I've seen a lot of discussion on the forums about D3 battling D2 for a player. What about D3 battling another D3 team for a D3 player? Here is my situation: I have one ship to offer and there is a target that is clearly head and shoulders above the rest and he's in the same state I am. From the moment recruiting started he was considering another school that is several states away and coached by a Sim. What would be your advice for getting that player to sign with me?

If you have purchased FSS for your state, look at the Word on the Street in the player's profile. If it says he is "tight" with the sim school, your chances of getting him are very slim. If it says something less than that, you might have a chance if you have about $3K+ to spend on him.

I should have added that I called him and got the following response: Good to hear form you coach, always had great respect for your school, not sure how I would fit in. Not sure if that changes anything...

Also, where do I find the Word on the Street info? Doesn't seem to be anywhere on the Future Stars tab for the players for the state(s) I purchased. Am I missing something?

Thanks for the feedback.

If it is the first day of recruiting you will have to wait until the 2AM cycle for Word on the Street to show up (this only updates at 2AM and 2PM each day of recruiting).

Ah, that would explain it!

Let's say I do have $3k to spend (not sure that would be wise of me, but just for giggles...). Would I approach it like the pulldown scenarios I've read about: 10 scouting trips to loosen him up since he can't refuse them, then HV, CV, scholarship offer, etc.?

There is no need to use the pulldown approach. The feedback message you got (Good to hear form you coach, always had great respect for your school, not sure how I would fit in.) indicates that he is ready to be recruited right now. Just go after him as you would any other recruit.

I'm not sure one recruit's worth of scholarship money is enough to make it wise to go after a sim, even a loosely considered one.  I'd say you have ROUGHLY a 50/50 shot, maybe as good as 65/35, probably somewhere in between those figures.  If you spent some on FSS then your odds obviously get even worse.  Unless this guy is a LOT better than the next best option or you have a LOT of postseason bonus cash, I'd say move on to the next guy.