Changes I would make in Recruiting...

[jobalo85]

First off, let me say that Recruiting is almost 50% of the fun I have in any dynasty in NCAA...I love it!!! I love seeing my recruits progress and playing with them later in dynasty modes and by no means do think recruiting is bad or needs adjusted much...

With that said, These are the changes that I think will complete recruiting for me...

1. More Instant-Commits - Maybe it's because I recruit on All-American and Heisman, but I either get one or none when it comes to Instant-commit recruits...There should be a good 4-5 players every year that are 3 Star or better that just simply love a certain school. For example, before this season even started, Ohio State had 5 commits and Texas had almost 12...by no means do I think it should be 12, but I'm just saying it happens more often than you think...

2. Less Impact Positions - I understand that everyone loves the playmakers on offense, but we don't need more than half the 5 Stars to be be WR or RB. Spread the wealth and make it challenging...it's awful to see the the #34 WR or #29 HB still a 4 star recruit and the #11 OLB or #14 CB is 3 star...just doesn't make sense...(QB's are pretty realistic with that said)

3. Redshirt Players BEFORE Cutting Players - Let more recruits have the chance to progress and see where they end up on the depth chart. I get to sign 25 guys every season, but only have a roster of 70...I love recruiting so I always end up between 18-25 recruits and then usually have to cut some bottom freshmen that I just spent good time recruiting. If we redshirt before the Cut Players, that allows some to get off the depth chart and not count against the roster OR...

4. Increase Roster to 80 or 85 - See above, I hate deciding between only having 3 LT, or 2 SS, or 6 CB because I have to have a FB or not enough Roster spots...

5. Half Season, Half Off-Season Recruiting - Make offseason recruiting more of a factor...Especially in online dynasty where all Users are taking the time to possibly be online at the same time, yet it takes an hour and a half to do...then we only sign 3 recruits?!?! Once again, spread the wealth...

6. Make Signing Day Matter - I'm going to go ahead and say it, but make the top recruits have a cinematic/cut scene where they are at a table and choose between 3 hats for their school. It certainly would be suspenseful!!! You can have the scene during the season as well for any top tier 3 Stars, and all 4-5 stars! This would make it sooo much fun...

In conclusion, I think it would be realistic to have 3-5 Instant Commits for every school for the most part as long as recruit rank is appropriate for that school's prestige...Then you sign 10-12 recruits during the season, using Visits and possibly make promises more impactful...then teams sign 8-10 recruits in the offseason, and in offseason, almost every recruit should come down to or close to Signing day...

That is all I ask

[Kush77]

Great suggestions. I like the idea of having 3-5 instant recruits. I agree there should be more. And I try to get those by offering scholarships in week 1 to 4-star prospects who have my school No. 1 on their list. But I think you're talking about having 5 instant commits before anything happens - which is a good idea.

I would also like to see more 5-star recruits at other positions beside WR, RB, QB, ATH and CB. You'll have 30 5-star recruits and 26 of them will be from those positions. More 5-star tackles, guards, DT and DE.

One thing I'd like to add is having quicker commits from players where you offered them a scholarship, and you're 600 points ahead of them but they haven't committed - even though no other school has offered them a scholarship. That drives me nuts.

I really like the idea of signing day with a dramatic cut scene. But I think there would be a problem with having all (or a majority) of the top recruits holding off until signing day.

If that happens, then we have to continue to dedicate time to those players all year. For example, if I can get my 2 5-star prospects locked in, say by Week 7 (visits and all), then I can turn around and start using those two hours on the other guys on my board. Or start recruiting other where the schools have yet to pull far ahead and I can make up ground.

I think it would take away from the impact of the school visit. If I have a guy at about 80% interest, and he comes for a visit Week 6 and it goes well, he should be soft Week 7 and committed Week 8 - depending on how effective the other schools attacks are. But if it's automatic that he won't commit until signing day, then it seems like the visit isn't as strong as it should be, plus the point I made about continuing to dedicate time to the player.

Great post. I agree with a lot of what you said. I would still like to see the signing day cut scene because there are a handful of prospects whose recruiting carries over until the off-season.

[OGKing]

Insta commits happen all the time for me on AA, just need to have them first on your list..i usually get around 3 or 4 insta commits

[steelersfan77]

Great ideas. IMO recruiting is pretty good the way it is but like you said there should definitely be more variety in the 5 star recruits and higher 4 star recruits. I don't know why but it seems like there are an awful lot of WR's and HB's. Break that up a little.

