Becoming a Powerhouse and recruiting tips

[Sabo's corked Bat]

So I'm trying to turn my Bearcats into a powerhouse, already went undefeated in year one and won the Orange Bowl. Second year won the BCS championship, then won it again the next year. Im currently on year four and still no getting a lot of good 5 star recruits. Any tips? Also any tips on recruiting. I know the ins and outs, but was wondering if anybody had any tricks or tips. I've signed a bunch of 4 stars and a 5 star athlete two years in a row, but was looking to up my D.

Thanks.

[NEOPARADIGM]

Re: Becoming a Powerhouse and recruiting tips

A) I know it's not the same thing (i.e., I understand your concern), but when you can edit all the players' ratings, does it really matter at all?

B) Have you tried changing the recruiting difficulty level? People have been saying it's much tougher this year.

Cheers mate.

[Krebstar]

One of the best approaches I've seen is he first thing to do is only search for those who have you as their top school. Then if you'd like, target them and offer them a scholarship right away. Next, target those who hVe you as a top three school. It's a great way to immediately find those who are interested but don't have you as 4-10 or so. It's helped me focus recruiting much more.

[DerkontheOS]

Re: Becoming a Powerhouse and recruiting tips

Only like 10-13 players on your board.

[Sabo's corked Bat]

Re: Becoming a Powerhouse and recruiting tips

Ive noticed very few 5 stars that aren't HBs, Athletes, WRs. Was looking to up my D. Are 4 stars good? Do they end up with a decent overall?

[majesty95]

Re: Becoming a Powerhouse and recruiting tips

Well first, don't focus on star ratings. You can get 3 and 4 star players that wind up better than some five stars. There is much more variety in recruiting this year. The star ratings give you an idea and are there for lazy recruiters but you won't build your best team by just focusing on that.

Look at core player traits (THP, THA for QBs, MCOV, ZCOV for DBs, etc). You can find gems in the 2-4 star players. Thise traits will determine how good the player is, not their star rating.

Focus you board. Keep 13-18 players on it and focus on them. Starting out by focusing on guys interested in you is a good start as well. Basically, if you want the best guys, you have to put in the time to find them. If you just want to move along and not spend a lot of time recruiting, you have to expect a less than stellar recruiting class.

[Sabo's corked Bat]

Re: Becoming a Powerhouse and recruiting tips

Well first, don't focus on star ratings. You can get 3 and 4 star players that wind up better than some five stars. There is much more variety in recruiting this year. The star ratings give you an idea and are there for lazy recruiters but you won't build your best team by just focusing on that.

Look at core player traits (THP, THA for QBs, MCOV, ZCOV for DBs, etc). You can find gems in the 2-4 star players. Thise traits will determine how good the player is, not their star rating.

Focus you board. Keep 13-18 players on it and focus on them. Starting out by focusing on guys interested in you is a good start as well. Basically, if you want the best guys, you have to put in the time to find them. If you just want to move along and not spend a lot of time recruiting, you have to expect a less than stellar recruiting class.

Every 4 and 5 star rating guy Ive looked at, had better stats than the 2-3 stars. I spend an hour on 10 guys a week. And only go after guys that have me in their top 5, but Im talking about when will I start seeing players wanting to come to my team as if I were Ohio State. How long before Im a power house basically? I know how to recruit, I just need the interest first.

[Hot RoDD T]

Re: Becoming a Powerhouse and recruiting tips

I did this last year for a short time then cut it out because my team's became too dominate. But you fill your board with the many rich tips above. Once you have the players that will demand your main attention, go back to the "all recruits page," sort according to interest. Once they are sorted by interest, go down and find the 5,4,3, etc... star recruits (THAT HAVE YOU AS THEIR TOP SCHOOL), that you wouldn't mind having on your team whether they are from a pipeline state or not, and add them at the end of your board. Once your season starts, save your dynasty. At the start, go through your board to each player that has you as their top school. Spend ten minutes just to offer the player a scholarship. If he accepts, save, if he doesn't, re load and re try. Cheap but effective. Again, I stopped doing this because my teams overall just soared above everyone else's.

[jfsolo]

Re: Becoming a Powerhouse and recruiting tips

If you're winning the BCS and going undefeated every year then it doesn't seem like you have a need for 5 star recruits. You should probably just get one star players to give yourself a challenge.

[Sabo's corked Bat]

Re: Becoming a Powerhouse and recruiting tips

If you're winning the BCS and going undefeated every year then it doesn't seem like you have a need for 5 star recruits. You should probably just get one star players to give yourself a challenge.

Oh its challenging, but I have a good Offense every year. My Oregon BCS championship win was like 45 to 43. and my win over Alabama came in OT and the final score was 17 to 14.

