DISCLAIMER: i dont expect a change like this to ever happen on HD, so spare me.
Picture this:
You begin recruiting by not being able to view ANY ratings for potential recruits. All you can see, to begin with, are height/weight and their stats (along with rank, projected level, eligibility, etc.)
FSS is free and gives a recruiting grade for each player: A, B, C etc. for each projected level (so the top d3-projected players get A's while the bottom d1-projected get D's or F's.) Paying for the relatively cheap 'special coverage' FSS incorporates pluses and minuses for each grade. A+, B-, etc.
When you scout a player, you can choose 4 attributes to scout. The first time you scout an attribute, you learn the player's rating--the second time, the player's potential (low-med-high). The third, a more specific potential (within 5 points of his cap).
You are limited to one scouting trip per high school per cycle (for the oft-chance that two prospects play for the same school, you can scout 3 attributes for one player and 1 for the other, etc.) PER SCOUT/COACH. i will elaborate on this last bit in a second.
The number of scouting moves you make per cycle run as if you were an actual person traveling around the country scouting players. Traveling between schools to scout players would take up time, as would scouting trips/home visits, and you have a limited amount of time per cycle. School with larger budgets obviously can more easily afford plane tickets to save time.
You are limited to one home visit per player per cycle. You can decide when during a cycle you want to call a player or offer minutes/starts in relation to the other actions (however your actions occur independently of other coaches' movements, so they all run quickly at the beginning of each cycle). sending materials happens at the beginning of each cycle, obviously independent of your movements. sending more than one package per cycle has an immediate diminishing return (as it logically would). campus visits require you (or an assistant coach) to be at your school to conduct a tour; the more coaches there, the better.
As the head coach, you set your own travel plans, but you also set the travel plans of 1-3 scouts and 1-3 head coaches (1 scout 1 assistant coach for d3, 2 each for d2, 3 each for d3). scouts can get you 6 attributes when they scout a game, assistant coaches 4 attributes but can also visit players, make phone calls and host campus visits. you, as head coach scout 4 attributes and give a 2x bonus consideration credit when you perform an action compared to your scouts or assistant coaches. you are also the only one who can guarantee minutes or a start.
winning a recruit wouldn't be so much an auction but would depend on persistence in pursuing a player and the player's preferences (since, if two coaches visit the same guy once a cycle and put the max into him, he will choose the school with higher prestige or his favorite school etc.)
obviously, this system would require an interactive map and probably the ability to plan recruiting trips ahead of time.
while we'd probably have an NBA/all-sports-in-the-world-including-crossover-athletes dynasty before a recruiting re-vamp such as this, i really believe this is how the game was "meant" to be played
...thoughts???