Trying to only ask the questions I can't find in the forums and/or videos. There's some excellent info that I've spent more time than I'd like to admit on here.

& I know that that's something you can outright choose at D2 and above from what I've read, I just wasn't sure if it was something you were able to manipulate at D3 or if you're just SOL and have to trust the system

Under Coaching go to depth charts. Then "you" determine who plays ILB or OLB , Safety or CB, etc.

There is only Defensive Line, Linebackers and Defensive Backs. Guessing it's because I'm at D3. However, I did just explore in the formations page and I can manipulate LBs and DLs to where I want them. Don't think I can do anything about DBs

You are already asking the right questions to make me think you are ready for DII, where you can control the placement of your players.

Yes. Unless you are heavily invested in that d3 team(s ?) , go immediately to d2. You haven't played the full game until you do. D2 to 1A is the full game.

Some people love D3 because they can still do a level of coaching, but they don't have to get into the nitty gritty of things.

If you want to control which players play at a specific spot and when, then D2 to D1A is the way to go. There is far more depth there, including controlling how players are rated (assigning more value to specific stats than what the generic formula does based on what you want players to be, with the options for specialized players like FB, blocking only TE, etc) and including the ability to specifically control what things each position practices, which factors into player development. You can also break down playbooks per down and per area of the field. It's significantly deeper and more challenging than D3 (which is challenging in its own way because you have to rely so much on the AI for things).

Thanks, you guys. We’ll see. I struck gold with my first recruiting class so I probably won’t leave it just yet, but it would be a good time to go ahead and jump ship as many good seniors as this sim team has

Formerly sim team

I picked up Bethel on Heisman and got a top 5 recruiting class in my first season. Still not staying. I can't handle the way D3 works because of the lack of fine control on things. I don't know how people like mfnmmyers do it. On my old account I want a couple Natty's at D2 because of how precise I can control things. D2 is my sweet spot.

In D1A you have elites to deal with. In D1AA you have a lot of D1A players taking the best players you could get. I've coached at both of those levels and I hated the recruiting so much it drove me nuts. D2 recruiting is more laid back as long as you know what you're doing and have good vision. Schools don't have unfair advantages in D2 like Elite status, either. Although, Humboldt is usually the only team coached west of Colorado so they don't get much recruit competition which can make them really strong.

I've got an uphill battle against Holdaway and his Humboldt team when I take over Augustana.

Apologies for the grammatical errors because this will be with voice to text. I greatly appreciate all of the advice from everyone so far. both the most frustrating and intriguing part to me so far has been figuring out which offense and defense to run. although different, because I’ve played hoops, dynasty for so long and experimented with multiple offenses and defenses, I know due to the trade-off I need to be running one (or two maximum) offense and defense each.

when I signed up, I wanted to run a Notre Dame box and a 4-4 for defense. Then I noticed passing was more successful than running, I got two great freshman receivers, and I didn’t really want a fullback on the field, so I wanted to run a trips offense. Then I looked at the recent champions, and I noticed that all of them for the most part run a pro offense. since, I have went back-and-forth on pro and trips so many times, but I’m leaning pro now. funny enough, the I formation has been the most successful Passing offense in my play-by-plays (sim knew I, trips and pro). Maybe I should go a formation, maybe just less coaches run this even though it’s successful? yet I still lean pro because of the success of other coaches. Idk.

now, I’ve even started to waver on whether a 4-4 can be successful with only three defensive backs. but linebacker was the easiest position for me to recruit so far. I’m thinking about overhauling to a 3-4. However, I’ve been greatly impressed by what the 4-3 (and occasional nickle) have been able to do for me this season. I still lean 4-4 because of the direction of the future of the roster.

so, right now it’s looking like going towards a pro offense and a 4-4 defense, but it changes about once a day and I spend a large chunk of each day and deep thought about this. I’d really like to get it nailed down soon so I can stop wasting minutes on other IQs. If anyone would like to site mail me about specific, ins and outs,please do. I’ve already read every forum There is to read on offensive and defensive formations, and dug deep into all of my play by plays and a couple of other top coaches’. but I still have a limited sample size.

I know I do want to stay At least a couple more seasons at D3

Oh yeah, what I came here to say and forgot to say, I saw this mentioned somewhere else it was in a beta test, I really wish there was a 1 RB, 2 TE, 2 WR set. Similar to single back set on Madden w 2TE. I played TE2 (and OLB, and WR3/4) in HS so I’m partial to those positions I guess.

but hey, if I-formation can be successful passing, shoot, I may have to switch to that. I kinda wanna stick with 4-4 and just set everything to stopping the deep pass….

one thing I really love about this game is redshirting. I spam redshirts in hoops dynasty and now I get 3 times as many.

And hopefully my last message in a row,

I know the games against some teams don’t mean as much in terms of observation. I’ve taken most of these observations from my 2 1/2 games against 3 really good users

Posted by zemedlin on 2/14/2026 11:59:00 AM (view original):
Oh yeah, what I came here to say and forgot to say, I saw this mentioned somewhere else it was in a beta test, I really wish there was a 1 RB, 2 TE, 2 WR set. Similar to single back set on Madden w 2TE. I played TE2 (and OLB, and WR3/4) in HS so I’m partial to those positions I guess.

but hey, if I-formation can be successful passing, shoot, I may have to switch to that. I kinda wanna stick with 4-4 and just set everything to stopping the deep pass….

one thing I really love about this game is redshirting. I spam redshirts in hoops dynasty and now I get 3 times as many.

This would be a really bad idea. Never play your DB's any deeper than medium.