Looking for advice on how to recruit as a bad team in a BCS conference.  I've had success in different worlds recruiting at different levels.  I've even had success recruiting in a minor DI conference because I knew which battles weren't worth fighting and which were.  Just last season in this world I took my first major conference DI job.  I had lots of scholarships to fill and tons of recruiting money...and I got my butt kicked from here to Timbuktu.  I generally stayed out of battles with major schools, but smaller conference schools were beating me up as well.  I just determined that I don't know what it takes to recruit in major DI.  I know it will be a process with some of the competition in this conference, but if anyone can give me any advice it would be much appreciated.  I've got a little while to study up before recruiting begins.

None of this is groundbreaking advice buuuuuut


1. Look for low starting value, lots of blue.   I have a SG on my  SMU team that grew 109 points this season.  Started out at like a 495 OVR.    He'll end up with 80's and 90's in some cores.  I signed for a like 2k.

2.  Aim for the 80's.   Look for the guys who fall through the cracks.   By the start of signing day, there are usually a few guys still undecided that will be players with cores in their 80's.   Look for them.

3. Focus your presigning effort on one guy.   Maybe he's local, maybe he's been over looked, but land one good player.

4. Don't be scared off by the flaws that the big boys  can afford to poopoo.  Low WE? Ineligible? low scores in non cores?  Whatever!

5. Save your money for after signings.   You can fill out a nice roster with dudes in the upper 70's low 80's  cheap.  Just make sure they are better than what you have.   

6. Improve your roster every year.

7. Don' t be afraid of taking 2 walkons.

How much recruiting effort do teams put in when they are considered "very tight" with a school?  In other words, say there is a recruit there that you want to at least keep the smaller conference schools with less money away from.  What kind of attention would get you to that high priority status?  I know I'm not going to scare the big guys away at this level but if I could at least scare away some of the mid to mid major schools that would be a step in the right direction. 

I'm not afraid to take walk-ons.  Better than being stuck with a sub-par player for 4 years.

take advantage of the BCS postseason money you probably made to take prime recruits away from top mid majors.

About 25 hvs get you to tight.

potentials potentials potentials.

Also, its fun to take a chance on an intl with 99WE and low starting cores. If you can get him cheap, you'll never know what you end up with. Works for me about 30 percent of the time. 

thanks for the info.  you'd think so dacj.  last season I'd spent 83K of 93K before signing cycle and I was leading for exactly 1 recruit.  I was apparently spreading myself too thin and losing battles to like IPFW.  then a conference mate sprung in at the end and made me battle hard for the 1 guy I was ahead on.  I got a couple OK guys really cheap at the end (fairly close guys that had been considering schools that filled their schollies with better players) so I could field a team this. season but really only got 1 guy that I wanted, and given the money I started out with that's unacceptable and will get me fired sooner rather than later.  That's why I came here looking for help before recruiting starts.

Thanks for the figure Trentonjoe.  That will help going into this coming season. 

Also that's a good idea trobone.  By the time I considered that this time I didn't have the money to take a chance.  I'm always afraid with internationals that I'll jump on them the same cycle as a better school then be screwed, but I guess that goes with any recruit, not just internationals.

Check the top teams to see if they have a guy who is considering them but has no intention of signing the player. I call it "hiding under a dragon's wing". Classic sign is if he has 5 openings but 6 players considering him and one of them is "wide open".

that's one of my favorite things to do in high DII or low level DI toysboys.  my late signings were guys "under a dragon's wing".  there is a reason they weren't signed by the original team, but they were better than guys currently on the roster.

There are 3 or 4 REALLY successful coaches that "over recruit"  on a regular basis.  Some guys have as many as 10 guys considering them after the first cycle.  Watch them.

Also, their our late cute.   At the 5 PM and 8 PM cycle of signing day take a look at the new transfer pool, it's usually increased at these times.    These guys usually don't come cheap but sometimes there are dudes worth taking.

I'm one of those guys who do late cuts if I'm cutting someone.  If I can get a recruit clearly better than someone on my roster and I'm 99% sure they're going to sign on the first signing cycle then I'll be one of those people cutting someone.  Doesn't happen often, maybe once every 10 seasons and usually at DII, but I'm always curious where the guys I cut end up.