is take a 1* school and build the program up. Meanwhile a lot of those same people cheese the system with every shortcut you can think of like fast coach progression, 4* recruits, abusing 4 verts and all of those things.

I wanted to take a program and go 4+ years deep and see how it would go on this new game doing it "the sim way". I set in house rules I can only go after three 3* per year and those must have me in the top 5 preseason. So if one of those is a bust or signs with me midseason i can't go add anyone else to my board. I wouldn't go after the scrambling athletes as they are too good. I set the coach progression on slowest and started out as level 1 coach. I also didn't use the transfer portal. For some reason 1* never wanted to go to me so this was pretty much all with 2* recruits with the one position I didn't set limits on being FB. Since my starter year 1 was a really good sophomore that wasn't really changing anything.

Officially Army is a 2.5* school, but the roster is a mess with only 4 freshman and little depth at key spots and most key players seniors. I simmed the games and then later learned supersim is the way to go.

This experiment wasn't to prove "How sim" I could do this. The big picture thing is I wanted to know if I could have fun the first few years. Because honestly, I didn't know and I'm glad to report you can.

Patience
If you are using this as a stepping stool for a bigger school think 3/4 years opposed to 1/2. Because I averaged 4-8 in 4 years. I simmed the games occasionally play a little bit. I'm sure If I was playing more I would have got a few more wins a year and made some bowl games.

The 2* recruits come in rated in the 50's so that scares many people away. When the 2* gem is rated high 50/low 60's a lot of people will change to 3/4*.

Put In work Skill (offseason progression)
I had limited skill points to use so you got to make them count. Since my freshman were rated low I made up for that with investing in the "Put in work" skill which is 3rd on the list for Motivator. This is done via positions and the first two you unlock aren't that good. I actually only did this for OL and it paid off and I now have a lot of depth

Focus on 1 unit
My roster was in terrible shape so I knew this was going to be a multi year project. I focused on one side of the ball and for offense it was OL. I maxed out all 4 under the tactician for the position. I then did the same for Motivator for OL. I'm on level 12 year 5 and just now dipped into recruiting and the first points I spent was less scouting time for OL. I didn't exactly do this, but I learned to go ahead and have you a 2nd position to start working on next. If I was a Head Coach it would be DL, since I'm not it would be RB.

When it came to recruiting, I had limited hours to spend. I always scouted and spent points on OL first. Here is my OL going into year 5 84-88-87-85-84 with a few 80's as backups. I sacrificed highly rated QB to get this OL as mine is currently 72 ovr.

Athletes
You could argue even without the scrambling archetype they are a bit overpowered and maybe so. However, these are easily the most fun players to recruit and that's my main goal. With so many holes on my roster it allowed creativity. A guy may be a 56 overall base athlete and then +8 at certain positions. One of few 3* I signed (soph 69 ovr) had 93 speed and solid defense ratings and I placed him at OLB.

Find Scheme Fits / One Skill
It took me a few years to realize I need to quit going after "run stopping" OLB and go for pass coverage. That's because speed is what i want for that position. With my scheme I knew I wanted power blockers so that's who I added to my board unless it was late in the year.

I knew I wasn't getting an 80-run block as a 2*. I pretty much only focused on one thing for my OL/DT and That was strength. I wanted 85+ for anyone I went after early in the season. If I had time to spend or I was desperate late then I would drop down to 80. My thinking is with the perks and offseason training the core blocking grades will come in time.

Focus on Potential / Dev Trait After Signed
Just because they are 2* it doesn't mean they are maxed out on potential. They will also come with dev traits just likely the 2 lower tier ones. When they get on your roster look at what dev trait is and keep that in mind when deciding starters. Even more important than that is how much upside they can have as some have blocked off skills. Spend the time and look at each players upside and even take notes. Don't always be worried about upside as some will be productive even if they don't improve much in overall. I've got a new starting FB who doesn't have much room to grow and a 66 overall redshirt freshman. However with my scheme I could win the Heisman with him and him never come close to 80 overall.