You brought up a good point about expanding the rosters to 80 to 85. It would allow for more depth chart expansion especially at the offensive and defensive line positions where you often see alot of reshirting from the less impact positions.

Also switching around the reshirting and cutting of players is BRILLIANT!! To this I would love to see a spring game added allowing you to see what young players really stand out.

I want to add I would hope they could add a thing where you can see the players GPA. They're making a grade for academic prestige so why not. For example coaching at a place where a team like Oklahoma signs a lot of high caliber players. It would be pretty neat to see one of those 5 stars not make grades and then show up a few years later as a JUCO recruit SO or JR and then sign with a lower caliber program. You could sit back as that coach and remember that player when he was a top 5 recruit in the nation coming out of HS.

Last thing it would be pretty cool to see athletes with more variety in the positions they can play. It is a nice addition to be able to edit ratings and what not to change these players positions though. I hope they keep that in the game. For example I recruited a player that was a 6'6" 220 lb athlete and the game rated him to play at the linebacker position so I changed around his ratings and gave him better hands and route running and he became a dominant split end. Later I gave him more weight and later in his college career he became one of the best balanced tight ends in the county. In Madden he was drafted 9th overall and the first tight end taken by the Falcons. Pretty neat stuff.

[jobalo85]

Quote: Originally Posted by Kush77

One thing I'd like to add is having quicker commits from players where you offered them a scholarship, and you're 600 points ahead of them but they haven't committed - even though no other school has offered them a scholarship. That drives me nuts.

I agree full-heartedly with this, even though when I get 200-300 ahead, I just start giving them 10-20 minutes...it is annoying that you have to spend that time every week, but this should also be corrected if the spread the wealth between WR, HB, ATH to other depth positions like T, G, DE, DTs...

Quote: Originally Posted by Kush77

I really like the idea of signing day with a dramatic cut scene. But I think there would be a problem with having all (or a majority) of the top recruits holding off until signing day.

I meant that the cutscene can still be seen during the season, say after a visit or two, not necessarily wait until signing day...that would be a nuisant problem haha

[jobalo85]

Quote: Originally Posted by steelersfan77

To this I would love to see a spring game added allowing you to see what young players really stand out

I would absolutely love a spring game, I use to love doing it in the PS2 days and seeing who should play as a true freshman or if my junior 3 star with experience plays better than my 4 star frosh redshirt player...wish they'd bring that back!

[Kush77]

Quote: Originally Posted by jobalo85

I meant that the cutscene can still be seen during the season, say after a visit or two, not necessarily wait until signing day...that would be a nuisant problem haha

I got ya. That would be nice. Especially for those recruits where you got a school in the lead, and the other two schools are only -1 point behind.

[blkrptnt819]

Some ppl get their recruiting done during the year, some offseason. I think that part works out well.

I would love for more commits to commit on signing day. I would be a nice touch for if a couple 5* soft commited to a couple different schools then make his decision on signing day.

[CurryStorm]

Quote: Originally Posted by jobalo85

Make offseason recruiting more of a factor...

This is what I miss about the older versions of NCAA. Offseason recruiting used to be more fun than the season itself; it's where ALL the recruiting happened. Now, you're correct, offseason recruiting doesn't really mean too much, especially if you're a small school. You better have signed a lot of recruits or at least be in on them before offseason hits, because if you're not, you're pretty much screwed. I know this is realistic, but I do miss the offseason being the most important time in recruiting. The whole in-season recruiting is so anti-climatic because you're only signing one guy at a time and there's so much else going on with the games being played, etc., most of the time you don't really care all that much.

[blkrptnt819]

Quote: Originally Posted by CurryStorm

This is what I miss about the older versions of NCAA. Offseason recruiting used to be more fun than the season itself; it's where ALL the recruiting happened. Now, you're correct, offseason recruiting doesn't really mean too much, especially if you're a small school. You better have signed a lot of recruits or at least be in on them before offseason hits, because if you're not, you're pretty much screwed. I know this is realistic, but I do miss the offseason being the most important time in recruiting. The whole in-season recruiting is so anti-climatic because you're only signing one guy at a time and there's so much else going on with the games being played, etc., most of the time you don't really care all that much.

You have to have ppl on ur board and try to finish their recruitment in the offseason.