NCAA ALL THINGS RECRUITING THREAD!!

[JStuckel21]

When scheduling a campus visit, how can I choose what to do during the player's visit? I remember seeing that feature a few days ago, but now I don't see the option.

Example, I could schedule dinner with the coaches when the player came for his visit.

Can't find that anymore in my dynasty. Am I missing something?

Thanks

[kapo]

Quote: Originally Posted by JStuckel21

When scheduling a campus visit, how can I choose what to do during the player's visit? I remember seeing that feature a few days ago, but now I don't see the option. Example, I could schedule dinner with the coaches when the player came for his visit. Can't find that anymore in my dynasty. Am I missing something? Thanks

During the day of his visit when you click on his name in the recruiting board there is an option to set that up.

[blazman]

Quote: Originally Posted by JStuckel21

When scheduling a campus visit, how can I choose what to do during the player's visit? I remember seeing that feature a few days ago, but now I don't see the option. Example, I could schedule dinner with the coaches when the player came for his visit. Can't find that anymore in my dynasty. Am I missing something? Thanks

First, go to your "Recruiting Board" and the game tells you which players are coming in for visits this week. Then, the very first column on the left will have one of the following icons:

Phone - Means he's available to talk
Clock - He wants to schedule a visit
Airplane - He's coming for a visit this week
X - Committed elsewhere

Click "A" on any of your recruits that have the Airplane icon and one of the options will be to schedule activities for his visit. You can only do this for players that are visiting this week. Also, you call the player, Reschedule the visit for the current week and the list of activities pops up instantly.


Anyway, as for recruiting (playing as PSU in my dynasty) I look at not only my current needs, but how many Juniors I have as well since I'll lose at least one of those to the NFL draft. I'll obviously target my immediate needs first then start picking players in a position where I have a few juniors. For needs, I'll sort by Interest and pick those players who are obviously the best and interested in me. I'll also take fliers on a top prospect in a stacked position, even if he has no interest in me (if I don't have too many needs to fill). For example, in Year 2 of my dynasty, I targeted the #1 tackle even though I have 5 freshman tackles. This prospect was from CA and I want to get a pipeline going there, so that is another reason why I selected him (although there are better options for getting a pipeline state going).

Also, eventhough I may have the top 4 MLB's interested in me, I actually chose to recruit the #6 MLB as I liked his stats against the pass better. I've found that you can un-earth some 3 star gems this way, especially against the offensive line. I personally will target 3 star prospects who are good in certain areas (I.E. run block for OL) if they have at least an "A" in awareness. I have no proof, but always believed those with an "A" in awareness will progress nicely.

Finally, I'll comb through Athletes to fill other holes where I'm having trouble landing a good prospect (you can look at their stats to determine what position fits them best). Fullback always seems to be a need and I am heavily recruiting a 6'8" 305 lb fullback with all C+ / B fullback ratings.

I'll issue all my scholarships during the first 2 weeks as this chews up some time. Then, if I have a big lead as a prospect's chosen school, I'll try and get him in early for a visit to wrap it up. If it's a close race between schools, I'll try and be one of the last schools this prospect visits. I personally find that when a prospect is close on choosing a few schools, the school that makes that last impression on a visit usually wins out.

I make sure to contact all my recruits each week, even if it's a 5 min quick call. If I have a prospect in the 20's or so who has me #1 and really interested, I'll bump him up to the top 5, spend an hour on the phone and usually sign him that week.

Ok this is getting long so I'll leave it at that. Hope this helps.

[newsguy]

^ Nice write up, thanks. I have a question more along the lines of post recruiting. This is the first NCAA where I've actually tried my hand at recruiting. I'm playing as FIU and had a great first season. I mostly used quick call and picked up about 2 four star guys. There I was all excited about my great pickups, and when I see their numbers they're both 69's overall!!! Does this sound right? Do these guys get better over time? They're 3rd string guys right now and I can't redshirt them cause I promised them they would play (before I knew they suck).

[WatsonTiger]

if its a 5* or high 4*, i bring them in asap, and it works for me but i geuss its because im LSU and i have a lot of interested prospects

[jdrhammer]

Quote: Originally Posted by benji4887

I find it's best for me to have between 20 and 25 recruits on my list all with scholarship offers. I quick call them whenever I can for between 20 and 30 minutes. I stick to recruiting guys that are interested in me whenever I can. You can occasionally get guys who weren't interested, but it's difficult and usually a waste of time. Having guys visit during the season can be a bit of crap shoot, sometimes if you have a guy visit early you can be in the driver's seat through their whole recruitment or even get them to sign early. Some players seem to like visiting later in the season, and visiting early means another team can swoop in and grab them. Visiting in the off-season, you want to do that as soon as you can. Players do seem to switch after making a soft commit, the only time a player soft committed to another team switch to mine was after I visited them in the off-season. I hope some of this is helpful.

I've noticed that the in-season visits have been made more effective for this version. I've been pleasantly surprised. I've gotten a guy in week 4 on a visit. I never did that on 08.

[Birdman18]

you definitely need to bring in 4 or 5 star recruits early to visit.. if you wait too long, as you get mid season, you risk the chance of that recruit being booked up towards the end.. trust me, this happened to my buddy in our dynasty.. i had all my guys come in before week 8.. i had signed 6 5 stars, 8 4 stars, and 3 3 stars by week 12 because of this.. i got a big lead compared to the other schools and i think that helped with recruiting at notre dame.. plus i only had 2 losses... i also sort by the most interested players, so i can get them first.. no reason to waste guys that WANT to go to your program, as opposed to trying to persuade someone else..

[thatruth22]

Quote: Originally Posted by benji4887

I find it's best for me to have between 20 and 25 recruits on my list all with scholarship offers. I quick call them whenever I can for between 20 and 30 minutes. I stick to recruiting guys that are interested in me whenever I can. You can occasionally get guys who weren't interested, but it's difficult and usually a waste of time. Having guys visit during the season can be a bit of crap shoot, sometimes if you have a guy visit early you can be in the driver's seat through their whole recruitment or even get them to sign early. Some players seem to like visiting later in the season, and visiting early means another team can swoop in and grab them. Visiting in the off-season, you want to do that as soon as you can. Players do seem to switch after making a soft commit, the only time a player soft committed to another team switch to mine was after I visited them in the off-season. I hope some of this is helpful.

I am really similar in this method, except i quick call my number 1 guy for a hour, and i usually have really good success with it.

[Ruffy]

Quote: Originally Posted by blazman

Ok this is getting long so I'll leave it at that. Hope this helps.

Very nice write up...but yeah long because i still feel recruiting is maybe a bit too intensive.....every week is a bit much....i seem to be going through it a bit faster then last season but it still seems I spend more time recruiting than actually playing games...

Im still enjoying it though...I'd love to see OMT jump in with some of his EA insider recruting secrets!

[gibbzilla558]

I just finished year 5 of my UNT dynasty.

Here are my recruiting class ranks:

Season 1 #74

Season 2 #51

Season 3 #24

Season 4 #47

Season 5 I'm currently in off-season recruiting and I signed 9 4-star recruits before the season ended. Looks like I'm about to need to switch teams.