Baseline prestige is ok- it just needs to have less of an impact. As a mid-major coach, I like the idea of being at a slight disadvantage to the big boys. I understand that if I wantt a higher baseline prestige, I should go to the big 6.... my prestige is a low A- this year (4 nt's, lossed in championship game in most recent year). I'd be happy if it were a low A.
I like potential- don't enjoy that practice plans are worthless- think FSS is interesting, but certainly think it's consequence on recruiting has probably been to localize recruiting even more than before. I might keep potential, lose FSS, and allow coaches to choose which attributes to focus on in evaluations in order to get the information. Then I'd make low 10pt gain, med 20 pt gain, high 30 pt gain.
As for recruiting- if I could do anything, I would turn it into a probability game. Instead of having a definitive winner, you'd have teams competing for the chance of signing a player. If three teams tried to sign a player, UNC might have an 60% chance of signing a player, Duke 30%, and Davidson 10%. Then you put the player into a hat, and he signs based on those predetermined %'s. The more recruiting effort (and higher prestige), the better chance of signing the player. If you had 3 signing periods (say, day 1, day 2, and day 3) in which different recruits promised to sign with a team, you'd have alot of strategy, and you'd give bad teams a chance to sign real studs, while keeping most of the studs with the traditional powers.