I signed 2 QB's and one them being a last-minute throw in just for depth. He didn't fit the mold I wanted as 2* "field general". However, he had impact development, and his speed has shoot up to a respectable 81/83/90 with 89 arm strength. He is a junior so pretty much maxed out as a 72 overall. He will end up being a multi year starter and has 5 physical abilities. The other guy I thought would be better didn't do anything.

TY!

Recruiting YR1 as GA State and my top options are 2 stars, which means they’ll need to red shirt most likely.

[bruins2012]

Re: Let's Talk Recruiting (CFB 25)

Why so many recruits have such low ratings for Stamina, Injury, and Toughness?

[jwilphl]

Re: Let's Talk Recruiting (CFB 25)

Any general recruiting tips for a low-star school?

I'm at Western Michigan and finding myself getting blown off of recruits by power conference teams after say five or six weeks. For the first bit of the season, I had them all to myself (I was the only school that had offered and was approaching either Top-5 or Top-3 status). Then, starting week 5 or so, some of these recruits would get pushed hard by other teams and pass right by me.

I've already lost a couple recruits because of this and will probably lose more. Am I spreading my points too thin? I had wanted to uncover everyone's motivations first and that took five or six weeks, alone. Now I'm moving onto the other options like "Send the House" or "Soft/Hard Sell," but I don't find this process all that intuitive.

What I have figured out, at least I think is this: the smaller recruit options like DM or Search Social Media uncover motivations more slowly than say "Ask Family and Friends." I had assumed once you uncover all the motivations you can start pitching in other ways. I don't think it's working for me, though, either because the process is too slow or because of other reasons I can't control yet (like my coach abilities and school factors).

But if this is what happens, I'm not sure how it's possible to build a full recruiting class. I need a good amount of recruits to fill needs and it looks like that will be a struggle.

The other part I don't think makes a whole lot of sense is why scheduling a visit takes 40 points from your "time" pool persistently. Shouldn't it only deduct those points during the actual visit week? The rest of the time there's no work being done, so it makes no sense. I'm basically penalized until the recruit visits, at which point I hope those 40 points are returned to my pool.

So if you schedule for late in the season, you're out of those 40 points all year. It's odd.

[moTIGS]

Re: Let's Talk Recruiting (CFB 25)

Any general recruiting tips for a low-star school?

I'm at Western Michigan and finding myself getting blown off of recruits by power conference teams after say five or six weeks. For the first bit of the season, I had them all to myself (I was the only school that had offered and was approaching either Top-5 or Top-3 status). Then, starting week 5 or so, some of these recruits would get pushed hard by other teams and pass right by me.

I've already lost a couple recruits because of this and will probably lose more. Am I spreading my points too thin? I had wanted to uncover everyone's motivations first and that took five or six weeks, alone. Now I'm moving onto the other options like "Send the House" or "Soft/Hard Sell," but I don't find this process all that intuitive.

What I have figured out, at least I think is this: the smaller recruit options like DM or Search Social Media uncover motivations more slowly than say "Ask Family and Friends." I had assumed once you uncover all the motivations you can start pitching in other ways. I don't think it's working for me, though, either because the process is too slow or because of other reasons I can't control yet (like my coach abilities and school factors).

But if this is what happens, I'm not sure how it's possible to build a full recruiting class. I need a good amount of recruits to fill needs and it looks like that will be a struggle.

The other part I don't think makes a whole lot of sense is why scheduling a visit takes 40 points from your "time" pool persistently. Shouldn't it only deduct those points during the actual visit week? The rest of the time there's no work being done, so it makes no sense. I'm basically penalized until the recruit visits, at which point I hope those 40 points are returned to my pool.

So if you schedule for late in the season, you're out of those 40 points all year. It's odd.

The 40 points to schedule a visit only comes off your total once (the week you add it). I agree it would be more logical for the hours to count against you the week the visit takes place instead of the week you add the visit to the schedule, but either way, it's 40 points just once.

