NCAA Football 2010's dynasty mode is all about recruiting the best players to fit your system. This starts at the very beginning of a new season when picking out new recruits to during the season as you place phone calls and schedule visits to the offseason when everything heats up while you make promises and hope to lure a top recruit to your school.
These NCAA Football 2010 recruiting tips will help guide you in the right direction for building your school into a real powerhouse.
This strategy guide was written with the Xbox 360 in mind, but recruiting is the same for the PS3.
NCAA Football 2010 Recruiting - Preseason
Picking the right players is the first step in having a strong recruiting season. The quickest way to get started is to use the database search tool to narrow down the caliber of player without any other restrictions. You can easily filter the results by position and by state, so don't bother putting those into the search.
If you are recruiting for a small caliber school, put an emphasis on players from your home state. You won't have as many different pitches that you excel at, so having home field advantage is important. A one or two star team will want to shoot for 10-15 four star recruits and then focus on three star recruits. Don't worry about 2 star recruits or below in preseason recruiting.
As a three star team, you should go for around 5 five star recruits and fill up the next 25 with four stars leaving the last few slots for some choice three star recruits.
Once you hit four stars, you should go for at least a dozen five star recruits and fill up the rest of the board with four star recruits. No use messing around with three star recruits at that point unless you see someone that really stands out, like a speedster receiver that fits a need.
NCAA Football 2010 Recruiting - During the Season
Recruiting in NCAA Football 2010 can be broken into three phases:
Phase 1. Unlocking pitches.
The first weeks are spent going through the recruits and unlocks the pitches your school excels at. This allows you to know how a recruit will feel about your school, if you should drop them or move them up in your list, if you need to offer them a scholarship to get a quick boost, etc.
Because you'll want to unlock most of the players on your draft board, avoid spending too much time with any one recruit by limiting yourself to unlocking only 2-3 pitches per phone call. You can also use some of this time hard-selling or swaying recruits, but only 1 pitch during these first weeks, and not every recruit.
For a low-caliber school, you want to keep an eye on recruits that just don't like pitches where your school rates least a B. Drop these recruits and backfill with more three star recruits. As the season goes on, start adding two star recruits as you may need to fill roster spots with bodies, but only do this after week six when you are in the second half of the season.
You'll also want to offer scholarships to any recruit that looks promising and doesn't already have you as one of the top schools. Wait until you see they like some of your school's best pitches to offer the scholarship so you don't waste valuable phone time on a recruit you eventually drop.
Once your school is at least three stars, you'll have more options as you'll excel at more pitches. This phase then becomes more about unlocking the pitches the recruit is most interested in and less about whether or not to drop the recruit from the roster.
Be diligent with your scholarships as a bigger school. If you fall behind in recruiting, don't be afraid to use them, but so long as you are a top school, wait until after the visit when the green bar is maxed out, then offer it. They'll sometimes sign right then.
Treat five star recruits different. Offer them a scholarship in week one. You want to come into the season swinging with the best recruits, and sometimes they'll even sign in week one or two.
Move players around on your board. As you see a player who has high interest in areas your school excels, move them up on your draft board. Also move up players that have you ranked as one of the top schools. The higher on your board, the more the player will respond. So get the ones most interested up to the top as quickly as possible.
Leave them smiling. It is always a good idea to leave the recruit happy even if you don't fill up the green bar for your call. If you've unlocked a few pitches but the recruit is a little miffed, try hard-selling what you are good at (and they are interested in) and leave them on a good note. If the hard-sell goes on too long, hit B to save some time.
Phase 2. Swaying the recruit.
Once you have the pitches unlocked, the real battle begins. You will sway a recruit by doing two things: (1) hard-selling them on the pitches where they have the most interest and your school has at least a B and (2) swaying them on areas where your school excels but their interest is only average or below.
Be careful trying to sway a recruit with above average interest. A failed attempt to sway can result in it going back to average and locking. This is okay to gamble with when you are in a heated battle over a recruit, but don't risk it if you are one of the top schools.
