First of let me state, I understand there is a lot more that goes into recruiting than just prestige. However, recently I had a really tough recruiting experience, where I suppose I underestimated how much the prestige advantage really was. I have never personally recruited with a prestige higher than a 'B', so I don't know first hand on really how powerful it is. I have an A- at my Texas Tech team now and it will be interesting to see how my upcoming recruiting goes with this team.

But my experience recently was with my Boise St team which was a B- prestige, I have Washington St. who is an A+ prestige currently always taking the top Idaho recruits, and I can't blame him, there's not a lot of competition for them and clearly I can't fight back. I saw him on 4 or 5 top recruits, including an international player, so I assumed he was spread too thin to go all in on every single player, but even after spending max effort and 500+ AP's, I couldn't even get past moderate, I've never before gone all-in before and at least didn't get a dice roll, regardless if it's 25%, it's a chance.

I understand it's not the best idea for a B- to go against an A+ but at some point in order to get over the hump, you can't let them take all the good recruits, and again nothing against the coach, I would do the same thing, but I was just shocked at the outcome.

Long story short I guess is how does everyone else rank prestige and how much advantage does it really have, so I can pick my spots better in the future.

I rarely battle a team that is more than a full letter grade or more above me. Sometime if i know they have spent their money elsewhere you can sneak up on a prestige a couple letter grades above you. A+ teams are a different breed though. I hover at A- a lot and rarely beat an A+ because i once went all in on a guy and lost to an A+ because i was pushed to moderate. I had well over 800 ap on the guy and lost out on the roll. It changed how i recruited moving fwd.

Hey Rowle,
Wash State probably didn't need too much effort toward the International to get to Very High.
And A+ can just obliterate B prestige schools if they choose to.

I think the only scenario where i'd feel ok challenging an A+ is if it was late in Recruiting Session One and the A+ school had only one opening remaining... reminds me of the Phelan WCC at SF going against UCLA in certain scenarios.

The bottom line is.. If you can get to High then you have a fighting chance. At moderate or below you can forget about it.

If you have the money to spare then go for it.

I save my money for visits and my promises and try to only use either if I am challenged or really really want someone and enter a battle. But I rarely go all in against someone who is an A+ if I am one full letter grade below them IF they have more than 1 opening.

But I have won and lost very close battles against even a lower division team when I am an A+

But the end dice roll is a big equalizer if you can just get to High.

Preferences matter A LOT in these scenarios. I’ve beaten out A+++ UCLA as a C- school for a stud 5* recruit because my preferences lines up far better. The more preferences there are, the less prestige matters. In other words, I think of it as a pie. If the recruit has 0 preferences, then all that matters is prestige. If they have 3 preferences, then prestige is 1/4 of the equation (I’m oversimplifying, obviously, but the analogy remains the same).

It also depends on how high the A+ is, but 1 2/3 grade advantage is usually too high to bank on getting in, unless you have a preference advantage somewhere (especially wants rebuild or distance). At 1 1/3, so if WSU was just flat A, or if you were at B, and you didn’t have a preference disadvantage, I think generally you could count on at least getting in on the roll. 1 2/3 is pretty close to the cusp. I used to think it was a solid 2, but especially at or close to A+, it’s safer to assume it’s 1 2/3.

In Allen, I just won a roll against A+ Minnesota (2 championships in last 5 seasons?) with Georgia Tech (current B prestige). But I'm guessing that preferences were pretty even and I had a huge AP lead. I had over 1k AP on the recruit and he signed early. Despite the massive AP investment plus a 25-minute promise, it was a 50-50 roll and I got lucky.

Basically, if you want to commit to that type of battle, you better bring it. And since I spent so many resources on 1 player, I was forced to find 2 other guys that were free but probably not starter quality.

Posted by darnoc29099 on 1/6/2021 10:00:00 AM (view original):
Preferences matter A LOT in these scenarios. I’ve beaten out A+++ UCLA as a C- school for a stud 5* recruit because my preferences lines up far better. The more preferences there are, the less prestige matters. In other words, I think of it as a pie. If the recruit has 0 preferences, then all that matters is prestige. If they have 3 preferences, then prestige is 1/4 of the equation (I’m oversimplifying, obviously, but the analogy remains the same).

I agree with the overall premise about how preferences affect the equation, but I look at how the pie is divided a little bit differently. I think overall, prestige holds about the same weight, proportionally (obviously if there are NO preferences, it’s a different story). The key thing to note in my thinking is that the more preferences there are, the less any one matters within the preference profile. So If a player has a single preference, and it’s for a rebuild, UCLA is in big trouble. But if a player wants rebuild, but also has 4 other preferences that line up well (or even just neutral, relatively) for A+++ UCLA versus the C- school, prestige is back to pretty dominant. That’s been my anecdotal experience, anyway.

Don't be afraid if you're green on 4 preferences. B can beat out an A occasionally. All you have to do is get to "High" to have a chance. Not much more you can ask for.

Just as I've said in the past.... it's the A+ teams' world. The rest of us are just in it.

A+ can be deadly. There's not a lot of times that an A+ team with a smart coach will have bad preferences on their choice of targets. They've had success, they are a long term coach, etc. If they choose to go after players that are a bad preference match, that's where they can be exposed, if YOU are in the right situation (meaning good preferences, lots of AP, etc).

From D1 C+ down to D3 D-, i don't think prestige is near as strong. From D1 A- to D1 B- it seems to pull some weight. Anything above that in D1 is strong.