If Im a D+Team prestige wise. What is the highest recruits I can go after with success. Its only my 2nd season

I just recruited in Iba with D+ It’s between sessions right now (Eh maybe tomorrow morning it’s late) so I can’t post about it but I’ll sitemail you now and post later here.

My advice is to not battle with teams that are b- or higher. Now there are some exceptions to that rule. For example if you see a player that looks like a quality starter in 2 seasons but could start for you as a FR but would never start for a B+ team then maybe you can snag that player because that B+ team may not value him as high as you. Sorry for the run on sentence there. This was my team that i just left. Might give you an idea of types and level of player.

https://www.whatifsports.com/hd/TeamProfile/Ratings.aspx?tid=3476

I only have seven D1 seasons under my belt, but I have managed to bring Rupp UTEP (C base prestige) up from a D prestige to a respectable B prestige, and we're ranked right now, so I figure my advice couldn't be that terrible.

Obviously, it's hard to give advice on what "level" of recruits to go after, since potentials can make some 0-star recruits better than some 5-star recruits after they've matured. However, "being in the Top 100" or "being a 5/4/3/2/1-star recruit" is a good enough rule of thumb for understanding a recruit's ability without any more information. Plus, there actually is some non-talent-based information in those rankings/stars, because the lower your prestige is, the harder it will be to unlock scholarships/get any traction with Top 100 or "star" recruits.

At very-low prestige levels, I just completely avoided anyone in the Top 100, and I didn't even go after any "star" recruits. I certainly could have signed some okay-not-great "star" recruit earlier than that, but I found that there were a decent enough number of players that could help me climb the prestige ladder without stars. I unlocked scholarships for these 0-star recruits relatively quickly, which helps maintain a solid list of main targets and backup options. Once I hit C prestige, I felt like I could actually go after those "star" recruits that had skills and potentials that were harder to find in the 0-star range, but didn't actually end up signing any "star" recruits until I hit C+ prestige.

It's been a while since I've coached D1 but I've had success with low prestige teams (Texas, San Antonio and Mississippi Valley State) in the past.

Definitely focus on no star recruits with high ceilings. You may be able to compete for some star recruits though - particularly those who will come in good enough to play right away but have limited growth potential (either due to terrible potential or extremely low WE).

Also, it's been mentioned in other threads, but definitely scout a couple D2 states for JUCOs. There are quite a handful of D2 JUCO prospects with insane ceilings.

Make sure you look at “wants rebuild“ guys who don’t care about long time coach or conference strength. If you can find guys like that, you can challenge for them against anybody, even the top 100 guys. You likely won’t get them without a fight though, so be prepared for battle, ie don’t go after multiple every year, try to shore up the rest of your class with “program” guys in the ~#50-150 range by position that you may get without all in battles.

Plan on avoiding battles and just look for players that are better than what you currently have. Try to move quickly to your second, and third options when you inevitably get knocked off your top options. The goal is to get on the best players that anybody in your prestige level is recruiting first. Most of the time, other teams would rather just go after an uncontested recruit than battle you for a slightly better recruit. And offer minutes and starts very liberally. The first couple cycles are incredibly important, so make sure you are checking and adjusting every cycle. If you wait until day two to switch to your second tier targets it will likely be too late.

Luckily, since you are avoiding battles like the plague, you can lock up your targets with minimal resources. Usually, just a combination of AP and promises will do the trick.

Now the fun begins. This is where you start closely studying the situation around you. Who is in lots of battles? What recruit is likely low on the priority list of a big school? Who can you surprise with a late push? See if you can find someone who you think you can get into signing range for, and then try to make a play. If it fails, you'll still have your original offers out and those guys will still be eager to sign. If it succeeds, you can greatly accelerate your rebuild.

Usually it won't work but sometimes it does, and you'll randomly sign a 4/5 star.