NCAA Football 2010 gives more feedback in recruiting than 09, so pay attention to it. The little 2 and -2 and 10 and -8 symbols that fly up on the left side of the screen tell you how a call is doing. There is also a face that becomes red when you are making him angry and green when he is happy. Use this info. If you are really pissing him off, hit B to exit out of the pitch.
There is also a bar that shows the potential of the call. You don't have to max it out each call, but try to get it at least 20% filled for recruits you are really interested in signing. Maxing it out too often will result in only being able to call a few recruits.
Spend more time when you see the X2 at the top. When you see that X2, spend the time to max out the green for that call. This indicator gives you a bonus in recruiting, so you might as well use it.
Always pay attention to how the recruit feels about you and other schools. If you fall too far behind and the recruit isn't a make-or-break player for your recruiting season, don't be afraid to drop them and add on a new player. As the season goes on, you can add on three star or two star recruits to fill positions.
Phase 3. Scheduling visits and competing against rival schools.
It is always best to schedule visits late in the year and against the better schools. A recruit is going to like you whipping Texas in week eleven far more than beating Florida Atlantic in week two. It's find to schedule a few recruits in early weeks, but save your choice recruits to latter in the season.
The last part of the season will also entail competing against rival schools by downplaying pitches. This is relatively straightforward. Just remember not to downplay a pitch that your school excels in as much or more than the rival school else you'll be doing more harm than good.
Also, don't get into too many competing matches if you are still spending time swaying many of your recruits. It can be time consuming trying to downplay a lot of pitches, so use it where it will do the most good: the recruits you want the most who like another school as much or slightly more than your school.
NCAA Football 2010 Recruiting - The offseason
Your first step in offseason recruiting is to check for new recruits. This is a new addition to NCAA Football 2010 -- recruits will pop up in offseason that weren't there during the season, so even if you haven't had a great season of recruiting, you can still fill a big need.
Recruiting during the offseason is much the same as recruiting during the season. Your first weeks will be spent scheduling a lot of visits. As recruits sign, you'll add on new recruits and focus on unlocking pitches first, then swaying the recruit by hard-selling and swaying their interest in where your school excels.
The big difference is the ability to make promises. These can be a great way to win a stiff competition or to make a new recruit immediately interested in your team. Not all promises are available when you just begin your dynasty -- you will have to fulfill promises to other players before those will open up.
You should always favor promises that are easy to keep like not redshirting the player. Failure to keep a promise could lead to the player transferring to another school. But don't be afraid to be bold with a top recruit. After all, if that 5-star running back transfers to USC after you promised him a national championship and didn't deliver, at least you had him for one year. But only reach when you need it -- if he's close to signing, promise him something simple. If he's probably going to sign with Arkansas, promise him the moon.
NCAA Football 2010 Recruiting - Quick Tips
Know when to break the rules. Remember, everything here is just a guideline. While two star recruits are mostly useless for a better team, a really fast wide receiver could still make a great punt or kick returner even if he's just a two star.
Don't throw good time after bad. Even if you are in week 9, if you are too far back in the race to sign a recruit, dump him.
Find good recruits late in the season. Use the search tool to look for recruits who have 10 schools remaining. This will give you a list of recruits who haven't really built up interest in any school. They are great to recruit later in the season.
Feel free to leave your tips or let everyone know what has worked best for you.
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Comments
nice tips thx alot
straight up
Awesome article! This is very helpful for me because I am playing with Baylor and it is very difficult to get recruits.
I'm having trouble with the "downplay" against other teams. It seems like every time I try to downplay the competition, the recruit instantly gets angry...I guess it's straight-forward for everybody but me!
i'm playing with bowling green, hard to get recruits...this helps alot!!
wow simply amazing help I needed every part of this article
I've played NCAA for a few years now and I picked it all up rather quickly. I just found out about the "look for the guys without any major interest in teams". I signed a five star in week 5 of offseason recruiting after not talking to him since week 4-5 or so of the regular season. He has no interest in anyone so I gobbled him up. NCAA regulars should already know most/if not all of this, but you hit it right on the head... exactly how I recruit (minus me throwing out scholarships like candy at a parade). I have a bad habit, I know.
