[lbh24]

Quote: Originally Posted by tarheelguy4736

I know many of us, myself included, strive on building programs from the ground up and the way we do that is through recruiting.

If you're building from the ground up, know your real needs. It's not just important to see where you need a guy or two next year. Chances are, you have many spots that need to be built up. If you don't have young talent at a position that is key to your offense/defense, consider it a need and push that position just as much as you'd push one that won't have the minimum amount next year.

Quote:

I know people may have problems trying to recruit players, bring players to their school, or just getting their prospects to commit so maybe we can start a thread that helps many OS users with this aspect of the game. So if you'd like to post your philosophy, how you recruit, who you recruit, why you recruit that way, how successful it is, and what level of difficulty your on then that would be perfect.

First, I prefer to recruit on Heisman though one of my OD's uses AA. Here are a few basic things I do right when I've taken over a team.

1) Be realistic. If you're rebuilding a program, you're not going to be bringing in a top 10 class in year 1. Go for the guys that are interested in your school, and create depth. 1-2* recruits aren't all good but they're not all bad either. You can find some guys with a lot of upside or who can do 1-2 things VERY well. You have to fit them more like Tetris pieces than you will once you're bringing in studs.

2) Don't recruit everyone on your board right away. Get the most interested guys to sign quickly. Usually a hard push early should net you 4-5 commits in a few weeks, giving you a chance to generate interest from other guys before visit season happens.

3) Only offer once you are #1 on a guy's board (and offer as soon as you are -- you might get an instant commit and save some time), unless you need the points to stay in the running for the guy. If he's softed to another school, you might wanna offer. If you're #2 but he's visiting that week, offer.

4) Start making reaches once you've created depth. Hopefully you've created some depth around weeks 8-11. Once you do that, you should start having extra time even with the guys you're still recruiting. Go back in and find some guys a little out of your reach (top 3* guys, some 4* guys) who haven't signed or even been offered by anyone. Add them, offer them a scholarship and some promises (you should be able to offer any 4* No Redshirt + Guaranteed Playing Time if you have a bad team).

4A) Be careful with victory-type promises. If you're going to promise Freshman AA, you better be going to the guy all day at the goal line or making him your returner. I would not suggest this for anyone on your front 7 or front 5. Be wary of winning record vs Rivals.

5) Know when it's just not going to happen. Some recruits just aren't interested in you even if things seem to match up. Cut bait and move on from them ASAP.

This strategy has worked pretty well for me with two 1* schools. Offline as Eastern Michigan -- I have them in year 5 now with classes as follows: year 1 in the 90's, year 2 in the 70's, year 3 #34, year 4 #12.

Online as WaZu, I don't remember what my year 1 draft class was, but I remember I was 15 spots higher than any other 1-star school and that was while going 3-9 on the season.