Fairly new to HD...just wondering if you have to get at least one "face to face" with a recruit before he will sign with you?  I play GD and I know there a recruit will not sign even if he's "green" if you only have phone calls with him.Same here or no?

You need to have a scholarship offer out to the kid...beyond that it depends on how deep into the recruiting period things are. Late in the signings you can try for the $110 special (a scholarship offer and a guaranteed start) for a player who early in recruiting would require more effort. So, if by face-to-face you're asking whether a home or campus visit is needed -- no. You do need some effort beyond just the base $100 scholarship offer though. How much will vary by player and timing. 

Don't need face to face.  You can almost always get a player to consider you at any point in recruiting for just a start and scholarship offer.  You can also pull certain players down from a higher division with approximately 10 scouting trips.  

If you don't know what I'm talking about, go read aejones guide that's in the forums.  Or go get a mentor from the mentor list on the top of the forums page, a lot of guys are willing to help.

Unlike GD where you need some type of face-to-face (scouting trip, HV, or CV), HD only requires that you have a scholarship offer and some minimal effort level (a promised start or some level of minutes can work in some cases).  If the recruit is considering just you when signings start, he'll sign with you as long as its legal and the AD lets you (i.e. he's a similar type recruit to the rest of your team and you aren't exceeding the max of 6 recruits in any one class).