a couple things:
- you can't cut below 6 players. you don't get resources for more than 6 players, though, so this is actually to your benefit.
- you generally won't be able to cut all 9, because RS2-only sessions are limited. what division is it? however, you can still get a lot in RS2 if your standard is to just improve on tremendously awful sim players... so i would definitely go for it, and you could end up cutting like, 6?
- juniors only have 1 year of eating scholarship money, because senior year you get money for - so usually there's a junior or two worth keeping, even on sim recruited teams, and no junior is THAT bad to keep. for total rebuilds, i tend to cut all freshman, and typically all or all but 1 soph. but i often keep 3 juniors.
- you only get this cut money for RS2, for your first season's recruiting. because of RS2-only first seasons, it really takes 2 seasons for the full overhaul, and you should look at it this way. therefore, you should be trying for 6 or at least 5 openings for your first RS1. you do not get money for more than 6, and you can only have 3 walkons (sim will sign crap players for you if you have more than 3 walkons, and you'll need to cut that - so try to avoid more than 3 walkons!). so 3 walkons plus 2-3 now-juniors, that is how you get 5-6 openings (or 2 walkons plus 3-4 now juniors, etc). so you want juniors!
- its not an exact science but basically don't cut so much that you might end with 4+ walkons. i will end up trying to sign guys like crazy, and then soon as i sign a couple and its like yeah, i am expecting like 2 more, i go cut another 1, maybe 2, and use that money. you keep getting full money for ap as you cut additional players, like even if you cut to 6 scholarships and have max money, if you sign 2, you can cut 2 more and get 2 more of money, and re-gain those 20 ap per.
- going along with looking at it as 2 seasons to overhaul, don't sweat it if you go 0-27 in your first season (even two is not that bad, only the last 4 seasons of prestige matter, so you'll replace those fairly soon regardless)
- last suggestion - for all RS2-only sessions - focus on unlocking players as fast as you can. complete the unlocking as a priority, because the LATE players will sign fast. note that all the early and period 1 players on d2 schools will sign 1st cycle of RS2, you have zero shot to unlock these. also most whenever players. d3 starts signing d1 at 11pm the day before signings, so you need to be on those guys prior to that happening, if that is relevant to whatever division you are coaching here... good luck!