Recruiting Tips and Pointers

Ok guys, going into our 4th season, I thought maybe we could dedicate a post to recruiting tips. I will give some advice, maybe others do things diff and wanna chime in.

I know we are are competitive, but share your knowledge. I wanna see more people in here pulling in the top recruits. In my other 2 ODs, the top 10 recruiting classes are always the users. Its not like that here. I know we started with a 3 star handicap, but by now we should be seeing better classes.

*For the most part, ignore "star" ratings. Yea it looks good to have 10 5-star recruits and few 3-4 stars, but the star ratings can lie. In general, sure follow them. But you need, you MUST, take time to look at the individual stat ratings.

For example, I will use a good one in another OD Im in. I had a need for a C. The #1 C, a 5 star, had me as their #1 right off the bat. The #5 C was a 4 star. The #1 C had decent ratings across the board, but had C+s and such in the key areas like Run Block footwork, pass blocking, etc. He was strong with a A- and quick, but lacked hte blocking skills.

But the 4star C had Bs and B+s in those areas, and I only had to sacrifice the speed and such a little bit. I actually signed both, and when the ratings came out after recruiting was over, the 4 star C was a 83, the 5 star C was an 80. See what I mean?


It took me several offseasons to finally really pay attention to the detail there. It can be a big diff. A WR might have A- speed and A+ agility, but if his catch is D+ and his release is D-, he isnt gonna be great.



*Another thing I see happening here, some of you guys dont take risks. See a 5 star stud you can use? Recruit him! Dont just assume because they didnt start with a green circle (aka interest in you) that you cant gain it. Some of my best recruits ceom from ZERO interest the 1st and 2nd week, but if I offer them scholly and they are high, very high, or Most in some of my A or B+ categories, I stay on them and they gain interest.

That said, after 3 or 4 weeks in, if I have been spending alot of time trying to get them to come and they are still "N/A", then yea Ill pull the plug and move on. But you wont know until you try.

Im not saying try to get every single 5 star out there. But if you see some need positions at 5 star, and/or some 5 stars from your home state, dont worry about hte "N/A", go for it


*Negative recruiting - I dont use it. Ever. I have tried, and got nowhere with it. Maybe I suck. maybe it works for other people. It dont for me so I ignore it and chalk it up to a good idea EA come up with, but as usual they fail to implement it properly.


*Note what your schools presige rating is and shoot for that type of recruits. If youa re a 5 or 6 star school, you shouldnt be settling for 3 stars except when there is no other choice and only then late in the season. Hell I have recruited 5 star players to come to 1 and 2 star schools before, why should a 5 star school be signing all 3star players?


*Find the 3 pitches that are Very High or Most, or even High sometimes, that coorelates with your team where htey have B+ or higher, and stop opening up more. Just beat the shit out of those 3. You need 3 for the visits, thats it.


Thats all I can think of right now, Ill post more if I come up with other stuff

Feel free to chime in

Yes i agree with alot of what your saying...i definitely learned that the hard way about player ratings...to me the biggest difference between 4* and 5* guys is the player development...like my DE coleman was a 3* and a 79 rating...you never saw that in old NCAA's...i base my targeting strictly on player skills I have a few 3* guys on the board for depth but my main crop is 4* and a few 5* guys I'm targeting...something I generally do is wait til week 2 or 3 and guys that don't have offers I go through and see which ones would best fit my school...like I got a 3* guy who's go A speed and is 6'5 with decent catch in traffic ability...but you can recruit a guy with a lot of speed and no catching skills just as a return specialist if you want lol..but i would say go by stats... here's what i look for at the main positions:

QB- accuracy and arm strength..and regular strength to break through sacks lol
HB- speed, running skills (juke, spin ,etc) and carrying lol
FB-Blocking and Breaking tackles
WR/ TE- Catching in traffic. speed and catching
OL- Block ratings and footwork
DL- Speed, strength, and block shedding
LB- Awareness, speed, tackling
CB's- Speed, coverage, and agility
S- Speed, tackling, zone coverage
ST- Foot strength

Just a main idea of how I look at things...I'm not always looking for 5* guys cuz its easier to get 4*'s lol

im up dumb early so ill chime in. Ok so one thing i have noticed major about 4 star n 5 star guys is the way they progress. Now i dont kno if that progression patch has fixed it so their progression is based more on what they did in the season. but before that the major difference was a 3 star guy is never going to be a 99 even if he comes in higher than ur 4 or 5 star he is still a 3 star n he will peak out. wher a 5 star may come in lower but he will progress. i do believe their is a cap to how well a 3 star can be. 4 and 5 star guys same i believe 4 star guys can get to 99 if they play really well n stay 5 years. again non of this is exact its just like real life u are going to have ur 5 stars that buss and ur 4 stars that shine but its a probability factor and ur less likely to get a bust in a 5 star. U do have to pay attention to the details but a 6 ' 7 wr that can jump is gonna be a problem ne way u slice it or 250 rb that runs a 4.4 is a beast how do u tackle him. Also u cant coach speed. and in this years edition of the game a 4.3 guy is rare. u take those no matter what because u can find use for them somewhere. i had a 3 star 4.3 te n he was great despite his ratings (btw i think as a senior he was only a 90 n he won the te of the year 3 times in a row*supports my star theory*) he was a beast. a 4.5 or 4.6 running lb absolutely can not cover him streaking down the field or running a drag across the field, speed wins that battle every time. So its important to kno ur play style n recruit based on that. Their is a reason there is so many kids on that board. recruit to ur strengths.

