I don't know exactly how SIMS recruit but if they think they can win, I think they put something like 25 AP a cycle into a player.

I just put in this:

AP135 (45)
Budget Spent:$3,384
Home Visits:9
Campus Visits:1

on a D3 player and only narrowly won 52-48. It was on the third cycle of the second session (24 total cycles?). I went from Very Low to Signed in one cycle so the first 90 AP and scholarship didn't even move me to low. I dumped everything else in the last cycle before he signed.