I have taken over a new team in Div I.  I really want to develop my underclassmen as much as possible.  Do they learn faster and improve quicker by making them starters?

Yes.

Playing time does have an impact on rate of improvement (along with work ethic and how practice minutes are allocated). There is also a secondary impact becasue starting them will help increase work ethic.

That said, you have to take a hard look at your priorities. Starting freshmen will also almost certainly doom you to a worse season than you otherwise would have had. So where is your program? Is it a totally lost season anyway? If so, then starting freshmen can make a lot of sense. If you could potentially be competitive, then a handful more ratings points is not worth jeopardizing that. (And remember, even if you're just looking at the difference between a ~ .500 season and a crappy one brought on by starting freshmen, that can have an impact on prestige as well.) 

Took over a terrible D- D1 team this season and with nothing to lose started 4 freshmen, Still made it through non conference at 4-6 (my SOS is horrible, can't help that) has been totally worth it to have their IQ and ratings improve so fast.

Even starting my older players, they still wouldn't have been good since they were sim recruits, and still wouldnt be in the NT

Posted by mjp8 on 4/16/2012 4:41:00 PM (view original):
Took over a terrible D- D1 team this season and with nothing to lose started 4 freshmen, Still made it through non conference at 4-6 (my SOS is horrible, can't help that) has been totally worth it to have their IQ and ratings improve so fast.

Even starting my older players, they still wouldn't have been good since they were sim recruits, and still wouldnt be in the NT

Just FYI, starting/playing them more doesn't impact IQ, only ratings development.

I always thought the more minutes they got the faster IQ would grow