Has anyone tried this before?

For one of my D2 teams, I had 3 scholarships open and 3 players I was happy getting, to fill those spots. There was also an ineligible player as a D1 backup option, that looked better than these 3 players but at a position I didn't need as much as the 3 that I am filling. I had about $5,000 left. I decided to try the following - Pull down the D1 backup and once he was pulled down I had enough money for a campus visit. He ended up considering me, but since ineligibles don't always come to your school, I went ahead and took the 3 players that I knew I had.

My thinking and strategy is to hope that when recruiting starts next year, this guy will already be considering me, even if he is farther away. I felt like spending $5,000 now on him was better than having $1250 carry over for next year.  I will also need to fill that position more next year, so if successful I will already have a good player considering me at a position I need and maybe other teams will stay away from him, since he will be considering me early. Also, putting effort into a player early is also supposed to help in recruiting, so I will have put a lot of effort in early.

I'd be curious to see if anyone has ever tried this before, and if it worked, or if I would have been better off keeping the $1250 that carried over.

If an ineligible goes JUCO dont they only have 3 years of eligibility left?

Yes, but sometimes they can come back for a 4th year I believe. They would also still improve in their Juco year, so hopefully they would be a better player next year when I recruit them. He didn't get pulled down until after the 5 PM cycle before signing at 8 PM, so I took the scholarship offer off of him at the same time I did a CV. Turns out he rejected the CV, so really at this point I just have a bunch of scouting visits invested for next year, which is not a whole lot. If he goes to a Juco school a long way away, I don't think it will be worth it for me to go after him.

its an interesting strategy...

i dont think they can come back for a 4th year.  that's only if they actually attend your school the season they are ineligible.  if they go juco it's because they can play right away that season since there is no clearinghouse to get through, however it counts as one of their 4 seasons of ncaa eligibility

bow2dacowz is correct - juco burns a year. your strategy could be worth it. I did it once but the guy went to a California juco. I got him green early for minimal effort despite the long distance (from Michigan to Cali).

 I've never deliberately recruiting an ineligible just so I could recruit him again.  It could be a good strategy, though.  It'll be interesting to see where he goes to school. My last ineligible JUCO went to Massachusetts (I'm in North Carolina).  I recruiting him again, anyway, and noone tried to steer him away.

The only drawback to the JUCOS is when they practice a different OFF/DEF in the JUCO year.   You may sign him but he's now a sophomore with freshmen IQs.

I'm not sure you are any further ahead/behind on the money.  I've wondered about doing what you did, but my understanding (correct me if I'm wrong) is that the credit you carry over into next season is also 25%, so if I'm right (a) it may not be enough to get you considered right away, and (b) the value is the same as if you'd simply carried it over in the budget.  So in your case, if a hypothetical $5000 was put into the kid, then next season he'd have recruiting value of $1250 into him, which is the same as what you would have carried over.

So, while some kids explode and there could be real value if this works in getting your "name" on him right away, I personally figure that if explodes as a player then bigger fish may come calling and my money might just be wasted--I'd rather carry over the funds and be able to control where they go in the new season than have so much out of my control (like where he goes to JUCO, how much he develops, O/D, etc).  Just a difference in phiosophy, and it actually hinges on if my understanding is correct after all.  Certainly he would only be eligible for 3 years, since as one of the posters noted he would have burned 1 at JUCO (he can only get 4 if he attends your school).

I agree though, people sometimes get too wrapped up about hoarding carryover--at 25% value it rarely is enough to really amount to anything, certainly I'd not fill a spot to get carryover, would rather have next years scholly money than take an iffy player.

i think l_e is right on the 25% of effort thing, but here's a question: if he ends up farther away, do you get $1250 credit at this year's distance or next year's? I'd think this year, because they say it isn't $ value but credit points per effort. so you'd actually get a tiny bit more effort for him if he ends up at distance than you'd be able to get with the cash. and the early consideration certainly helps a little in perception from other coaches, no SIM recruiting on him, etc. 

interesting, and i'll be curious to see if it works out. also, you can RS JUCOs, so there's that. 

l_e is right.  You will only get 25% of  that recruiting credit.

Unfortunately, he dropped down at 5 PM on the signing day and I had a scholarship on him. Since I didn't want to sign him and have him take the place of one of my "sure things", I took the scholarship off him at the same time I did a Campus Visit at the 8 PM cycle. He rejected the CV. So, I have about $3400 of scouting trips in him, which is not much, but I will be curious to see  where he ends up, and if I can recruit him right away next year.

On this note. I've had an inelg go juco, after his juco year his ratings left him as a d1-pulldown for virtually every school (he was listed a d1pulldown to me as an A+ d2 school)....Needless to say, i was on him when recruiting started, and I assume him being a pulldown with a school ALREADY on him scared away numerous other d2 schools from attempting the pulldown. So if he gets some nice gains, you could see a benefit that way.