I'm feeling fairly comfortable in recruiting and want to try to get an international player who is on the D1 list. He gives me the backup message (at least i'm pretty sure that's what his broken English was). Is it possible to pull these guys down or do I have to wait for him to drop down (which might not be an option because i'd probably have schooly filled by then)? If it is possible, do I proceed like I would with any other player or is there a different strategy?

If I were you, depending on the distance, I would definitely wait for the guy to drop down. Put enough recruiting effort into your Plan B recruit to get him to consider you, but don't offer the scholly yet. That way, if the international drops down, you save a bunch of money, or if someone else (i.e. D1 school) jumps on him you have your back up plan ready to go.

But if you have enough money, then yes, a pulldown is possible

How much money would that be aka how many scouting visits?

Pulldowns can take anywhere from 10-20+ scouting visits

Internationals are actually pretty easy to pulldown.  You have to scout them anyway to get their potential, start with 5 SV's and go from there.

Thanks everybody. That turned out to be much easier than I expected.