For example, I just started at Morgan State (C-/D+) prestige. Was able to reel in a back end 5 star because I got lucky in a battle (won as a High against Very High), but also landed a 4 star in the same class (knocking an A+ team down to moderate) because I was able to deduct that the A+ prestige team recruiting him was likely out of cash. And I still had enough money to cut two players and fill all 6 slots. So it can be done with some luck and a lot of careful planning.

i agree with jimmy, the earlier posts are too cut and dry. the situation varies so significantly geographically and based on regional recruit gen that season as well. sometimes its really tight and other times there's lots of those mid level players, guys who can grow to compete with better guys as juniors or something, but who start sucky enough that big schools don't want them, and you can get some really good guys under the radar.

one of the keys to success IMO, just to add to what jimmy said - is also considering the psychological component. this works best with long time coaches who know what they are doing. although i suppose its especially hard if you are a new coach who is fairly clueless - but i'd still give it a shot. a school 2 prestige grades or more above you can more or less crush you *if they really want the guy*. find the guys who they don't. don't go battle them for their top targets, but do find those guys who are especially valuable to you as a lower school (the ones you can build a program around) but who are kinda, filler, for bigger schools, and that is where i like to make my stand. especially when you get a good sense from the team and the coaches actions of who they feel they really need. there's definitely some finesse and luck to it, but if you can find those guys who are good enough that bigger schools want them for cheap, but not enough to battle you hard for them, you have a lot higher chance of success. even if they can toss money that way but not AP, it helps a lot.

i think it gets easier as you get up around C prestige because then its only the top schools you can roll you down to 0, i'm not sure i'd go so bold as jimmy as a newer coach on a d+, but for experienced guys, sure. its a fine line between brilliance and suicide, i would perhaps with a new program, fill my base first - get really awesome d2 players at least, so you can at least compete, win a bunch of games, shoot at CT titles and NT auto bids, to start working prestige up. but pretty quickly pivot to testing the boundaries, probing for weakness and such on the better guys. don't get caught up in the ath/def scramble either, so many folks try to play low d1 like they did high d2, and i pretty much do the opposite.

Alright, so you're in Florida which I don't consider ideal at all since you can only recruit north and west for the most part. I think Florida is a decent location at A+ but at D+, meh.

Anyways, I recommend you focus on Puerto Rico a solid bit, and you should try to get most of your base players from FL/AL/MS/NC/SC/LA/TN/VA/KT. Scout a lot of guys here to level 4. Try to compile a list of roughly 40 guys you wouldn't consider total studs that you'd be okay with landing. And do not give up on these guys if you see a A- on his considering list; make sure this team is offering a ship first. It's ideal if you can find some decent guys with "late" preferences as your backups, although realize you could end up fighting a DII for them. The 2nd-5th cycles are the most important part of recruiting; find the decent players with early/eop1 preferences around you that no one else is offering/pumping AP onto yet and jump onto them. Until signings start, I'm just unlocking every decent player in my 1000 I see without a higher prestige offer. In Iba, I had 6 openings and 13 offers on before signings started. I'll probably finish with 17 offers for the 6 spots. Keep an open mind and don't define a small list; be opportunistic. I'll go through my 40 every cycle and check what the considering list looks like. And most importantly, offer a start to nearly everyone but avoid having to spend any cash. If it looks like it will be a battle, I'm sure you can find a similar guy you can sign for free in your 1000.


You won't be able to land any guys who are truly program changing studs (draft level guys) consistently in a "normal" way, AKA putting 60 AP on them first cycle, getting a ship on, then loading a start/25 minutes/750 APs. An A- prestige will eventually come on and smoke you out to moderate.

How you want to focus on landing studs is two-fold: figure out which B and above teams are out of openings and who is out of cash. This strategy takes a LOT of time, and either a good memory, detailed notetaking, or a combo. I try to check every Top 100 recruit in my 1500 and Top10 int'l pretty much every cycle to see how many guys everyone is on and how much money it looks like they're spending. If I ask you about A Georgia Tech's recruiting strength, you should be able to tell me either (a) how many players they are on and which ones they are having to spend money on or (b) they aren't a team of interest for you because you know they're flush with cash and openings. Use this straight line calculator to find other team's distances to calculate how much $ they have left. I also use this tool to find other team's private camp radii. When you find a team with 0 openings whos alone on an elite guy or a team that is out of cash, its time to jump in. This idea where you can't fight an A prestige or try to sign anyone in the Top100 is stupid. If the A prestige has $800 bucks left and you have $17000 at D+, you will win that battle 10 times out of 10. You just have to be careful about a 3rd team coming in. Since this strategy lends itself to making a random Top 100 guy your top target regardless of location, you might have to spend a lot of $$$ putting 20 HV and a CV onto a gut 1200 miles from your campus. But if it gives you a 60% chance of getting a 5 star its totally worth it.

Also check internationals a LOT. Those battles can be really expensive or really cheap for the teams involved, so you don't really know. And if you see an A prestige with 1 opening trying to sign a 5 star internationalm don't be afraid to consider jumping on.

As Gil said, its a fine line between genius and suicide.

great information guys thanks