ive had a guy ive been having an eye on for dropdown...  so far iv just been calling him and getting poor responses... do i need to be scouting him as well? or will phone calls consistently notify me if he drops down

What do you mean by getting poor responses?  If he's telling you he's not recruitable then he will never drop down and you're wasting your time and money.  I find it easier to call the coach, they give clearer responses.  If you get a response along the lines of "___ thinks he can play at a higher level than your school, and so do I" then don't spend another dollar on the guy.  If you get a message about being a backup option, then its game on.

As long as you give his coach at least one call (I would assume its the same for a player phone call too), you will automatically get a call from the player if/when he "drops down".  No need to continue to call the player/coach.  If you want to pull the recruit down you need to be 100% sure that he is able to drop down to you.  If there is any uncertainty, then give his coach a call like I mentioned above to make sure you're not wasting your money.  I always send 10 scouting visits when trying to pull down a recruit.  If that doesn't get him to consider you then give him another 5-10 next cycle, and repeat as necessary.

Negative? As he's telling you you have no shot? OR...Is he telling you that he'll consider you if his plan "A" falls through he'll give you a shot?

Even one phone call will be enough. You should get a message from him whenever he drops. But, to be on the safe side, double-check it by looking at your available players.

If you poor response, you mean insulting, you have no chance for him. But, if you get messages with words like "backup", "if others fall through", etc. then there's hope for you

If you are planning on waiting for him to drop DO NOT send Scouting Reports. I once spent thousands on a guy that i wanted to drop. He eventually considered a DI school...and i was SOL.

So would it be a good idea to call SEVERAL d2 guys who would potentially drop down... and call him and their coach once  & play the waiting game after that?

Posted by zbolton1 on 6/3/2013 8:18:00 PM (view original):
So would it be a good idea to call SEVERAL d2 guys who would potentially drop down... and call him and their coach once  & play the waiting game after that?

Oh yeah absolutely, although you only need to call the player or the coach (not both).  Don't be afraid to call a bunch of recruits (I usually have a list of 20ish), the cost is almost negligible and its best to keep your options open.  After you figure out which recruits can actually drop to you, pick your favorites (depending on how many open scholarships you have) and target them.  You can either try to pull them down with scouting visits, or wait to see if they drop to you on their own.  If you wait someone else could jump on the recruit first though, so if you really like a player I would recommend trying to pull them down instead of waiting.

thanks... i only have 1 spot open and a chunk of change to deal with... so i'm looking for a pulldown who i can try and redshirt

here's a guide a buddy of mine put together regarding pull/drop downs...

Posted by dacj501 on 6/3/2013 9:15:00 PM (view original):
here's a guide a buddy of mine put together regarding pull/drop downs...

+1

Posted by dacj501 on 6/3/2013 9:15:00 PM (view original):
here's a guide a buddy of mine put together regarding pull/drop downs...

Man, I need to update that :)

As for "sowing the field" with phone calls for later drops, I do this in 2 parts.  Part 1 contacts the D1 (or D2 if you're a D3 coach) players within the 360 miles where the cost break ramps up.  I have taken to always calling the coach as the players may not always answer. 

Then I wait a day or two until some of the recruiting smoke has settled, search for D1 recruits who are still Undecided and send my second wave of phone calls, regardless of distance.  If they drop, you can send HVs to those long distance players for $7-800 or so per visit, and if it's late enough in the cycle it only takes 1 or 2 + an offer to get them to pop.

Getting those 500-1,000 mi+ recruits to drop to you really helps fill the available pool of targets.

My D2 team also discovered a pretty good drop down just before signings this past week - he was a D1 transfer from Gonzaga with solid ATH/DEF/LP and I got him for a total expenditure of about $2500 for 6 HVs.  Had I not done regular new searches all through the recruiting process I'd never have seen him.

right now i'm battling with somebody in my conference over a d2 recruit who has dropped to both of us..