I have an A+ prestige team in D3 and I am looking at pulling down a D2 recruit that is 10 miles away.  He is considering  a C+ D2 school over 400 miles away that only has 3 players on the roster and only has 4 players considering them.  FSS says that he is open to other offers.  I have one schollie and $5425 left.  Do I have a chance?  What is the best tactic for stealing this player?

As long as hes not a high priority you can get him for like 1000 dollars

how do you gauge priority?  FSS?

Nipps I have never found that to be the case at all. Not even close. Have I just been unlucky?

In general it's usually cost me about $4000 to knock a D2 team off a recruit.  By that point they usually realize I'm serious, and in most cases recruits that will talk to D3 schools aren't their highest priorities as D2 coaches.  Just enough to show them that you mean it.  You probably have enough to make a run at it.  Start him off with 8 or 10 scouting trips and a scholarship offer and try to get him considering you ASAP so you can start sending some HVs if you need them.

offered the schollie and 10 sv's.  He is now considering me along with the other school.  But the FSS now says he is definitely leaning towards playing for the other team.  Before it said he was open to other offers.  Have my chances of signing him become smaller?

yes....I would target someone else and keep him in your back pocket.   If the DII school doesn't sign him for awhile I would attack again.

how long is awhile?  a cycle or two?  I wish I had a good feeling about this situation.....

Either he was tighter with that school than you initially thought or, quite possibly, the coach of the D2 school saw somebody else show up on the considering list and put some more effort in.  If that's the case you probably aren't going to win him with the war chest you have available.  If they're willing to fight for the guy they're usually going to win (although I have beaten out D2 players for recruits from a D3 school, it's expensive; one time I had 2 at once and I very nearly got neither of them.  Ended up with both but with less than $10 left over.)  As long as he's still considering you you're in the same stratosphere.  So you could consider dumping all your money into him and hoping it works out.  But if there's anybody else you like available around you might consider changing course while you still can.  I wouldn't try to find any middle ground, though.  Either go all out or drop it.

The other school is a sim, so either a) the message changed because the recruit is considering two schools (likely, have you ever seen a 'open to offers' message when more than one school is on the considering list) or b) considering credit kicked in for the sim.  If I were you Area51man I would go full steam ahead.

I'm almost certain that hannibals first option is correct

Oh, somehow I missed that it was a sim.  That was in the thread title, I suppose, but in the opening post he said how far away the school way.  So I automatically assumed that was relevant information.  Silly me.  If it's a sim you can probably beat them.  No guarantees, but I like your odds.

Just threw 14 more SV's at him, leaving just enough to probably get my "plan B" player with 10 SV's and a schollie.  I don't like this feeling. I've put $3750 into him.  Wish i was confident enough to just throw the rest of my money at him, but I have never been in this situation before......

I'm gonna wait to see what the updated FSS says after this next cycle before I determine whether to go for the gusto or not....

since he's considering you, you can use HVs or CVs. They are more cost effective than evals...