HI, I'm Ben. I'm looking for a basic tutor on scouting/recruiting. I think my profile says I'm a hall of famer. Well, don't believe it! I just started my second season in return from a long layoff in D2 crum, with Slippery Rock. It's season 91 I think, and I haven't played this game since way back in season 40. Everything has obviously changed since then, and I only had moderate success back then (only making the round of 32 in the NT). I picked Slippery Rock cuz of previous success with the school, along with the fact that they had 0 seniors. So I wanted to watch others for a season, to see how recruiting works. Problem is..... I have NO IDEA of some things when it comes to scouting plans, or tips, or timing. I've searched the forums and haven't seen anything on it. So my overall question is this..... WHEN do some of you vets start your scouting? Immediately when you can? And if so, how far along do you scout each guy (level 2,3,4?) before the attention points are able to be given out? This first season I had open scholarships, i scouted a zillion players all the way to level 4 quickly (all D1 expecters), only to see them have interest in schools in D1 or D2 with higher prestige immediately, before I had even made a move. I now know that's not the right way to do it. When I signed my 2 recruits, i got them with attention points and scholarship only. So I never even got to spend a recruiting dollar. Can any one please help me, or point me in the right direction of materials that I can use for advice on scouting budget, and the best timing on scouting, and also how and when to be aggressive towards a potential scout (unlocking up to the level 4). Thank you so much

Swing me a sitemail if you'd like. I can give you some basic tips that I use. Might not make you an NT champ, but you'll be an NT team with potential.

Welcome back, Ben. You're welcome to send me a sitemail as well. I'd also be happy to answer any questions you might have.

I will say it doesn't really matter when you start scouting - whether it's immediate or not doesn't make a difference, as long as you have a lot of your scouting done to have recruiting targets when phase one of recruiting starts.

There's a thread on 3.0 here https://www.whatifsports.com/forums/Posts.aspx?topicID=495608 started by some very dedicated users, primarily chapelhill

It's a huge and very intense guide. I like this "quick scouting" part of the guide...

(from the linked thread)
FAST WAY TO SCOUT ALL PROSPECTS TO LEVEL 4 IF YOU WANT TO FOCUS ON A RELATIVELY SMALL AREA - ABOUT 5 MINUTES
1. FSS the states within your immediate area
2. Hold a private camp, inviting the maximum number possible
3. Sending out the assistant scout to recruit people up to the next level. You can do 25 at a time. You may have send the assistant 2-3 times.
Using this method, you actually have more information than in the current game because you know the high highs and low lows.

Alternately, If you were not in a hurry, you could go to a public camp in your region before step 3 and wait for the camp to run. At that point, there would be many players already at level 4, so you could save some money on the assistant coach, and you would have discovered some new players that were outside of the area that you FSSd.

One note on scouting is too make sure you schedule your regional camps as soon as it's available to do so if you intend to use it. Once the camp is run, you cannot go back to it as a scouting tool for the season if you missed it (as was the case with 2 of my teams last week ).

Agree with BH's post. Read the guide and that will help a lot.

send me a site mail if you'd like more detailed advice.

I appreciate all the help from the guys that I've site mailed. And I've read the guide tons of times, and try to use the resources provided. But I think the people I've spoke with might say that my questions weren't in the guides. I was having trouble with things like..... I'm D2, and thought I should ONLY aim for D1 recruits period. So I'd fall behind cuz I waited for the second recruiting session before I even began to do anything at all. And I also spent way to much scouting money on multiple D1 recruits only on the first phase, trying to build up, when I would never even get a shot at them cuz they would sign early. Basically I was reckless spending. But thanks to all

And remember like I said, I haven't played this in literally 50 seasons I think it was. So I still kinda had the "drop down/pull down" mentality I guess.

I've trained myself to know the three letter combinations for each position that yield the best players (independent of potential obviously). I only use FSS and individual scouting. The only exception of this is I scout the Top 100 out in DI within 1000 miles of me using assistant search, right at the start.