I know I throw out scholarships a TON! I was like "wait... how many scholarships have a gave? 29!!!" And sice then I havn't given out a scholarship since XD
this will give me the edge over my fellow dynasty members thanks alot
Awesome! Thanks this will help solidify my recruiting process
awesome i'm playing with baylor too its hard to recruit for them! haha
wow i knew this already tryin to look 4 somethin else to help
I could recruit a three-legged cat to play with a pack of dogs.
What I am most confused about is the red, white and green next to pitches when you are scheduling visits.
This was a great article. I grabbed a 5-star OLB in week 2 of the offseason after no discussion with him prior. 88 overall as a freshman, 89 speed! He's a beast. (Currently rebuilding the Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles)
@bjh...I'm with you, I have no idea how to do the "downplay thing" are +s good or are -s good? I don't get it.
im with just about everyone here with the downplay i think it is to hard so i just leave it alone so i wont screwe my self over with a 5 star player but thanks alot for the tips it will help me out alot with -georgia bulldogs-
I usually get players I want without any of these tips most of recruiting is common sense. Another thing is that there is no shame in using the quick call either seems to work for me pretty well at times.
anybody noticed the little unlocked symbol at the top left of the page when calling a recruit? it appears just to the left of their head. Whats it mean?
I want to know what are the symbols from the green dots to the 2+, can someone help a beginner out?
I want to know what are the symbols from the green dots to the 2+, can someone help a beginner out?
The downplay isn't "fairly straightforward." Like some of the other posters, I can't ever get it to work right. Are you supposed to downplay the C and D ratings for the other school, or target their areas of strength? They always get angry and hang up.
Also, your suggested targeting of all 5 and 4 star players doesn't work if you are playing as a one-star team. Anyone can win the National Championship on the highest setting with a mid-pack team (three stars or better), so for those of us that play the game on Heisman with a weak team, you should have a different strategy, one with an actual chance of landing recruits. Try starting a dynasty on Heisman setting with Army and see how many 5 star players have even heard of your school.
I suppose if you play the game on the easiest settings though, with a BCS school, your tips for recruiting might work.
i found it works best to pick the 10 - 12 people you want the most and recruit them and JUST THEM until you have everyone signed and then you can go after more recruits. also, don't let the computer put people on your recruiting board, especially if you have the advisor helping you, which i suggest (because the advisor will only help out the 10 - 12 people you have on your board and not randomly help people you are not really going after that hard). and finally set up your visit when the bar is very close to all the way filled up, and recruit those who have a closer visit date a little harder then someone that has their visit furthure away. I also like setting up visits around weeks 6 - 8 to try and sign people ASAP.
When you want to down play, you want to target the opposing teams weak catergories. So if the team has a weak recruiting rank in academics or whatever...try pitching in that catergory. If you try to downplay something the school has a A+ A, on the board with you will eventually irritate the player. Hope this makes since.
You all need to make it where when you create a person you can pick there top 5 schools they like...that would help you recruit them and it would make it funnier because you are there creator so you would know who they like and dont like even though they might not get an offer to that school
and for the players out there that have trouble with the pass game its a play that if you have a QB with 80 speed you can get nice yard from. ou has it and ark. 5 wide 4 verts. set it up on that left or right hash marks. if on left put the 3 wr to your right. make the short route and the far right streak hot ones and run to your left and look down the middile. BIG yards.
what do you do to stop fumbling
ok so when in the offseason i promise a player playing time. How much playing time does he need? a few mins a game? a few games out of the year? the starter or what? somebody plz let me know?
o and jay... thsts ez. you can ether put your rushing game plan on the safety mode. lower chance of lossing the ball but les broken taks tho. or dont hit the speed until you hit the hole then hit it. this will make the d move slower givein you time to pick your hole and hit button to hold the ball faster b4 they get to you.
