House Rules for Recruiting with High Prestige Schools

[kmoser]

Hi all,

I have been implementing a few house rules for recruiting at 4.5 - 5 star prestige schools, and wanted to see if anyone has any recommendations or ideas to add on to these.

I've been playing as Texas, and recruiting can become way too easy once you learn the system. I was hoping the below rules would help make recruiting more challenging, but I'm curious what you guys think. The numbers may seem random, but I used recruiting class numbers going back to 2019 on 247sports, and feel like this would potentially generate a realistic class.

Rules:

Five-Star Recruits
Select 7 five-star recruits in the offseason recruiting period as follows:

• 3 must be in-state.
• 2 can be out-of-state but must be within your pipeline, and any pipeline score is fine. If these 2 are also in-state, that is fine as well.
• 2 from outside your pipeline, but must have you in their top 5 to start the season

These 7 will be the only five-star recruits you can have on your board for the entire year, and you cannot replace them. Once you have selected the 7, you can then scout them if you wish. This means that if one turns out to be a bust, then you live with it and either continue recruiting them or work on the 6 other players. Similarly, if one of them commits elsewhere, they need to stay on your board and you will need to work on getting the other 6 to commit.

Four-Star Recruits
Select 23 4-star recruits in the offseason recruiting period as follows:

• 10 must be in-state
• 8 must be in your pipeline, and if they are also in-state then that is fine
• 5 from outside your pipeline, but must have you in their top 5 when the season starts

Similar to the five-star recruits, these are the only 23 you can pick for the entire season and they cannot be replaced.

If everything goes right, you could potentially land all 7 five-stars, which most likely gives you the #1 recruiting class. However, chances are you will only get 4-5 of them, as well as only 15-19 of the four stars.

There is no limit on recruiting 3 star players.

As for year to year success factors, I felt like the below could give somewhat of a baseline to play by:

• If you lose more than three games, total five-stars drops from 7 to 5, and total four-stars drops from 23 to 20 next year.
• If you miss the playoffs that year, you can only recruit 6 five-stars and 21 four-stars next year.
• If you make the playoffs, the numbers remain the same.
• If you make at least the semi-final game, your total five-stars goes from 7 to 8, and total four-stars from 23 to 24.
• If you win the National Championship, you can recruit up to 9 total five-stars, and up to 25 total four-stars next year.

You can use these rules each year, so if you were to win back to back National Championships, you could recruit up to 11 total five-stars, for example.

Curious what you guys think of these, and what tweaks might be needed!

[Bushido]

I actually like this. I’ll probably start doing this with my LSU dynasty.

[pgaiser1]

I've been playing as VT and have finally gotten to the point where I need to implement some house rules (9 and 12 5-stars in my last two classes). I upgraded the coach pipelines so Tidewater and NC are T5 and East Texas is T4. Probably going to start with only recruiting 5-stars if they're in a T4 or T5 pipeline and only recruiting 4-stars if they're in some level of pipeline. Not super drastic, but hell, this is my universe and I want to taste the sweet nectar of the pipeline upgrades.

I know every game struggles with AI to some extent, but this past class there was a 5-star WR from Tennessee who couldn't get a phone call from the Vols... it was only me and Liberty going after him. I wish the AIs were at least smart enough to fill up their boards and go after 5-stars from their own pipelines. Doesn't seem like rocket science.

[jello1717]

I have the same issue of too good of recruiting classes @ Michigan, even with already pretty stringent rules in place. I’ve have 4, 6, 5, and 9 5⭐️ signings @ Michigan following 0 5 ⭐️ in 6 years @ ODU and Louisville. I’ve used the following rules so far:

• No over signing (can only sign enough to reach 85 players)
• Have to use the recommended tab
• Have to sign the correct tendencies based on my needs for my current roster. I.e. I only use pass blockers @ LT and LG, and non pass blockers on the right. So if I need a pass blocker and the only 5 ⭐️s are power linemen, then I can’t sign them.
• Cannot recruit more than 1 ⭐️ above my school’s prestige
• As a 4-5 ⭐️ school, can only sign 5 ⭐️s if I’m initially in their top 10
• Cannot fully scout anyone
• Cannot add any 5 ⭐️ during season
• As a 5 ⭐️ school, cannot add any 4 ⭐️ during the season unless they have offers from other schools

There might be a couple more, but that’s the gist of it. Even with those, signing 9 5 ⭐️ is too many, so I’m trying to figure out how to restrict it even more. I could do hard caps on 5 ⭐️ and 4 ⭐️ recruits (likely a percent of my total schollies for the year, like 5 5 star for a 20 recruit class and only 4 5 ⭐️ for a 16-19 recruit class). But I’d rather get to the point where I can target anyone I want, but I won’t be able to sign too many great recruits (in my last class, I started with 11 5 ⭐️s and after week 2 cut bait on 2 and then signed every other recruit I went after).

These are some things I’m thinking of trying (in addition to all of my previous rules).

• Max number of hours per recruit (likely 60 instead of my current 75)
• Max number of hours per week (likely 1 prestige level lower than my school, I.e. 800 for a 5 ⭐️ school rather than the default 1000. If that’s too much than maybe half a ⭐️ less than my prestige, I.e. 900 as a 5 ⭐️ school)
• Minimum number of hours per offered recruit, maybe 25-30 per recruit. The idea is that I can’t max out time on contested recruits while spending only 5 hours on recruits with no other offers. This’d result in me able to spend fewer hours per contested recruits.
• Never signing assistant coaches with any recruiting points at all. I always target a motivator for OC and tactician for DC, but they sometimes have points in recruiting too.

