Your Recruiting Strategy

[nuschler22]

Promises - Which pitch do the correlate to?

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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????

[Rockamakis]

Here is descriptive post to coincide with the first post I made.

When recruiting started I looked at the recruits in the 150 that had interest in my school. Any recruit that was a 5* and I was less than 400 points behind I added to my board.

I added mainly 5*'s a couple of 4*s and 3* FB because it was the position of need.

Once I was done I had 21 recruits on my board. I then put the recruits in order of their interest in my school. I left the 3* at the bottom. I offered all recruits that had me number 1 when I first called them.

As the weeks went on I would move up or down a recruit depending on their interest. So if I moved up with a recruit I would move him up my list with recruits that have similar interest. If a recruit committed to a another school I would not replace him with another recruit I would just use that time to go after the recruits that I really wanted.

As soon as the recruits were ready for a visit I scheduled them to visit during my earliest rivarly game. I scheduled all recruits to visit on the same week if I could.

Once again as I gained commits or lost some recruits I reallocated the time that I used to the players left on the board. When talking to recruits I always start with 30 minutes for every player. As recruiting goes on the targets get lower I start talking to the recruits I really want for 40 minutes.

As far as pitches go I will compare schools when my school has a higher rating than the other school. If a topic comes up that will not get me a bunch of points(70 or higher) I will choose to switch topics or make a promise until they are gone.

If I start to fall out of favor with a recruit and become more 350 points behind I will only spend 30 minutes on them unless I have extra time left over after talking to the other recruits. I usually save the calls to this recruits last so that I can use up any excess time on them.

After week 8 of my dynasty using this method I had 8 5*s and 4*s committed. After they committed I added 4 new recruits to my board and turned up the heat on the 3* I needed and came back from a 600 point deficit to have him commit three weeks later.

That left me with 4 recruits that I could jump in on and talk to them 60 minutes a piece.

Anyways this is the method I used to get the #1 ranked recruiting class. These methods enabled to steal recruits from USC, OSU, PSU, UT and UF that were soft commits.

[Rockamakis]

You can still jump up the recruits list if you continue to talk to the recruit. I was able to steal a 5* WR from HI that way. The only thing I would say is if you have more important recruits to get or there are more recruits you would rather have instead. You will want to save those recruits for then in hopes they don't commit and when your target list shrinks allocate about 60 minutes to them and also give them some promises.

Quote: Originally Posted by callmetaternuts

Another recruiting question since everyone here seems to be pretty helpful. If I'm recruiting a player and his "stage" says Top 5, and I'm #8 lets say, does this mean he has eliminated anyone outside his top 5? Do i have a chance to jump back in the mix?

[dr.house83]

One thing ive noticed is if u don't have many holes to fill for example I only need3d to get a guard with Miami is to just go and find the 10 best recruits that have u as a 1 intrest or 2 and use 6 topics with each one. That should easily get u those 10 offer schollies as soon as possible

[reyes the roof]

My first two years with SDSU I went and recruited a bunch of 1 and two star guys from Texas to try and build a pipeline and now year three I have a bunch of 3 star prospects from Texas interested in my school, in addition to my California prospects. I know it doesn't sound like much, but I'm only a 3 star program, so in a year or two when I'm up to 4 or 5 stars I should have a pretty nice sized talent pool of interested recruits to choose from.

[ellisoc6]

Here's how I've always approached recruiting, and NCAA Football 11 is no different (and successful for me).

I play with Notre Dame (always) but this is true for any team. What are they good at now? Strong offensively, defensively? Where are their depth weaknesses? Both sides of the ball? One side? And how do you play? Are you offensive? Defensive? Air it out or control the clock? You have to answer these questions.

For me and Notre Dame this year, offensively they are fairly deep. They have some depth issues at the WR and OL position, but most of their weaknesses are on D. So when I set up my recruiting board, I pick 17-20 players - with the goal of building one side of my team first (the weakest side).

I recruited a QB, WR, two OL and the rest on D. Regardless of current players, I know offensively I'll be fine with my style of play. With a base 3-4 (which ND runs), I went after 4 DL, 4 LB's, 3 CB's, 2 SS's, 2 FS's. In the big picture - and assuming I get most of these players - I've created 3-4 years of depth on defense for my team, with a few sprinkled playmakers on offense.

Years 2 - I do the opposite, I focus on the offensive side of the ball, repeating the same strategy above.

By Year 3, I've created depth on offense and defense and don't need to recruit a TON of players anymore. I can be selective and go after 5 star players on either side of the ball to strengthen my team.

The goal here is to address the immediate weakness of your team and create depth. The following year do the same to the other side of the ball. Then moving forward you can recruit smaller number of players (allowing the full use of your 10 hours for 50-60 minute conversations) and building a solid program.

As for which recruits I go after, in years 1-3, I only go after players interested in my program. Again, because my goal is to be efficient at getting these guys to sign, not luring 5 star players away from other schools. Since its Notre Dame (and they are easy to recruit with), this makes it easy. The same is true for the other A-A+ programs in the game, OU, Alabama, OSU, Florida, LSU, USC, etc.

After year 3, I go after playmakers, the 5 star guys who fit my play-style. I don't care where I am ranked on their list, I can usually get to their top 3 by the end of the season. If I get them, great, if not, there is a plan for that.

ALWAYS HAVE A BACKUP PLAYER! Never put all your hopes on one guy. Get a 4 star guy (or any star you see fit) as your backup. Preferrably someone who is interested in your program. That way, if the Blue Chip guy goes somewhere else, you're not left out in the cold on week 15.

This strategy has worked for me the last 10+ years I've been playing this franchise. It can also be adapted for schools with less than stellar prestige. Some tips I can offer for the lower ranked schools is doing extensive searches . . . don't necessarily pay attention to star rating. Instead, look for guys with the height, weight, speed, etc., you are looking for. If they fit the style of your play, you'll be successful.

Just like in real life, recruiting rankings me nothing. Wins mean everything.