im with wisconsin and i win the nat. champ every season, in the offseason even if he isnt interested and you have a good school like me, offer him promises like winning against rivals, conference, and nat championship, then the next week offer him a scholarship, sometimes he might make you his no 1 school which helped me alot, if your team is really good and u get recruit thats a junior, cut him cuz he wont play
90% of the time you can sign any recruit you target by using a trick Ive discoverd. Say your target has 2 other schools he likes more than yours and those scools are recruiting him hard. During the first couple weeks Create another few Coach's in Dynasty Setup->Coach Positions. Once Coaches are created go to find job and pick to Coach the team that is trying to get your player. Go to thier draft board and remove your prospect from thier board and replace w/ a scrub.Go back to the create a coach a quit that job. Now less competition recruiting your man. Not ethical but it really works
PS3 IS THERE A WAY TO DISABLE THE 1ST PERSON VIEW.ON DEFENSE IT JUST SCREWS ME UP,THE QB GOES INTO A HARD COUNT AND DRAWS ME OFFSIDE THEN IM SO IN A HURRY TO GET BACK ON SIDES I HIT THE L3 BUTTON AGAIN AND END UP FURTHER IN THE BACK FIELD OR ENCROCHING
I ALWAYS PLAY ON THE D-LINE AND JUST THINK ITS THE DUMBEST PLACE TO PUT THAT CONTROL AND I CANT FIND A WAT RO DISABLE IT
I like to search and see who has me first. I always offer them at the first possible opportunity - if they are good enough - and can pull quite a few. I definitely go after the 5's and 4's heavy but do look for 2 and 3s a little deeper when I have the time. I say this because you can find players in positions where they are actually OUT Of POSITION and ranked low.
Ive found CBs FS and S that were better linebackers than they were DBs... the FS and S are usually dead giveaways - 6-3 225 LOL - CBs that are Hard Hitters and have the pursuit/awareness/tackling = to that of the good LBs and are over say... 210 will make good LBs (at least for me). The biggest plus is that you can usually find a guy that is pretty fast as a LB whereas they would be average speed or slow as a DB.
I usually dont have to stretch too far for 2 and 3s with my teams (once established). When I take a mid-level school though, I do my homework and polish those that look like turds into A-As.
Frank Butts is dead on; you are not going to win with a 2 star team on Heisman. For added challenge do an online Dynasty on Heisman - your frustration levels will increase.
The key to recruiting as a mid major or lower is continued success on the field. The better and further you go each year the easier it gets to recruit the better players.
I would love for someone to line up and run an 80 speed QB v. me my DE and LBs would be hitsticking em until the 3rd string is in. :). Not to mention a Corner blitz every now and again to keep em unbalanced.
This game gets better every year. I've not seen anyone speak about the Defensive keys. They work.
Doe - the off season promises are a hard thing to do. If I offer PT I consiously try to get that player plenty of PT in the 2nd half of each game minimum. If Im blowing a team out - i'll stick them in sooner. It forces us to manage our teams more.
Jay- fumbling is due to low carry or the RB being tired
- check the Sub settings to make sure you dont have it set where the subs happen when the player is totally tired.
- if his carry rating is low - its time to make him a linebacker, FB , TE or DE.
i know a good cheat... in preseason recruiting create your player. create them as a P or K but make make their kick accuracy/kick power 0. then change all other attributes to what you want. so if want a QB: create a kicker with the kick attributes at 0 then change their pass attributes, speed, etc.. to 99 or so. make sure to make the player in your home state. once created they will show up as a 1 star K or P. RECRUIT THEM. about 90% you will sign them. Once signed, recruiting over, in the offseason for position changes, change them to a QB or whatever you created them to be.... it works almost everytime for me. i know its heating but when you are a 2 star or so team this really helps. its not really necessary for a 5 star program to do it. just my 2 cents.
i'm playing as western kentucky and i can not land any 3 star recruits and i went undefeated. What should i do?
i am also doing a dynasty as wku, but i found i had to be quicker to dump players and refresh new recruits alot more than i did at louisville, my recomendation is to continually look for 3-4 star recruits who have not been offered yet. with that stategy cupled with picking up a couple juco transfers i was able to land 4 4star recruits at western kentucky my first season as well as about 10 3star players, and i lost 1 game that year. hope it helps! good luck
I play in an online dynasty where I am UCF. I just won the National Championship, beating Tulsa twice in the one year. Yet, I was only able to sign 0 Five-stars, 7 four stars and 7 three stars. The guy playing as Tulsa signed 12 five stars, 14 four stars and every good player this year has him in the top 10 on their list in week 1. What is he doing that I'm not? He has never beat me and we're in the same conference, we're both 5 star prestige.