I’m not sure what I’ll go with, but it’ll take some time to hone in on a better set of rules for me.

[DonkeyJote]

My house rule as Oregon is they have to either be already interested in me, or be from a city me or a family member has lived. I've got 6 5* recruits on my board this season

Sent from my Pixel 6 using Tapatalk

[jello1717]

Quote: Originally Posted by jello1717

I have the same issue of too good of recruiting classes @ Michigan, even with already pretty stringent rules in place. I’ve have 4, 6, 5, and 9 5⭐️ signings @ Michigan following 0 5 ⭐️ in 6 years @ ODU and Louisville. I’ve used the following rules so far: No over signing (can only sign enough to reach 85 players) Have to use the recommended tab Have to sign the correct tendencies based on my needs for my current roster. I.e. I only use pass blockers @ LT and LG, and non pass blockers on the right. So if I need a pass blocker and the only 5 ⭐️s are power linemen, then I can’t sign them. Cannot recruit more than 1 ⭐️ above my school’s prestige As a 4-5 ⭐️ school, can only sign 5 ⭐️s if I’m initially in their top 10 Cannot fully scout anyone Cannot add any 5 ⭐️ during season As a 5 ⭐️ school, cannot add any 4 ⭐️ during the season unless they have offers from other schools There might be a couple more, but that’s the gist of it. Even with those, signing 9 5 ⭐️ is too many, so I’m trying to figure out how to restrict it even more. I could do hard caps on 5 ⭐️ and 4 ⭐️ recruits (likely a percent of my total schollies for the year, like 5 5 star for a 20 recruit class and only 4 5 ⭐️ for a 16-19 recruit class). But I’d rather get to the point where I can target anyone I want, but I won’t be able to sign too many great recruits (in my last class, I started with 11 5 ⭐️s and after week 2 cut bait on 2 and then signed every other recruit I went after). These are some things I’m thinking of trying (in addition to all of my previous rules). Max number of hours per recruit (likely 60 instead of my current 75) Max number of hours per week (likely 1 prestige level lower than my school, I.e. 800 for a 5 ⭐️ school rather than the default 1000. If that’s too much than maybe half a ⭐️ less than my prestige, I.e. 900 as a 5 ⭐️ school) Minimum number of hours per offered recruit, maybe 25-30 per recruit. The idea is that I can’t max out time on contested recruits while spending only 5 hours on recruits with no other offers. This’d result in me able to spend fewer hours per contested recruits. Never signing assistant coaches with any recruiting points at all. I always target a motivator for OC and tactician for DC, but they sometimes have points in recruiting too. I’m not sure what I’ll go with, but it’ll take some time to hone in on a better set of rules for me.

I’ve decided to try out 2 new rules, (1)only 60 points/recruit and (2)weekly points as if 0.5 stars less prestige (so only spending 900 of my 1000 points as a 5 ⭐️ school).

I’m now gonna also not allow hard selling (or soft selling) as it’s even more OPed than I thought. With 60 points you can’t hard sell and still spend 60 points and can only do 55 (unless you sway and then hard and soft sell, which I wouldn’t do). So I tested if it’s better to spend 60 with sending the house, or only spend 55 but hard sell. I figured they’d be close, but hard selling was massively better, even with fewer total points spent.

I tested with 12 5⭐️ recruits and spent 60/week til they signed (no visits or anything). 8 of the 12 signed with other schools before I could sign them. I then reverted to my previous save and hard sold the recruit instead. This time, 5 of the 8 recruits that had signed elsewhere signed with me instead before they would’ve signed with other schools. And of the 4 kids that signed with me by sending the house, they signed an average of more than 2 weeks earlier by hard selling.

For me, that’s far too effective, so I’m not gonna allow hard selling anymore. Also, I’ve found that recruiting is much more difficult by only spending 60 per recruit and 900 total. I don’t know if it’ll be unrealistically hard, but I think it’s gonna be the sweet spot.

[sherrane]

Quote: Originally Posted by jello1717

I’ve decided to try out 2 new rules, (1)only 60 points/recruit and (2)weekly points as if 0.5 stars less prestige (so only spending 900 of my 1000 points as a 5 ⭐️ school). I’m now gonna also not allow hard selling (or soft selling) as it’s even more OPed than I thought. With 60 points you can’t hard sell and still spend 60 points and can only do 55 (unless you sway and then hard and soft sell, which I wouldn’t do). So I tested if it’s better to spend 60 with sending the house, or only spend 55 but hard sell. I figured they’d be close, but hard selling was massively better, even with fewer total points spent.

I have been noticing the same thing. Given a 60 point limit, I would follow the following strategy:

1. Start the recruit with Send The House + DM.
2. Once you have uncovered two checks, Sway the 2 checks with a good red X and add Friends and Family and Social Media
3. When Sway succeeds, Hard Sell your best and Soft Sell 2nd best.

Recruiting with a strategy like this has allowed me to sign top 5 classes with strong G5 schools. I started a new dynasty as HC of Kennesaw State after they fired Bohannon and my first recruiting class was ranked #44 with 50 weekly points per recruit. Sounds unimpressive until you realize they have 0 A grades (other than potentially Playing Time or Proximity to Home) and three B / B- grades. Academic Prestige, Athletic Facilities, Pro Potential, Program Tradition, and Stadium Atmosphere are D+ or lower. I had to sway a lot of the recruits in order to Hard or Soft sell them.

[dmacgreg37]

Haven't really used house rules for recruiting, but I have used them for injuries to add injuries to my team. It's been really successful thus far. Anyone else doing something like this?