As for general tips for recruiting as a small school, what you're experiencing is pretty typical (both in the game and in real life). Small schools rarely can compete with P5 programs head to head, so if one of those schools offers, you're probably going to lose out. Without knowing exactly how you're distributing points, I'd guess yes, you are spreading yourself too thin early. If you dump as many points as you can on key recruits and can get them to their top five or top three schools, that locks out most P5 programs from swooping in late and stealing them away. It will also give you a substantial lead on those recruits if a bigger program does come in late with an offer. You won't always win out, but if you're in the final three stage and a top program offers late, you might be able to push that recruit over the edge to a commit before the bigger program catches up.

Also, don't be turned off on recruiting two-star players. What I've found is those guys come in with lower overall ratings as true freshmen, but they often catch up in ratings with their three-star peers after one offseason.

What I've done as Kennesaw State (the worst team in the game) is try to identify three-star recruits the bigger programs aren't recruiting and go heavily on them. Occasionally you might find a couple four-star guys who are overlooked. Fill out your recruiting board with 35 guys, but only really put points in maybe a third of them to start (but offer everyone if you can; sometimes after a few weeks an offer alone will move you into a recruit's top eight). If you see a bigger program jump in and you fall behind, just remove that guy from your board and replace him with someone else who isn't being recruited heavily.

I usually don't bother with the soft/hard pitches unless at least two of their preferences align with things I have a B or better in. If they do line up, though, pitching is more impactful than the other options.

Also, I generally find scouting isn't THAT important with a lot of recruits. If there's a three-star deep threat receiver, you can safely assume he has 90+ speed. I just signed a two-star deep threat WR with 95 speed. He's only a 60 overall, but I simmed ahead a year to test it just now, and he jumped up to a 71 overall as a redshirt freshman. That's absolutely a playable (and probably impactful) player for a small school. In the prior class, I signed a two-star safety. He came in as a 59 overall. Two seasons later as a redshirt sophomore, he's starting the year as an 80 overall and is my top FS. Meanwhile, a three-star FS I signed in the same class is stuck at 71 overall. This despite the two-star guy having normal development and the three-star guy being an impact dev.

[georgiafan]

Re: Let's Talk Recruiting (CFB 25)

Jwilphi, are you going after 4* recruits ? Once the elite schools come in then it’s likely over for you unless you have good grades in what he wants.

I’ve got a long quote a few post up on how to do it getting 2* recruits.

[DL1287]

Re: Let's Talk Recruiting (CFB 25)

Put the max number of recruiting hours into the players you really want/need. You want those guys to commit as soon as possible so you free up recruiting hours for more players. If you want to get 4* players you need to do this so big schools don't get in the race later in the season.

Schedule visits as soon as you can, they make a big difference.

If you're worried about not having enough players, you can look for 2* or 3* players late in the season and offer scholarships. If you're their top school and have a scholarship they'll commit even if they're in an early stage of recruitment.

[ZekeRoberts]

Re: Let's Talk Recruiting (CFB 25)

Love, love, love the recruiting. How can you not? Some highlights for me if these help anyone:

1. Insta-commits are a better feeling than pick sixes. Got 1 in 2025 and 2 in 2026 with Michigan. I like that you can get them at any point in the season, even if it's your first interaction with a recruit. If a guy has you at #1 and you're at least half-interested, take a flyer. You get 35 schollies for crying out loud

2. I think learning to cut your losses and spend those points elsewhere is huge. Even as mighty Michigan, if I'm going after a 4 or 5 star in the southeast and he has a couple SEC schools who have also offered, if I see myself getting passed up and/or don't have the best pitches compared to the SEC schools, I'll leave him at the bottom of my list just in case the other schools give up on him, but I'm spending points elsewhere. My first class was top 20, 2nd year was top 10 and in week 6 2026 I have the 4th best class with 2 5* and 7 4*

3. Don't worry too much about what the game says you need... you can always position change guys around. I value gems and "team player" abilities quite a bit, I feel like those guys pay off in the long run

4. I also feel like abilities give you some good info since you only get 10 ratings per recruit, so don't be afraid to give some extra weight to those guys with abilities that fit your style

5. Find a good balance of scouting and recruiting in the early weeks. You want to get out in front on some guys, but the CPU will definitely come out of nowhere on some guys halfway through the season as well. There will always be a few guys with no offers at each position late in the season (well, in most cases anyways). Send the house early if you know that you have a 3* or 4* that is a good fit for you.

