Any recruiting tricks at all?

[Psyblast]

Alright, so I'm playing as Miami.

And I'm lucky if I get ONE five-star recruit that's "interested". In that aspect, recruiting is so much harder this year. But it's easier in the aspect that it's not impossible to get recruits that aren't interested.

So, are there any tricks that any of you know? Like using a certain amount of points one week, then another amount the next? (While of course alternating different pitches until you find one) What about altering your coaching strategy? %s in running and passing, etc.

Any help would be appreciated.

[Faygo_Ninja]

At first i thought the recruiting was a lot harder than last year but soon it became too easy (id always have the top class and get at least 7 5 star players as a 5-6 prestige school). Even when i left for the Irish (they were a 2 star school at the time, gotta rebuild baby!) i got the top class with their 2 star prestige (although my 5 star coach prestige may have helped as i had just won the national championship the year before). Somehow managed to grab 3 5 star player while no one else got more than 2.

Anyways, Florida has a decent amount of quality prospects (although not as many high star players as Texas or California) so you should first go through the 5 and 4 (maybe even 3) star players there that arent necessarily interested in your team to see who has a high interest. Most of the 5 or 4 star players i grab were never interested right away but became interested in my school when i recruited them after seeing their 'high' interest in my school.

Then go through the top players in all prospects (or top 100) and see if any of those players have a high interest in your team. Recruiting only the interested people will hurt your team, although you may deserve that as you are Miami.

Also, i tend to use points sparingly in week one, like only 3-4 clicks. I usually dont start spending till i find some pitch that gets them interested. I never use more than 40% on recruiting either. I like putting a lot into training so you get the most out of the players that you have on your roster already. Hope some of that helped you.

[skydog71]

Make sure not to get too greedy, and cover your bases before gambling on blue chips. Let's say you need:

1 OLB
1 TE
2 DT
1 QB

For week one, look at the prospects that have "very high" interest, and go on and recruit a couple of safe ones for each slot that you *need*. If you are a small school, these might only be 1-star recruits... 3/4-star if you are a big-time school. If you come up on short on those that are very interested, go look at all prospects across the nation, and recruit the highest rated "high" interest player. After that, you should now have the following targetted:

OLB: 2
TE: 2
DT: 4
QB: 2

Now go for some 4/5-star players at these positions. First look for "very high", and work your way down to "low" if necessary. Just be sure to get at least 1 for each of your needed positions, with preference going to those that are located near the school (you can pump a lot more points into an in-state target). Your target list will now look something like:

OLB: 2 safe, 1 gamble
TE: 2 safe, 1 gamble
DT: 4 safe, 2 gambles
QB: 2 safe, 1 gamble

Next, check your list of interested prospects for any extremely talented players. They are already interested in your program, so it shouldn't take that many points to convince them to sign. Since they are already "very interested", these are considered safe targets. Now your list looks something like:

OLB: 2 safe, 1 gamble
TE: 2 safe, 1 gamble
DT: 4 safe, 2 gamble
QB: 2 safe, 1 gamble
CB: 1 safe
P: 1 safe
G: 1 safe
MLB: 1 safe

You already have a nice safety net for your recruting class, so you can use the rest of your scholarships to target the blue chippers. Just use your own discretion in determining who you go for... it's unlikely that you will get a 5-star recruit whose interest is "very low", but IT IS POSSIBLE. It's a gamble, but you can take these gambles since you have all of your essentials covered. Going for 3/4/5-star athletes is also a great idea, as these can end up filling a variety of slots on your depth chart. Your ending target list for week one will look something like:

OLB: 2 safe, 1 gamble
TE: 2 safe, 1 gamble
DT: 4 safe, 2 gamble
QB: 2 safe, 1 gamble
CB: 1 safe
P: 1 safe
G: 1 safe
MLB: 1 safe
HB: 1 gamble
T: 1 gamble
DE: 1 gamble
WR: 1 gamble
ATH: 2 gamble

Put the minimum amount of points into each of these recruits to start off with. After that, start pumping all of your extra points into your "high" or "very high" targets who DO NOT have you listed as their top school, with emphasis on in-state recruits as they only cost 1 point a pop. If you are already listed as their top school, only use the minimum amount of points, and try to find the pitch they are looking for. Finally, advance to week two.

You'll probably lose a couple of blue chippers, so target a couple of more to gamble on. If one of your safe picks at an essential position signs elsewhere early on, go on and find a replacement to target. Only use the minimum amount of points when selecting a new recruit. After you have no scholarships available, go back to your list of current targets. Be sure and offer a different pitch to any recruit that didn't respond well to your first pitch, but only using the minimum amount of points. If the recruit did respond to your first pitch, go into point dump mode, with your goal in being the #1 school on their list. It's an art form deciding how many points you will need to move into that top slot. I have yet to master it, but my rule is 5 points per slot. So if I'm 3rd place, I'll use 10 points (it would be 20 points if he was in an adjacent state, 30 points if it costs 3 points for one recruting click, etc). You should run out points pretty quickly.

