This is the first time I've ever had this happen (also my first time recruiting at D1-A)..I sent out some AC scouts and the message I get back is simply a message from the player describing something good about himself, not a message from the scout describing his potential. Is this new? Or just something that occurs at D1-A? And is there any way to discover their potential?

It happens at D1 and I don't know why.  Use a HC scout to find potential.

You're getting the self-scout from a player, and it happens at all levels, not just D1A; it's also been around for quite some time.  It occurs when the player you're looking at is on the low end of either your vision (in all levels except D1A), or his abilities aren't quite where the SIM thinks they should be for a given level.

If the player mentions upside, he's above average potential, with a slight chance of being Sky's the Limit (you'll need an HC scout to know for sure if he's STL).

If the player says his motor never stops running or he gives 110%, he has average potential.

If the player mentions reaching or nearly reaching his potential in high school, he's below average with a slight chance of being tapped out (again, you'll need an HC scout to know for sure).

You only get it when the prospect is already interested in your school (green or yellow). If he's not yet interested (red or undecided), you won't see it.

Posted by scrodz on 2/1/2013 1:30:00 PM (view original):
You only get it when the prospect is already interested in your school (green or yellow). If he's not yet interested (red or undecided), you won't see it.

Not true. I get it for recruits that are still red for me after the recruiting cycle has completed and the messages sent (e.g., only the AC scout went through, none of the visits were accepted) or late in recruiting, when I'm low on cash, I'll send an AC scout to an undecided recruit and get back the self scout message even though he remains undecided.

mgm, I know you've got a lot more games under your belt than I do, but I've personally never received a recruit response if the recruit wasn't interested in my school, and I've never received an AC response about any recruit that was interested in my school. I tend to send out 50 or so "just fishing" AC phone calls at the start of recruiting every season, so I'm looking at a minimum of 10 or so recruit responses every season on the ones that went green from the phone call. I won't say that there are no other circumstances that would give a recruit response, but IMHO if you send an AC scout to a recruit that's already yellow or green, you'll get a recruit response back.

I seem to always get a response from recruits. I ONLY do AC scouts at DIA and they respond every time; green, yellow, undecided or red.

As mgm said sometimes it doesn't say; "good trip to see x" or "scouting trip" or "x is worth pursuing" sometimes you have to look for one from the player that says things like "thanks!" or "I saw you in the stands" and then look for the key phrases that mgm stated above 

Posted by mgm0461 on 2/1/2013 2:07:00 PM (view original):

Posted by scrodz on 2/1/2013 1:30:00 PM (view original):
You only get it when the prospect is already interested in your school (green or yellow). If he's not yet interested (red or undecided), you won't see it.

Not true. I get it for recruits that are still red for me after the recruiting cycle has completed and the messages sent (e.g., only the AC scout went through, none of the visits were accepted) or late in recruiting, when I'm low on cash, I'll send an AC scout to an undecided recruit and get back the self scout message even though he remains undecided.

I've had the same experiences as mgm ...

Posted by vatech on 2/1/2013 4:48:00 PM (view original):

Posted by mgm0461 on 2/1/2013 2:07:00 PM (view original):

Posted by scrodz on 2/1/2013 1:30:00 PM (view original):
You only get it when the prospect is already interested in your school (green or yellow). If he's not yet interested (red or undecided), you won't see it.

Not true. I get it for recruits that are still red for me after the recruiting cycle has completed and the messages sent (e.g., only the AC scout went through, none of the visits were accepted) or late in recruiting, when I'm low on cash, I'll send an AC scout to an undecided recruit and get back the self scout message even though he remains undecided.

I've had the same experiences as mgm ...

+1

I'm not certain in all cases, but in several instances for me, it turned out to be a player that was one of the computer generated AC scouts during the season, so even though we don't get an actual scouting report during the season, the scout has already been there, so the recruit responds as though it's a second visit.  Again, don't know about everytime, but it has certainly happened that way on a handful of occassions for me.