The actual progress and calling... i agree with clark negative recruiting doesnt work. poorly implemented. how do u down talk alabama they have a's every where dont waste ur time. also basic stuff but where they are on ur recruiting board matter inna big way. a 5 star doesnt like being number 15 on ur board behind a 4 star kid who has more interest. if u notice majority of ur top 15 will gain interest as LONG as U CALL. n then that 23 guy will only gain interest IF u CALL. Early out target what u really need and want n put on ur board in that order. move guys around as u see ones more interested small stuff but it helps in landing those big recruits. got a kid thats interested but softs some where else and ur number 2. dont give up move him to the top of ur board and go hard. if u can fight off the hard commit till off season u maybe able to get him with promises. i wont give away all my secrets so here is my last one. when calling a recruit its easy to tell what they like n dont like. there is 2 ways to go about it if u call n hard pitch blindly.. it saves time but if u hard pitch something bad then that face gets angry real fast... in my expierencnce find pitch pisses kids off if u go at it for too long but either way u do it u can tell. if u find pitch n get a +7 its high, very high, or most. if u get +5 its above avg or high. if u get +3 its avg or worst if u get negative then u kno its bad. and if you are hard pitching same science the numbers telll u 18+ is very high or most +15 is high of very high + 13or +12 is high or above average so on an so forth. now this isnt 100% its like 97% sometimes u will hard sell a kid n see 15 then it shows most n jumps to 18. the game trys to keep u honest but the basis for this stratagey works just be smart high numbers good low numbers bad. and im out i tell u ne more n u will take my kids from me

Good Luck

Ya see, I forgot to even mention ranking them on your board. It helps.

And they DID fix progression, but I dont know if they did in respect to what star progresses faster. I never paid attention to what star went up more. But they did make it so that not so many guys go up 4-6 pts anymore. In my other OD, the first training gains I have done since that patch, most of my guys went up 2-3 pts. You wont end up with 10-15 players over 90 anymore unless you just have sick recruiting classes

Also, make sure you check out Athletes. They get overlooked alot because they dont show up as needs, but you can get some gems. Look at their ratings. They are usually just a WR/HB/QB/CB in disguise by listing them as "ATH". Fill a need with them

Sometimes you can get a guy thats a true "ATH" and can play multiple positions. Here is the best example I have seen, and it happened this week in my other OD

A #1 ATH was added in the offseason, 5 stars. All the users ignored him, so I checked out his ratings. He had like a B+ in speed, A- in run blocking, B in agility, etc. Im like, wow that could be a hella FB. SO I signed him and bragged about it. The other 11 guys didnt even notice him and they were all pissed they missed him he was so beast.

When it came to position changes, he could be a 84 FB, 82 TE, 79 OL, or a 81 C. Now THAT's a true athlete. I made him a FB since usually the best that comes in are 3 stars.

But Id like to see more ATH be able to be a CB/QB hybrid like real life and you can choose where to put him and maybe even change it base don need year to year. Or a LB/SS hybrid, WR/CB, etc.

I have a TE/QB hybrid on my team now...quite funny actually

I think EA did a great job with recruiting this year. Disguising some of the countries best preps in 3* and 4* ratings is the best idea they had in the entire game this year. I personally love recruiting and can't get enough of it. It's great to progress a team for a couple years and eventually see the rank of the recruits interested in your school increase. Personally I'm looking forward to the calibre of guys interested in OK State this year coming up going from a 4* school to a 5* school.

Everybodies made fine points and I've found that you must use your 35 recruit slots WISELY! Obviously you keep your 5* guys near the top of the list and you mix your projection 3*/4* playmakers throughout the 5-20 spot. What I do on a week to week basis is change my recruiting board order to get more interest from guys you've called that week. I've had great results that sometimes end up in a next-week signing the minute you say something to them.

If you're not intending on calling somebody, move them down the list or just move somebody you do intend on calling up. You're going to generate more interest out of them the higher they are on your Recruiting Board.

A way I've found sucessful in this years edition is also keeping track of who else is recruiting that player. Obviously if you're the kids #1 with nearly a full bar and his #2 is barely at half... you won't NEED to call him that week. Don't let him slip! Just use your time WISELY! You only get 10 hours a week and that's plenty of time to generate interest from 10+ players. If you're big on a kid and you see somebody creeping up especially a user because they're obviously much better at recruiting than the CPU, keep him high on your list and KEEP calling. Keep his bar full and you shouldn't lose him.

Another thing I've noticed that's been mentioned is speed KILLS. This game is all about speed and for your skilled positions (HB, WR, TE, LB, CB, S) this is by far the most important element of their game. So many times I've seen crazy unrealistic looking animations and watch the back of a WR streaking down the sideline with the ball to go to their depth chart and see that he's a 95+ speed. This game rewards speed and you can never get enough of it from the Linebacker position. Sure you're recruit may not start out with a crazy rediculous ammount of hit power or even tackling ability, but if he's got speed he'll get to the ball carrier faster than a guy with average speed and good tackling ability would. If anybodies also noticed tackling ratings are by far the most increased stat throughout the season for linebackers.

That's about it for now! Good luck and don't steal my recruits!