[BiggestKJ]

Re: Becoming a Powerhouse and recruiting tips

1. Aggressively recruit 10-15 players at a time

2. Turn off all recruiting assistance options

3. Like someone said, target players who have you on top or near the top.

4. Use the under 100 rule. Even if you're out of the top 3, you can still go after guys if you are only less than 100 points behind the top school.

5. In the first week, I usually go after guys who have me on top and offer them right away. Many times you can get guys who commit on the spot. That will take a load off to focus on other recruits.

6. You need to actively remove guys who you think you have no shot of

7. Replace those guys, with (1) recruits who are not far along in their recruiting and (2) recruits who don't have an offer and you have a realistic shot of getting.

8. I use the Recruiting Advisor and Pipeline add-ons. Why? It's realistic to have "insiders" who have the inside track on certain recruits. And it doesn't always help. The Pipeline add-on is realistic because certain HC's in real life have certain areas where they specialize in getting good talent.

9. You may not get a bunch of 5 stars, but if you are getting more 4 stars interested every year then you are making good progress. What is your prestige rating and all your other school ratings? Those play a huge factor as well.

[feeq14]

Re: Becoming a Powerhouse and recruiting tips

Focus on pipeline states.

As someone else said start first with recruits that have you as a top rated school

10-15 recruits in season, the rest during offseason.

cut bait when a player becomes out of reach and replace him with a guy who you still have a good shot at

It doesnt seem like there are a lot of 5 star players are not WR ATH(wr) or RBs but they are still good. (I had a 1 star FB that came in at 77) I think the start rating system is relative to position this year.

If all else fails you can easily cheat either by editing rosters or creating coaches for you competition and sabotaging their efforts. I have done this for recruits i REALLY wanted.

[The Real Ma$$ive]

Re: Becoming a Powerhouse and recruiting tips

Ok quick question... The guys that have your college 1 or 2 on their list, do you place them in the top recruiting slots, or do you leave them on the bottom. Like for instance if you have a 4 star recruit that has you number 1 on their list, will it hurt your chances of getting him, if he's say number 25 on your recruiting board?

[Kaiser Wilhelm]

Re: Becoming a Powerhouse and recruiting tips

1) Only recruit players who have your school in the top 10.

2) Fill your board. Go after needs first. Then look where you are weak or where you have Juniors. Always safe to have your next starter be a sophmore or RS Freshman rather than true Freshman.

3) Focus on your top 15 or so. Once you build a considerable lead, say 500 or so points, move down the line. Start recruiting the others.

4) Remove anybody who gets more than 200 above you and has a scholarship offer. You will have very little chance.

5) Sometime around say week 6 after your board has wittles down, search for recruits who are still in the top 10 stage of commitment. Look for guys not being recruited and add them to your board.

6) NEVER offer more than 25 scholarships. You can recruit more than 25 players but after 25 scholarships are accepted you lose a ton of points from revoking a scholarship offer.

7) "No redshirt your freshmen year" is your best friend for those hard to get, or must have guys. Especially kickers and punters.

8) Stack your home games near the end of the year. Its a little gamey but it helps.

9) Dont base your board off of Stars. Look at ratings.

10) Build pipelines. Texas, California, Florida and Ohio are must haves. Just remeber, the more the marrier.

11) If you get a "X2" bonus, always just Pitch. A pitch will always earn more than a Sway/Ask, and I do not believe Compares get the bonus, along with Scholarships and Guarentees.

12) Use the "No Redshirt" guarentee to build up your Integrity. You can always redshirt them when they are sophmores. This will allow you to use other guarentees that carry more weight.

13) Know your system!!!!

[majesty95]

Re: Becoming a Powerhouse and recruiting tips

Every 4 and 5 star rating guy Ive looked at, had better stats than the 2-3 stars. I spend an hour on 10 guys a week. And only go after guys that have me in their top 5, but Im talking about when will I start seeing players wanting to come to my team as if I were Ohio State. How long before Im a power house basically? I know how to recruit, I just need the interest first.

First off, there are several hundred 2-3* players. To say that you compared all of them is absurd. Second, I never said a 2* would be better than a 5*. I said you can find really good 3-4* players and not all 5* players are studs.

Also, DO NOT limit yourself to just players who have you high on their list. Yes, focus on them early. However, as you get deeper in recruiting and sign guys or drop them from your list, you can search 3-4* players who are still in their "Top 10" stage and offer some of them. Only offer ones who have not received a scholarship offer and whose 10th team is less than 300 points back. You may only get 1 in 3 interested but you can pick up some good players this way (especially useful when recruiting at smaller schools).