Week three. You should have a few people signed by this time, so you'll start to have an idea of how your recruiting class is shaping up. Replace the safe targets that signed elsewhere with other safe targets, and gambles with gambles. If one of your blue chippers sign at an essential position, I wouldn't worry as much about your safety backups. Definitely try to get 1 of them, but don't burn all of your points on both of them. Just make sure you have all 25 scholarships used each week, so you can offer as many pitches as possible.

Week four. Same song and dance as week three.

Week five. This is a fun week. You're going to have a lot of new prospects who are suddenly interested in your program. This is a good time to withdraw a handful of scholarship offers if there are prospects you no longer need (maybe you've already signed 3 DT's, and only needed 2?) or the players still aren't interested. It's not easy to catch a recruit that you haven't made a pitch too yet on that final week, but it's possible. Also, if you scouted any prospects or withdrew an offer in a previous week to a recruit that still hasn't signed, they have a tendency to come around in week 5. I scouted the #1 rated QB in week one who had "very low" interest, never recruited him, and he was "very high" interest in week 5. Didn't sign him, but I have scored a few blue chippers on week 5 that I hadn't spent recruiting points on in previous weeks. Make sure you have all 25 scholarships out before you advance to signing day. It's also possible to snag a couple of additional safe picks here, especially if you are listed as the #1 school.

On signing day, using my previous list, your recruiting class will look something like:

*OLB: 2 safe, 1 gamble
*TE: 2 safe
*DT: 3 safe, 1 gamble
*QB: 1 safe, 1 gamble
CB: 1 safe
G: 1 safe
MLB: 1 safe
T: 1 gamble
WR: 1 gamble
ATH: 1 gamble, 1 safe

(* - needed position)

This would be a recruiting class of 18, with 6 blue chippers. If years where you have more needed spots to fill, you'll have less blue chippers... but when you hit a year and you only need 1-2 players, and the rest is just gravy... you can swing for the fences, and try to score 10-12 blue chippers. My main goal in recruiting is that I end up with 70 players on my roster, and that all needed positions are filled. I hate walk-ons. Quantity is often better than quality, as I've seen many 4-star recruits which turned out better than blue chips. I've also had a 2-star guard turn up with a 92 rating as a senior. Just never know.

Didn't mean for this to be so long, but I've been searching for some good threads which discuss various recruiting strategies, and there just doesn't seem to be many out there. Would love to hear how other people handle their various weeks in recruiting.

[Mizzou23]

Is anyone else throwing minimal recruiting points at each player in the first week? I had never tried it before, but I'm curious to know if more people have had success recruiting that way.

[AggieJay]

Recruit your own state!!!!

I have the advantage that my dynasty is Texas A&M and the first year I won the MNC, and put 50% of my budget towards recruiting (30% training, 20% discipline).
I was able to get quite the haul (this is not to brag, just stating fact)
Out of the 35 5-star players, I got 17 of them, the other 7 recruits were 4-stars.
This was easily the top class in the nation as no other school had more than 2 5-star players.
I foucused on the state of Texas and offered those players max points (15) each time. This paid off when U Texas got 0 5-star and only 2 4-star players.
I may end up paying for this down the road by not putting enough points for discipline, but for now I have 8 true freshman starting and 15 on my two deep roster.
Also use coach prestige as a recruiting factor.

[McLite]

Quote:

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AggieJay said:
Recruit your own state!!!!

I have the advantage that my dynasty is Texas A&M and the first year I won the MNC, and put 50% of my budget towards recruiting (30% training, 20% discipline).
I was able to get quite the haul (this is not to brag, just stating fact)
Out of the 35 5-star players, I got 17 of them, the other 7 recruits were 4-stars.
This was easily the top class in the nation as no other school had more than 2 5-star players.
I foucused on the state of Texas and offered those players max points (15) each time. This paid off when U Texas got 0 5-star and only 2 4-star players.
I may end up paying for this down the road by not putting enough points for discipline, but for now I have 8 true freshman starting and 15 on my two deep roster.
Also use coach prestige as a recruiting factor.

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17 5-Star players is insane ! Come on...you need some challenge !

Gig 'em !

[piper_clap]

Recruit the atheletes-

Often, a 4 star athlete will rate out as high as a 5 star at their "natural" position. There seems to be a ton of Athletes that end up being monster DE's, but perhaps thats just a random fluke. I always try to get at least 2-3 atheletes a year-if they rate high at a position you are deep at, just put them there anyway and redshirt them for a year.

[AggieJay]

I concur on the "athletes" strategy. I had a couple of them become DE and SS in the 90s thier Freshman year.

I admit that 17 5 stars is a bit high, but I am not going to refuse to allow them to come to my school.
I am interested to see how it plays out in a few years. Since I only put 20% towards discipline, is that going to burn me???
Since I have so many studs coming in, can I get them enough playing time or will they transfer out??

It should be interesting.