We had a post in the forums recently about the new recruiting system in NCAA Football 08 for the next-gen consoles. The original thread poster asked everybody what they thought about the end result. He posed the quesiton: How is it, now that we've had this game for awhile?  It got me thinking about what could be improved, while at the same time trying to evaulate what we already have here. The bottom line is that the recruiting system in place is a really great start that needs a lot of additional tweaking and improvement.

There are two directions the NCAA developers could go in my view. They can either streamline the process immensely, or keep the same general process, but add more variables so recruiting doesn't become too routine.  

To go the streamlining route, certain arduous tasks should be automated if the user so chooses. Once the gamer figures out a player's key interests and issues, he/she should be able to set an average minutes per week to talk to the player, and automate it so that the computer does the calls and hits on the key points. This would save a lot of time and repetitive button pushing in those famously sluggish menus. It should be noted that you can already just completely ignore recruiting and the CPU will do it for you, but I'd rather have a system in place where you're actually telling it what players to talk to each week, and how long to talk to them, etc.

On the other hand, EA could continue having the user do most of the work like we already are, but add some variables to keep things interesting. Recruits might start the year thinking they want to stay close to home, but then get tired of the area during their senior year and decide they want to go somewhere new.

Proximity to home, which initially got them interested, might become a secondary factor, or even turn them off. Or, maybe they initially believe that they want to start right away but talk it over with their coach and decide to simply go with the best program, and your elite "early playing time" situation suddenly means squat.

Make those issues a moving target to a certain extent, so that a hawk-like watch over the recruiting screen doesn't make the gamer fall asleep.

So, on the whole, what was done right?

For one, I like being able to target a bunch of players at the beginning of the year and have those players be the same pool you're working with in the off-season; that is a great improvement right there.

 The search tool that helps you find players is also pretty solid. It really needs to be fixed up (why does it keep suggesting skinny athletes when I'm looking for a blocking fullback that weighs 250 lbs?) and have more searchable categories, but it's definitely interesting.

The promises are also really cool. That is a feature that has been installed the right way and works very well. It ties into your integrity rating and everything. I kind of wish you had to keep track of the promises you made yourself, but that's the hardcore nut inside me, and I know I would be in the vast minority on that one.

Here are a few things I think should be added:

1) Bring back the scouting element. To me, the process of actually finding a diamond in the rough via the scouting system was just as intriguing as trying to land him. I will be honest, I miss it. I feel fairly certain that the developers are on the same page as I am and want to bring that back. I have an idea that they will think of a big way to really improve the scouting system to something much, much better than it was before. I'm counting on you EA!

2) The discipline system -- bring that back too. When it was working, that was a really nice feature on the PS2 because it added a few more little storyline tidbits to the mix. Injuries are essentially the only thing that factors against you on next-gen, which is a shame because it was fun to occasionally have to bench a player for a half, or for the game for discipline reasons. In a general way, all storyline tidbits are a positive influence on a dynasty.

3) Add some depth to the campus activity feature. This relates to when a recruit makes a visit and you can assign three activities for him to do while the recruit is on campus. I don't think a coaching staff could realistically have 10 recruits each take part in all these various activities while they're at the college for a game weekend. And where's the difficulty in simply finding out what a player likes via the phone calls, then assigning him the corresponding activity during his visit?

If I was in charge of setting up a system for this I'd add one rating (leadership) to every player, and then each visit weekend you'd have to assign a certain number of your existing players to help with the activities and keep the recruits company -- what's a strip club visit without some of the existing players helping the new recruits to 'make it rain?'

Obviously, your best leaders would make the best chaperones (you could only assign a player once a year to this task).  And, for all the players that were visiting, you would set up five (or so) activities that they all would have to partake in; think about it, isn't this how it probably really happens?

Luncheon for all of the recruits, stadium tour for all the recruits, a couple other things and then they are on their way home. If the recruiting trips were done this way then it would stop you from tailoring trips to each and every player so easily.

 You'd have to set-up something that would please the prospects you really want on your squad, and let the other recruits deal with it. Or, you could strategize and have players with similar interests visit on the same weekend.

4) This is related to scouting: Give us the 40 times, the bench press amounts, and grade point averages again. This is more fun and organic than having hard and fast grade ratings for every single skill.  We should still be able to scout out those individual skills, but the information should come via a team scout or assistant coach assessment rather than a letter grade.  Heck, even if you keep the grades for those extra things, just give us a way to scout for more accurate information or to uncover the info via scouting.

5) Add strategy to the off-season home visits. How many recruits can a coaching staff visit during a week? Every single one?  Or should the different coaches be assigned to different territories, or what? Should the head coach fly to see five separate players in five separate states during the week, or simply head to a region nearby and visit multiple players in one day? In other words, give a nod to the planes, trains, and automobiles aspect of recruiting.

I'm sure there are some other great ideas out there that would improve recruiting, so be sure to mention any good ones you have in the forums, or in the comments below.