If preferences are equal, you'll be at a disadvantage against higher prestiges...I would say there's two different mindsets (which can be mixed)
1. The slow-grow route -- target players overlooked during the first rush of AP allocation and get on them in the second cycle (not session). You're looking for players that are being pursued by teams around your prestige level, players who got missed (this includes players that D2 and D3 human coaches might be on) and players who are being pursued solely by Sims. You're basically looking for the path of least resistance that incrementally improves on whatever just graduated. Build your team class-by-class and combine with smart scheduling to lift your prestige a grade or so to improve the players you can go after.
2. The gambler's route -- Aggressively pursue local players close to campus, even if you know you'll be at a disadvantage to do so. The cost to go all-in on these players (high AP's/20 HVs/CV/Start/Minutes) isn't excessive and even if all that action buys you is a 25% shot at a kid, doing that on just one player per season, the odds say that's 1 game-changing player every 4 seasons, so on-average, you'll always have one on roster. Obviously if you manage better odds than 25% all the better. You still won't be able to go this route against the biggest of the big dogs initially as the prestige gradient will be too severe, but just finding the best nearby player that you can give yourself a shot with is worth going in on when building up, especially if there's a fall-back plan available (or just swing, miss, and take the walk-on...)