Since the new engine started, I’ve rarely depleted my scouting budget. Some of my habits from previous engine have stuck. Typically recruit locally first then branch out from there. My question is since the scouting budget does not carry over, do you burn every dollar? I think I saw a comment somewhere that said “I recruit the top 100.” Can that be accurate? Anyway I’m curious about better utilizing my budget. I do a private camp, no public usually, and spend with my assistant then individually to get guys to level 4. I’ve struggled a big with long distance recruiting. Any tips appreciated.

Your teams have widely different needs so I will offer my thoughts by dividing them into two sets your developing team (Missouri) and your dominate teams (CSU-Los Angeles and UNLV).

Developing- When I have left over scouting money I spend it looking for players that are an upgrade over players on my current roster. If I can replace a weak Soph-Junior with a better Freshman I consider it a good move despite the initial IQ drop. More likely to find those for your more developing teams like Missouri for you.

Dominant- Your other teams are really good and might be put over the top with scouting and finding a dominant international player that you could spend the extra money on. Teams in big recruiting areas often can find what they are looking for in the area at D2 and D3 so they don't have to go farther and leave the scouting money on the table. However if you want to use your scouting budget to the max look at adding a dominant international player. Get one or two of those with what it easily available and watch your tournament runs go deeper.

You're WAY better than i am, but if no one will respond, I'll add my two cents. Definitely spend it all at some point. It maximizes the number of recruits you can find. Depending on if you're in D1 2 or 3, some people save some of that budget for RS2 in case your first few targets get a lot of attention from better coaches (especially at D2 and D3) and you're left scrambling. Your method of not spending it all doesn't necessarily hurt you. But if you're not spending, say, $5,000 of it, well you're missing out on X amount of recruits, some of those recruits being better than the guys that you've scouted/signed possibly.

Private camp is great (2 scouting levels). Assistant search is great (able to target certain positions). I use that same method. But i use FSS for neighboring states as my first step. I think it's an inexpensive step that can save you a few dollars on the last step your mentioned, of individually scouting a recruit to get them to level 4. Wow, my first intelligent post.

If I'm in a lower division or rebuilding a team, I might save a few bucks for Session 2 in case I need it to scout a possible transfer pickup that could fill out a class in place of a walk-on (due to a losing RNG roll) or upgrade an existing scrub.

Even if you don't plan to recruit long distance, having all the public camps and internationals lets you keep an eye on coaches who might be recruiting in your area.