Not sure I've ever seen this asked/talked about, but I'm sure one of the wise minds among us (or, barring that, one of the ancient bearded ones sitting high atop a mountain of national titles) has the answer, or at the very least an opinion: 

1. What are the various FSS Word on the Street message levels when a player is considering multiple schools? I think I've seen:

-- Player is having a hard time deciding between School X and School Y. 
-- Sources indicate  Player is leaning toward School X. School Y (and sometimes School Z) also in the running.
-- Player is definitely leaning toward School X.

And then, although I've never seen it, I know there's also the "Player is tight with School X" message. Are there others missing from the list though and how would folks group the messages together into a hierarchy of sorts if you were to order them from almost a 50/50 toss up to all-but-signed by a certain school? 

2. Assuming all things are equal-ish in terms of distance and prestige between School X and School Y, does anyone know what sort of effort it takes to move a kid from one level of the above hierarchy to the next? For instance, if the target player is "definitely leaning" toward School X and School X chooses to do nothing further toward the player this cycle, what would folks say School Y would need to do in order to change things from "definitely leaning" towards simply "leaning"? I realize that, like with all things HD, the answer isn't linear or one-size-fits-all...just wondering what others' perceptions were. 

Think of it in terms of other teams investment. Tight means for a sim that the player is a top priority and will cost you a lot to battle. Leaning towards indicates that your in the ballpark but other team has spent more than you. How much exactly is hard to say but if recruit is struggling, your close. Struggling:closest. Tight: farthest way, leaning towards: your in the middle.

If I am 200 miles from player A and I see in fss that he is struggling between us and school X, how many scholarships does X have, how many miles and how did their conference do last season in terms of tournament recruiting money. I have 4 schollies,used tourney money on fss. I like this player and decide he is worth 2 schollies if needed, 10k at d2. The other team has 6 schollies and in a strong conference. Looking at his considered list,player A is the only one listed. Will go into it cautiously, spending a bit to test the waters. If player X has a bunch being considered, shows that he is spending smaller amounts and probably not battle if I spend 3ke to push mysel ahead.

Right, I understand the process behind when to battle and when not to battle and factors to consider. 

What I"m wondering is this -- there has been a lot of discussion on there that a letter grade equals a certain numerical value for another team to overcome. For instance, some on here would argue that for a C to battle a C+ prestige for a recruit, the C will have to put forth roughly 1.333x the effort of the C+ to win. (yes, I know this isn't a universally-agreed upon number, I cite it as example, not gospel...)

I want to know if there a similar numerical quantifier that is generally accepted when it comes to what's being said on word on the street? If my opponent has a recruit "definitely leaning" in their direction, do I need to counter their effort from that point forward by 2-to-1 to catch back up? 4-to-1? 3.1416-to-1?  

Just curious if anyone's looked at the math from that angle. 

Posted by rednu on 7/16/2011 4:32:00 PM (view original):
Right, I understand the process behind when to battle and when not to battle and factors to consider. 

What I"m wondering is this -- there has been a lot of discussion on there that a letter grade equals a certain numerical value for another team to overcome. For instance, some on here would argue that for a C to battle a C+ prestige for a recruit, the C will have to put forth roughly 1.333x the effort of the C+ to win. (yes, I know this isn't a universally-agreed upon number, I cite it as example, not gospel...)

I want to know if there a similar numerical quantifier that is generally accepted when it comes to what's being said on word on the street? If my opponent has a recruit "definitely leaning" in their direction, do I need to counter their effort from that point forward by 2-to-1 to catch back up? 4-to-1? 3.1416-to-1?  

Just curious if anyone's looked at the math from that angle. 

There is not a generally accepted numerical qualifier, and there can't be. The same message could indicate a reasonably wide enough range where you can not use FSS to give you anything resembling a meaningful numeric idea of what's happening.