Michael,
Not sure. I have seen the same thing in my own OD, where I can out-recruit my human opponents and we all have equal school rankings. I am not certain of your recruiting methods, but you might try this:
Sift through the Top 100 and look for guys that have their top 10 schools rated equally (esp those with red on all schools). Target those guys that have no top 1-3 schools and offer schollys immediately. Work on them each week and you will wind up signing some. Keep on winning championships haha. Your rival can get all the damn recruits in the world, but if you win championships thats what its all about, brother. Good luck!!
Is it bad to use the quick call option?
Actually I "LIVE" by the quick call. It is great for unlocking pitches and even "budgeting" your time. Use quick call to unlock pitches early, especially if you are rated consistently across all recruiting areas: Facilities, Proximity to Home, etc. If not then the call can unlock those 2-3 areas where you excel and go from there. Generally if I have a guy I am near-100% sure is signing I just put 20-30 min per week recruiting him. That way I dont get bogged down on wasting time just to have him frown at me. Much easier IMHO.
Currently I am Virginia in year 4 of an OD and have 4 5-stars and 5 4-stars signed and it's week 11. I have a verbal one another 5-star, with me being #1 on several more. All this accomplished using Quick Call, so yes it works!
Good luck!
What rob said below about finding your QB in making a kicker or punter is totally accurate. I made an elite roster out of 3 qbs who had no throwing power or throwing accuracy but they all had every other attribute. They show up as one-stars and in the first weeks you send them offers,they show interest instantly.
I also love the quick call it is a great way to budget minutes, but if you really need or want a guy you have to call them! I would not rely on the computer to find things out and normally they wont unlock anything new unless you do 30-45 min. The computer also tends to just pitch the same things if it already knows a couple of the recruits favorite. My last class 16-5stars 7-4 stars 2-3stars! plus never be afraid to look at the recruits ratings! often 3 stars are better the 4s and I have had them better then 5s! plus a strong,hard-hitting,slow SS=Great MLB
This is the best tip. I should sell this but nah lol. Even though you won't be the best recruiting class, you'll be the best team. When you create a recruit, make them a punter. Make all of their attributes a 99, except for kicking. Make their kicking attributes 0s. They'll show up as 1 star recruits but all you have to do is change their position and they're overall will be a 99. Best and easiest way to get an amazing team.
What happens if I don't sign a recruit in a "need" position? EX. I need a FS, I recruited an ATH to be my FS, but I'm afraid that at the end of the season, I will either lose one of my recruits (at random) to get a walk-on FS, or I will only be able to sign 24 guys I want. Is that true? Is there a way to tell the system that I want the ATH to be my FS? Thanks!
a recruits response to a given pitch stays constant even after say a restart. So if u spend a little extra time at the start of the season you can find out all the info you need by quitting and restarting, allowing you to have all the very highs and mosts mapped out. Its tedious and time consuming but helps in the long run if you already know all the important info before you start week 1.
I work around using the quick call and the call feature. they both work and depend on how good u actually are at recruiting it work magic me I work well recruiting but i learned many new things about the recruiting board every year. Here is a big secret I learned on the recruiting board the week the player comes in offer a scholoarship the green bar goes straight to the top most of the time. If not it usually most the way up or even more than half way up. I have a dynasty with USC, VTtech, Arkansas State, Duke and every year i end up being in the top 10 in recruiting. This year with USC I ended up number 1 before the season ended no cheating involved 17- 5 star recruits 6 4 stars and 2 3 stars. Recruting is simple and it doesnt involve alot of strategy
Oh and another extremely important point for inviting recruits to games. If you are playing as Auburn and competing against Alabama for a potential recruit, Invite him to the Iron Bowl (Auburn Vs. Alabama game), and make sure you win. Not only will his approval for your school rise, but his approval for Alabama will plummet, so it's almost like he visited twice!
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