6. I love, love this game but I wish we could edit names and numbers. I had a QB recruit named "Junior Body". Ehrm, how about no. You also start to see uncommon last names repeated. I used to change those guys names if I couldn't convince myself they were brothers or cousins lol

Some of this stuff is probably obvious but I just started typing and it made me realize how much fun the recruiting is. And yes I keep a "video game notebook" near my TV. Someone please tell me I'm not the only.one lol

[ggsimmonds]

Re: Let's Talk Recruiting (CFB 25)

I don't know about previous seasons but before ending my session last night, something made me look at the class breakdown of the Sun Belt of which my JMU team is a part.

I check throughout the season where my class is ranked nationally. Through Week 12, we're ranked 25th. Looking at the breakdown we've signed 2 4-stars and 14 3-stars...which leads the Sun Belt by a fairly wide margin. I believe Troy may be 2nd in the conference with 7-8 3-star signees...maybe. Now some of these kids aren't scouted and my be not be that great early but it leads me to believe that I'm going to greatly out pace the conference year over year and just be a perennial Sun Belt power. It feels like it's already starting sitting at 4-1 in conference with the way we handle some of the teams I see whose classes are 90% 1-2 star kids. HB player lock coach mode for refernce.

Thing is, I'm not even "cheesing". My initial board fill is Top 10 interest from "my pipelines".

Same experience.

I'm also in a customized Sun Belt conference using my imported (cupcake) Lamar University. I signed two 4 star recruits and a bucket load of 3 stars and also led had the conference's top class by a wide margin.

My recruiting class paired with what seemed like abnormally high progression saw my team rating jump 10 points from a 68 to a 78 in one year.

I thought the major contributing factor was being a bad Texas team. The way the game calculates proximity to home is kind of wrong (feels like a Houston based school recruiting a kid from Oklahoma gets a better proximity grade than a Maryland school recruiting a kid from NYC).

I get the entire state of TX as a pipeline, so thats a whole lot of recruits with an A grade in proximity to home. My team is bad, so now thats a lot of recruits getting a playing time of A. The sim engine has some problems, so I have more playing styles at A than not. Those 3 pitches are good enough to guarantee a finish in the top half of the conference I think, even if I don't try hard.

[Collegefbfan]

Re: Let's Talk Recruiting (CFB 25)

This has probably been covered in previous pages, but I just want to make sure I have it correct. Let's say you have 20 players on your recruiting board. You do all of the things: DM, Friends & Family, whatever. You spend all your points/hours.

Then, the next week comes. Do you go through and "REMOVE" all those things to get points/hours back up and do it again? Maybe with different strategies this next time. Or the same ones.

I would have never known you could "REMOVE" the strategies, but my son found it on YouTube or somewhere.

[canes21]

Re: Let's Talk Recruiting (CFB 25)

This has probably been covered in previous pages, but I just want to make sure I have it correct. Let's say you have 20 players on your recruiting board. You do all of the things: DM, Friends & Family, whatever. You spend all your points/hours.

Then, the next week comes. Do you go through and "REMOVE" all those things to get points/hours back up and do it again? Maybe with different strategies this next time. Or the same ones.

I would have never known you could "REMOVE" the strategies, but my son found it on YouTube or somewhere.

I only go in and change what I am doing to a player if needed. An example being I am slow playing a recruit with only doing the friends and family action on them, but another school is now showing interest and I need to invest more time into that player. I may go find someone else I can take some actions away from and be okay with and dedicate that time towards the original player so that I can hold onto them down the road.