A Review of Recruiting NCAA 13

[jobalo85]

Hi Gents and maybe the occasional lady,

As recently as yesterday, I completed a 3-year Sim of two Dynasties using BYU and Texas St. I DID NOT play any of the games, but simply just advanced week-to-week doing in-season recruiting and scouting. I did NOT do offseason recruiting. The objective was to try and find new trends in the system, especially regarding the 'Gems' and 'Busts' that have been incorporated into the equation. To be clear, this is not a guide, just simply my observations in recruiting with these two programs and the strategies I found interesting or useful.

First off, I wanted to do two Sims to get a broader idea of results. Both dynasties were set to All-American recruiting. I chose the same difficulty for both, because I wanted to see the difference between a 4-star program in BYU and 1-star program in Texas State. Once again, I won't be doing a detailed play-by-play of events, just a summary of what might help OS users here that may have some questions or inquiries.

Pre-Season Recruiting

As many of you have probably already figured out, most players aren't just initially interested in programs anymore. Most recruits actually only have top 3 schools and a bunch of question marks for schools they will consider after this Pre-season Recruiting period. I find this very refreshing, as this caters to a more realistic recruiting approach instead of a player just having a top 10 list of schools without offers and no way for programs to work into the list. In Pre-Season Recruiting, our goal is to complete a 'target' list of players using your Recruiting Board and then focus on scouting them.

Filling the Recruiting Board

BYU Seasons: Being a 4-Star program, I first searched for 3-star prospects and above, in any state that I was in their top 5 schools. Usually, there would be anywhere from 12-26 matches with about 8-10 that I was 1st on their list. Generally, there were only 2-3 4-Star prospects that I was either 1st or 2nd on their list. I immediately add the 4-star prospects regardless of needs because I want the best players I can get down the road. I then add any 3-star prospects that are top of the line OR have good peripheral stats that are provided, such as 40 Time and Bench Press. The objective here since your team should be full of 3-stars or better is to find those 3-star prospects that are 'Gems.' Doing this, I fill the recruiting board with another 6-10 prospects that I am most likely 1st on their list.

Now that we have a list of 8-12 prospects that are actually interested in us, it's time to fill the rest of the board. My next step was to search for 3-star or better prospects in my pipeline which gave me 100+ results every time. This is where you the User needs to make a decision how you'll recruit...go for the best prospects according to stars or try to weed out the 'Gems' and 'Busts' among 3-star prospects. I did both of course, but for a non-trial basis, I would suggest going for one or the other. At this time I target any 4-stars and 3-stars that are only interested in one or two schools and are in my pipeline (for newbies, you get extra points for prospects in your pipeline). Once again, I look at those peripheral stats because I don't want to find busts...WR, CB, HB, S all 40-times. DE, T, DT, G etc. I look at Bench Press and so on. I generally fill my board to either 24 or 30 players because you get 20 hours of scout time in Pre-Season Recruiting and depending on how big you want your class to be. When 24 players are on your board, which is what I prefer...you get 50 min of scout time per prospect. With 30 on your board, you get 40 min of scout time per prospect.

When Scouting, it also worth noting that you don't have to put as much time to T, G, and C's as they barely have many peripheral stats worth scouting...on the other hand, if you want ATHs, you have to spend a couple of hours total throughout recruiting to find out what they really are as you have to scout EVERY attribute a player has.

So, now we generally have a Board of 24 or 30 players, time to scout the appropriate amount between prospects (24 Prospects = 50 Min per, 30 = 40 Min per).

Texas State Seasons: Now with Texas State, most of the same criteria applies except you will be going after all 3-stars for the most part. I might have been lucky with Texas State as I have TX as my pipeline. I was able to target around 18-20 3-star prospects despite being a 1-star program and went after 2-stars that I was 1st on their list to fill needs. Once again, the peripheral stats should help a bit and try to look for those possible 'Gems' using 40-time, bench press, shuffle, etc.

One thing I did look for and tended to use was targeting 3-star prospects that only had one school on their list and that school was big time like Ohio St, USC, Oklahoma, etc. Those schools won’t even focus on the 3-stars until late in the season so Users can scoop them before they even try.

I did try to go for a 4-star or two during my tenure, but failed every time. So if you don't like wasting valuable scouting and recruiting minutes, I don't advise it.

Personally, It is realistic for 1-star programs to get 3-stars in real life...see Kent State, EMU, or even UMass' recruiting classes according to Rivals. They get them a lot.

Recruiting Week 1

Week 1 is the most important week in Recruiting. This is where you as the Coach/Coordinator get to make the decisions that set-up the rest of your recruiting for the season. First and foremost, I cut my Recruiting Board to 20 players...no matter what. Nothing is worse than wasting valuable call hours on players that either aren't worth it or are never going to commit.

BYU Seasons: First, get rid of any Recruit that just isn't cutting it after Scouting. If any 4 or 3-star recruit has fallen 3 or more OVR points during scouting, they are on there way to being a bust most likely or just not worth being on your team. I usually had 24 on my board so I usually can cut to 20 using simply this.

If you use a Board of 30, then the next step would be to look at any recruits you didn't get in the top 5...their the next to go...if your not top 5, your on the outside looking in. Tough luck if you liked some of those guys, but you don't want to waste time down the line.

