Recruiting Tips?

[kcarr]

Quote: Originally Posted by UMhester04

If you are say #5 on the recruits board and you go to compare a pitch, do you still only compare it to their #1 school or do you go for any of the other schools too?

It depends on the situation but I am open to going after anyone else who has offered a scholarship

[Crono139]

Quote: Originally Posted by UMhester04

If you are say #5 on the recruits board and you go to compare a pitch, do you still only compare it to their #1 school or do you go for any of the other schools too?

I'll target the school where it will do the most damage especially if there's a difference that is just asking to be attacked. The difference in interest levels is a big factor in this decision, of course.

[Whoman]

Can someone explain to me what the different-coloured screen for the prospects ratings mean ?
And the bars state the current rating and the letters are for potential, right ?

[kcarr]

Pretty sure I am going to get 25 signings this year using Idaho. Now they are up to a 2* school in my dynasty but still being Idaho they aren't that easy considering they have little for in state recruits and have to fight boise state for them and have to face much better schools for their other pipeline states. The recruits I have now are about half 3*s and half 2*s.

[kcarr]

One thing that you need to remember here is you don't need to keep your talent level even with what your team starts out to be staying even or even gaining ground. The incoming players are weaker than those in the original roster dropping teams down a solid amount. As long as your classes are even with or ahead of other teams in similar situations.

[nuschler22]

Some promises are pretty obvious...Television Exposure, Playing Time...

Other pitches, for example if a recruit has MOST interest in Coach Experience, what promise correlates to that?

Here is what I figure, let me know if I'm wrong or if you have other ideas, blank I have no idea:

Academic Prestige:
Campus Life: Win Rival Games
Coach Exp:
Conf Prest: Guarantee Conf Title
Champ Contender: Guarantee National Title, Top Ten 2, Top Ten First
Athletic Facil:
Fan Base: (Win Rival Games maybe??)
Playing Time: Solid Playing Time, No Redshirt
Pro Potential: (National Exposure maybe??)
Proximity to Home: Game in Home State
Program Stability:
Program Tradition:
Television Exposure Guarantee National Exposure

All Promises:
Solid Playing Time
Guarantee Conf Champ
Make Freshman All American
Beat Rivals
No Redshirt
National Exposure
Top 10 First 2 years
Top 10 First year
Wont Recruit Position First Year
Wont Sign Before First Year
Game in Home State
Guarantee National Title

Anyone have other ideas????

[3rdamention]

Basically I start my recruiting board with players that have me in their Top 3. Then I max out my recruiting board at about 12-15 players. Keeping the Recruiting Board Small is a great tip. You have more time to focus on those 12 or so athletes. Plus, the other people at the bottom of your recruiting board, if it is full of 35 people, are going to sign elsewhere anyways.

First, you really want to focusing on maximizing the points you achieve during each topic of conversation during your phone calls. Always try and keep the topic of conversation in an area where YOU are strong in. This is where the CHANGE TOPICS come into play. You get 3 of them, dont be afraid to use them. If your school has a C rating in the topic of a phone call, CHANGE THE TOPIC. However, be aware of exhausting all of your CHANGE TOPICS and being stuck at the end of a phone conversation having to talk about a topic you are rated low in or the recruit has no interest in. THis will net you very few points.

Now, My top 10 or so players I focus most of my time on. If I am a B+ or higher in an area while recruiting, I instantly try to find their interest/score in that area as early in recruiting as I can. This will help me down the road when I can focus on the specific areas the recruit is interested in and I am strong in. So if you choose to focus on 4 topics on a recruit, you could easily find out his interest in 3 topics and maybe offer a promise on the 4th if you are really interested. If you focus 4 topics on that same athlete the next week, you are already going to know his interest in at least 3 areas since you unlocked them the week before, so you can unlock his interest in maybe 2 more, then spend your other two topics focusing on areas you know he is interested in from the week before.

Be sure to use your Change the Topic options. If a topic pops up and you are rated a C in that area, just change the topic and find something else. If you cannot change the topic anymore and you are stuck with a topic that your school is rated low in, simply offer a promise to get a bunch of points instead of focusing on a topic you know your school sucks in. Once you have figured out 3 or 4 topics that your recruit is interested in, if you are rated strong in those topics, focus on them every single converstation. Use your CHANGE TOPICS to swing the conversation into your favor and hopefully talk about the areas you know you are strong in and the recruit is interested in. This can get you around 100 points per topic.

Try to save your Scholorship Offers until you are number 1 or 2 on a recruits interest board. If you can stall until you are number 1, then you can maybe get an instant commit. Instant Commits are HUGE cause they are a hard commitment that will not change and leave you with recruiting time to spend on other players. Also, if you have not more CHANGE TOPICS left during your phone calls, you can always throw a scholorship at an athlete to save face if the topic you are discussing is one they are not interested in or you are rated very low in.

Customize your schedule to try and backload tough opponents. This will give you a game or two late in the season that you can invite recruits to attend. Maybe leave the second week of your schedule open and schedule a Michigan, West Virginia, Texas, or someone else the last week or so of your season before Conference Title Games. There is nothing worse than when you finally get to schedule a visit for a recruit and you can only ask them to attend a game against like Duke or Southwest Missouri State or something. Also, scheduling visits as early as possible will at least allow YOU to choose when you want the athlete to attend your school. If you wait, the recruit may have a bunch of visits already scheduled and you are, again, stuck asking them to come to some crappy game. Finally, Schedule a Visit can also be used during a phone call when you have exhausted all of your CHANGE TOPICS and are stuck on a topic that you are rated low in or the recruit isnt interested in. You normally get around 100 points or even more for scheduling a visit. Finally, remember to try to invite them to a game against one of your rivals to make even a bigger impact. If a RIVAL is NOT in your conference, then try to schedule them later in the season so you have more time to recruit them and then make a HUGE impact on them with a big game visit.

[3rdamention]

Quote: Originally Posted by Crono139

I skipped '10, but in '09, I would usually start my season off with quick calls of 40-60 minutes to unlock as many random pitches as possible just to get me started. Since this method cannot be performed in '11, do you guys usually see what the recruit thinks before you sell the pitch? The main area that I can see this being valuable is where you are allowed to choose the next topic. I started my offline dynasty with UF just now, and I didn't even bother seeing how the recruit felt if my school was very strong in that department. The point gains were good for the most part, but I feel like I could have recruited a lot better.

Yeah, if my school is rated high in the area, I just go ahead and see what their interest is in the topic FIRST. You basically get the same amount of points as you would be selling that pitch WIHTOUT gauging their interest first. I find that unlocking their interest in a pitch to BE VERY IMPORTANT. If you simply hard sell a pitch, you might get 50-75 points for it, but the following week you dont even know how interested they are in that pitch.

Plus, if you unlock them first, you will know which areas to focus on when you invite them to a visit later in the season.


For example, if Proximity to Home pops up and I am rated as an A. I simply try to find out if that prospect is interested in that before selling that pitch to him. If he is HIGH on that pitch, I might get 75 points for asking, and I have UNLOCKED that pitch and know in the future to sell it every time. Even if he is not interested, and is LOW on that pitch, I still may get like 50 points and I know to never sell that pitch in the future ever again.

I always try to unlock and find at least 3 areas that I am rated pretty high in and my recruit is interested in, if I can. Then you can spam those areas and use your CHANGE TOPICS to get into those topics every week.