Dynamic Player Development

[hurricanefootball4]

There are a lot of things that I would like to change in dynasty mode for the NCAA series, but I want to focus in on one thing that could make a HUGE difference - the way that players develop and progress.

One of the biggest issues with dynasty is that it becomes stale because the process and the teams start to feel the same.

• You recruit kids with the same faces as your existing team
• Their ratings are pretty predictable based on star rating
• They develop at a predictable pace
• Your team 12 years into dynasty looks and feels like the team you started with

Also, you can't recreate teams that focus on getting 2-3 star kids and developing them (Boise State, Virginia Tech) or teams that recruit all 4-5 star kids but that doesn't translate to success on the field. Player's and teams need to develop dynamically with different factors.

Here are 3 simple traits that should be added to all recruits & players:

• Athletic Potential - how much room this player can develop physically before they reach their physical ceiling.
• Skill Potential - how much room this player can develop their skill & awareness ratings before reaching their skill ceiling
• Work Ethic - how quickly and reliably this player will reach their athletic and skill ceilings

These factors would then factor in with the school that they chose to go to. A school with a higher grade for Athletic Facilities would get a very small boost to progression. (Reason being that some of the best athletes work out in box sized gyms with paint peeling off the walls)

Where the real difference with a school would be is the coaching staff. Obviously, we need to have the ability to hire our own coaching staffs (like hiring coordinators in Madden). Along with head coach, offensive coordinator, and defensive coordinator there should be added a strength and conditioning coach.

All of your coaches would have a skill set (this would progress over time as well). They would have grades by positions (or by skill that would be the same as players) as well as motivation and potential grades for themselves.

Obviously, you have your A+ coaches (Saban) and those teams would do well all-around. But, you could also choose to implement a power run game and hire a coach who is a C overall but an A in running back skills and run blocking (despite being a D in QB/WR/pass blocking). As such, the progression of your teams running backs + run blocking would progress better and faster than your passing game = your team turns into a true power running team (instead of just by playbook definition).

Your head coach ratings, offensive coordinator ratings, and defensive coordinator ratings combined with a players Work Ethic + Skill Potential rating would determine the success and speed of that players skill development.

Your strength and conditioning coach would have a set of ratings that would coincide with a players athletic ratings. An A+ S&C coach would be great with increasing size + strength as well as agility + speed. But you could also hire a C coach that specialized in size + strength, or one that was all about speed.

Your strength and conditioning coach's rating combined with a players Work Ethic + Athletic Potential rating would determine the success and speed of a players athletic development.

What this system would accomplish is two-fold:

• Each player would have his own unique development process
• It would allow for the creation of a true "program style" or "coaching style"

College Football is all about a unique player or a coach who can turn a program around. With a system like this it would allow for the story of a 2 star kid who had great potential & work ethic and hooked up with the right coach to have a great career. Or it would allow for a diva 5-star kid with a poor work ethic to have minimal development and be a complete bust. Or a coach who has average kids across the board but focuses on excelling at one aspect of the game to overachieve with his program.

How much more would you play NCAA Football's Dynasty if every player you recruited had a different story? If you could create a true "coach/program style" and not just by playbook definition?

College Football is such a unique sport, it's about time that NCAA Football reflected that in an appropriate manner.

[hurricanefootball4]

An example of a player under this system:

Joe Smith | 2 Star WR

Smith has below average existing athletic and skill abilities. But he has an A work ethic, a C+ athletic potential rating and a A+ skill potential rating.

I run a 2 star school that throws the ball 70% of the time, my offensive coordinator has good ratings for receivers and QB's, and my strength and conditioning coach is all about speed and agility.

Joe redshirts his freshman year because his talents and physical ability aren't up to speed. During the offseason though his physical talents go up a little and his skill ratings jump up to a point that he'll see the field.

By the end of his career he's maxxed out his average physical potential and still won't beat most DB's in a foot race but he's a great possession receiver who serves a purpose in my offense.

[hurricanefootball4]

Another example of a player in this system:

Jason Brown | 5 Star WR

Freak athlete already, average receiving skills. He has a D in physical potential because he's already so athletic, a C+ in skills potential, and a D in work ethic.

He chooses to go to a 6-star school where they have an OC who is great at developing running backs but average at developing WR's.

Jason comes in as an 80 Overall freshman and sees the field right away but ends his career as 81 overall, having not put the work in and being in the wrong system to advance his career.

[phily915]

love it....unfortunately it will take ea 40 more years to implement something similar to this

[hurricanefootball4]

And an ideal situation:

Greg Anderson | 4 Star WR

Greg is good (not great) physically and with his WR skills. He has a A physical potential rating (as he can put on weight and increase agility), an A skill potential rating, and an A work ethic.

Better yet, he gets recruited by a school that is great at developing WR's and an S&C coach that is good at developing his physical weaknesses.

He sees the field a little his first season but rapidly progresses every season after that until he ends his career as a Heisman candidate.

[phily915]

question, would you be able to see the work ethic ratings during recruitment or would they be hidden? if i could see them, i would never recruit a 4* or 5* with poor work ethic. maybe it would appear after spring ball or something....

[premeteam]

excellent post!

all great ideas...this would add so much depth to dynasty mode and make it much more exciting to develop and mold programs to your liking

one thing to add to the strength and conditioning ratings would be an injury prevention rating and possibly injury rehab (faster recovery) rating. Some strength coaches can get a guy strong and add size but at the same time that same training program can make a player highly susceptible to injury.

[hurricanefootball4]

Quote: Originally Posted by phily915

question, would you be able to see the work ethic ratings during recruitment or would they be hidden? if i could see them, i would never recruit a 4* or 5* with poor work ethic. maybe it would appear after spring ball or something....

Agreed. There are a couple ways you could go about this:

• Copy the Madden system, you hire a recruiting service (with a rating) and throughout the season recruits ratings are unlocked. You can choose the recruits you want to scout and based on the rating of your recruiting service those levels will be variably accurate or unlocked. You could also have "surprise unlocks" for these ratings for x number of players every week too
• Have "Scouting" be a rating for your head coach and coordinators. Based on their scouting rating the more you talked to a player the more unlocked his ratings would become

This would also add another variable as taking commits early could carry some risk because you wouldn't have "unlocked" everything about them.