Scout as you please using your 3 hours of scout time...I like to devote more time to the ATHs to see what they really are then work down the line trying to get more players scouted and hopefully more advancement in the OVR Rating. Usually you should have a good 3-4 guys that might be +4 or +5 and it's looking promising that they are 'Gems.'

In Week 1, I give every recruit 30 minutes. BYU doesn't have excellent grades in recruiting categories so 30 usually gets things rolling at least in week 1 only and I get to hit all 20 guys I'm going after. I offer a scholarship to everyone I'm 1st on their list. Nothing is better than the feeling of Insta-Commits right? Well I averaged 3 per season doing this...it felt good! Everyone else which you are 2nd or worse is up to you, some people offer Scholarships right away to grab that 1st place slot and try to hold on...but I prefer to let it ride a little bit and try to grab that 1st place using my pitches for more hopes of an Insta-commit later.

The 4-stars are the ones you want to be careful with as interest on them can pick up real quick. At the end of Week 1, you should have your best two pitches unlocked and possibly a scholarship offer.

Texas State Seasons: Same as above, except focusing on the 3-Stars. You shouldn’t find much resistance with the 3-stars as the bigger teams don’t concentrate on them until later. Your whole goal should be to gain their interest and a commitment before the big teams dive down into those ranks to get them. It has been my experience that the 3-star ‘Gems’ I find usually end up better than the 4-stars I am recruiting especially with the lower in-coming freshman ratings. This essentially means Texas State can contend quicker in the ratings game a lot faster than previous games!

Week 2 Recruiting: and Rinse and Repeat

Now that all the Week 1 hiatus has calmed down, I’ll post this representing both Texas State and BYU. The remaining time and weeks is used gaining prospect ground, securing visits, getting commitments. With both Texas State and BYU, I generally used 30-40 minutes per recruit as that was all that was needed to keep or gain the 1^st spot on most guys. If I needed more or was in contention, I dropped a 3-star that I was 1^st to like 20 or 10 min and allocated more to the prospect I really wanted or contending to get.

If you fall out with someone, usually there is another 3-star you could go get that wasn’t being recruited in the Recruit Search. That’s where the extra 3 hours Scouting comes in handy, to get any new guys. This happened actually more often with BYU than it did at Texas State. The Texas State 3-star prospects I selected were of the lower ranked variety so they weren’t targeted almost at all sometimes by contending schools.

Just keep repeating giving the allotted time to recruits and hopefully you’ll eventually get there. Continue to do this throughout the season and you should be successful. Every in-season recruiting, I ended up with 16-18 recruits, mostly 3-stars in both Seasons with an average OVR Rating of 67.6. With only 70 roster spots that’s 64 Recruits in a 4-year span at 16 per season. I personally think I did pretty well, but I have nothing on the forums to compare to quite yet.

Other OP Notes

Visits – Same as previous years, get them in as QUICKLY as possible, preferably a rivalry game or top 25 game for more excitement. Give them 3 pitches and a good grade and everything will be good!

Promises – If I was contending bigger schools, I ALWAYS promised No Redshirt or Game in their Home State for extra points. They’re very easy to keep track of and accomplish especially if they are pipeline states.

Off-sesaon Recruiting – I did nothing in Off-season recruiting so if that has changed, I missed out on it. I was solely focusing on in-season recruiting.

Best Recruit – 3-Star #89 OLB – 63 OVR (pre-scouted), became a 76 OVR (100% Scouted ‘Gem’)

Obviously things may be a lot more exciting and hectic with a big time program going after the best of the best. Perhaps I’ll do some experimenting with that next…but as it stands A LOT of 4-stars went down in OVR compared to the amount of 3-stars that increased in OVR. I never did get a 5-star with BYU, but they too went down in OVR more than they went up (if even ever, don’t remember). I hope this might help a few people, I wanted to share before I take Sunday off from the game…this was just my strategy and there might be better ones out there, I’m willing to learn too ;-)

[OnWisconsin]

Solid Guide. I'll link to this on the Recruiting 101 thread as well.
http://www.operationsports.com/forum...ing-101-a.html

[steveANARCHY]

one thing i like to do is focus on a state. (e.g. FL, CA, LA, GA) until i get that as a pipeline, to gain interest fast is to promise a game in the home state, the thing about this promise is, you do NOT have to play a game in that recruits the next year, just b4 the player leaves school. someone confirm this? so once you have the players from say FL just schedule a game the next year and promise fulfilled.

[cl34v4g3]

One thing I've been watching for is this-

Since I'm lowly 2* Southern Miss, its hard to get even some of the more decent three stars interested. So I look for some four/five stars that may turn in to busts.. Since they're busts, some of the larger schools will lose interest, and I can swoop in and get them. Example- The best three star recruit Center I could get even halfway interested in me was a 66 who turned out to have +5. So he's a 71. I found a low end five star who started as a 82 and ended up as a -7 bust, leaving him as a 75. I'm currently in third for him at -80. Bama is no 2 at -80, and Boise is number one. And this kid isn't even in a pipeline for me.

[UTLUNIS]

Quote: Originally Posted by OnWisconsin

Solid Guide. I'll link to this on the Recruiting 101 thread as well. http://www.operationsports.com/forum...ing-101-a.html

I really feel strongly that I posted a good recruiting guide on page 9 of the Recruiting 101 thread. If anyone wants to add it to the list of guides on recruiting I'd be honored.

Resume:
Umass Year 1: #18 Class.
Umass Year 2: #17 Class.

Recruiting is too easy IMHO.