This will be my first time recruiting in D2, I'm a pretty experienced D3 coach. What are the main differences between the two? How much money should I be expecting to spend/how much better will the players be?

Thanks

Not much difference between D2 and D3, if you are good at D3 you know what to do at D2 with the exception of going for D1 drop downs instead of D2 drop downs.

In General D1 players about 170-200 position ranking are achievable (no real set numbers but thats about an average area to expect) The rankings are similar to overall ratings though, you can't let them be the thing that guides you, plenty of unranked players who are better.

Check around to some top D2 teams to see the talent level, but pretty much the best way to figure it out is to send those first cycle phone calls to the players and see what talent level will talk to you and what won't.

As far as money you still want to stay somewhat local since you are only getting 2K more per scholarship, but you can move a bit further away. You generally won't spend too much more than in D3 if you aren't battling. You'll run into a few more battles in D2 than D3 but people still tend to avoid them. If you stay out of many battles you will find D2 way easier than D3 since it is pretty much the same thing with more money.

Posted by mjp8 on 3/12/2012 7:58:00 PM (view original):
Not much difference between D2 and D3, if you are good at D3 you know what to do at D2 with the exception of going for D1 drop downs instead of D2 drop downs.

In General D1 players about 170-200 position ranking are achievable (no real set numbers but thats about an average area to expect) The rankings are similar to overall ratings though, you can't let them be the thing that guides you, plenty of unranked players who are better.

Check around to some top D2 teams to see the talent level, but pretty much the best way to figure it out is to send those first cycle phone calls to the players and see what talent level will talk to you and what won't.

As far as money you still want to stay somewhat local since you are only getting 2K more per scholarship, but you can move a bit further away. You generally won't spend too much more than in D3 if you aren't battling. You'll run into a few more battles in D2 than D3 but people still tend to avoid them. If you stay out of many battles you will find D2 way easier than D3 since it is pretty much the same thing with more money.

thanks, i'm planning on staying pretty local because the region i'm in is pretty fertile
and i'll look at the top teams and see what types of ratings i should be looking for

The one difference I've found between D3 and D2 is that you don't usually have to have as much patience in D2.  SOME patience is always good (and it's never been my strong suit), but where you might wait until late in the recruiting cycle to firm up your D3 class, you can usually line up most of your recruits in the first 24 hours in D2 if you play it right.

Like in D3, the key is to find guys who have core strengths and potentials you need but have a weakness or two that makes them less desirable at the next level.  I've been poached by D1 teams at D2, and I've been poached by D2 teams at D3.  It happens.  By scouting more states and lining up backups you can survive the inevitable poaching and succeed.

Last note:  I haven't gotten it to work yet so maybe someone else can speak up, but I see D1 international pulldowns at D2 and I think I've seen probably 2 pulldowns at D3.  Some friends of mine have landed good players by waiting until signings start and going international.  I'm not sure a D3 team has the money to do that.