WVU gives EA SPORTS insight into recruiting

[baseballplyrmvp]

With the new NCAA recruiting rules that are being implemented this year there are no rules on texting, so texting a recruit should not count against your time limit at all. Also they pulled the rules on boosters contacting recruits via social media (because it was to hard to track and too easy for boosters of rival schools, to pose as a booster contacting a recruit, to get their rival investigate by the NCAA). So you can have your boosters do your recruiting for you via social media.

some of the new recruiting rules got put on hold until a later date. i dont believe they have been fully enacted yet.

[SmoothPancakes]

I understand the point of wanting to still be able to recruit kids after they have signed or even not getting any hard commits until later in the season, but I honestly feel like that would make it entirely too time consuming! If I have to keep talking to a kid after he has committed it would make it more real ( lets be real we are talking video games and what happens in real life isn't always the best option for a video game), but the time spent in recruiting would have to jump by a noticable amount of time. I couldn't get past a few season in 2K basketballl at a time because of the amount of time it takes to recruit and all the other stuff.

I fear I am in the minority with on this though.

Agreed. I'm in something like week 6 or 7 of my current season in my Tulsa dynasty. I have spent time from week to week on maybe 12 or 13 people tops, because I have to keep pumping 60 minutes in most of them every week to keep up with the other teams on their board, or keep from losing whatever small lead I have. If all of those changes were to be implemented or they didn't increase the amount of time we have to spend in recruiting each week, I'd be lucky to bring in recruiting classes of more than 12-14 people each season in future editions of the game.

I'm not opposed to changes to recruiting as it is now, as it does need some changes. But it can quickly get to overkill. I play NCAA to play the games and experiences and joys and heartbreaks of wins and losses on the field, not spend hours every week with my head shoved in the recruiting section. Some things I would love to emulate real life in this game, but recruiting is definitely not one of them. If I wanted to experience real life recruiting, I'd go job shadow a real life recruiter.

[baseballplyrmvp]

I understand the point of wanting to still be able to recruit kids after they have signed or even not getting any hard commits until later in the season, but I honestly feel like that would make it entirely too time consuming! If I have to keep talking to a kid after he has committed it would make it more real ( lets be real we are talking video games and what happens in real life isn't always the best option for a video game), but the time spent in recruiting would have to jump by a noticable amount of time. I couldn't get past a few season in 2K basketballl at a time because of the amount of time it takes to recruit and all the other stuff.

I fear I am in the minority with on this though.

it would require a lot more time, indeed, but recruiting never stops, irl (even in the dead period, it still happens).

however, out of your average recruiting board of, lets say, 20 recruits, how many of them are you gonna be in a serious recruiting battle for? You're gonna find some recruits that you'll be the only one talking to, so not everyone is gonna require an hour a week just to keep a solidified commitment. it will still require more time, but i dont think it'll double or triple the time that you're currently spending.

i do think though, that if decommitments are in, that they should only happen for a reason. there should be a set of "standards," for which they occur and not be totally random. a recruit is not gonna decommit from tulsa (even though he's OV'ed and has a scholly offer) to walk-on at alabama having never talked to the coaches at all. there has to be a reason for the decommit.

[natetcu]

it would require a lot more time, indeed, but recruiting never stops, irl (even in the dead period, it still happens).

however, out of your average recruiting board of, lets say, 20 recruits, how many of them are you gonna be in a serious recruiting battle for? You're gonna find some recruits that you'll be the only one talking to, so not everyone is gonna require an hour a week just to keep a solidified commitment. it will still require more time, but i dont think it'll double or triple the time that you're currently spending.

i do think though, that if decommitments are in, that they should only happen for a reason. there should be a set of "standards," for which they occur and not be totally random. a recruit is not gonna decommit from tulsa (even though he's OV'ed and has a scholly offer) to walk-on at alabama having never talked to the coaches at all. there has to be a reason for the decommit.

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/re...-modifications

Removing communication limits for coaches and assistants is still uncontested, so the 10 hour limit is gone, it (irl) is now unlimited. Same with texting and social media.

[baseballplyrmvp]

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/re...-modifications

Removing communication limits for coaches and assistants is still uncontested, so the 10 hour limit is gone, it (irl) is now unlimited. Same with texting and social media.

but it can still be over-ridden by the schools. nothing is set in stone yet until the may hearing.

[oweb26]

I'm not opposed to changes to recruiting as it is now, as it does need some changes. But it can quickly get to overkill. I play NCAA to play the games and experiences and joys and heartbreaks of wins and losses on the field, not spend hours every week with my head shoved in the recruiting section. Some things I would love to emulate real life in this game, but recruiting is definitely not one of them. If I wanted to experience real life recruiting, I'd go job shadow a real life recruiter.

I agree with this recruiting could stand for some sort of overhaul but lets be real we are talking about EA overkill is the only next logical step here. I LOVE to recruit do not get me wrong, but I LOVE to play my games also and spending 30-45 min a week recruiting is a big pain.

@ Baseball
I try to talk to everyone on my board as my theory has and always will be if I get you to sign quick then that frees up time I can give to someone else. I don't see how it wont at a minmimum double my time!! If I still have talk to guys even after they commit they are still technically on my board and will require to me ration out some sort of system to fit them into my time allotment even if they increase the amount of time.

So lets say I sign this highly ranked tackle who has 12+ offers, he will still more than likely require big time as I am sure 10 of those schools will still try to sign him, thus increasing the amount of time I need to spend making sure I talk to the right people. Again I say everything that happens in real life doesn't need to move on to video games.

In your own example frankly my board is rarely up to 20 but for arguments sake I will say it is; if I am playing with say a FSU of this world not many of them will I be in a recruiting battle, but if I am playing with the Tulsa's of the world every last damn one of them I am fighting for unless its that crappy 1* fullback that no one wants and he has that one attribute I am looking for. As it stands right now I cannot allot an hour to each one of them anyway if I have 20 on my board, where it gets time consuming is where do I spend my time the most and if you throw in the prospects of decommits that throws yet another wrinkle into my plans (its not necessarily a bad wrinkle) especially if I am Tulsa and I steal a 5* who's to say that FSU can't all of a sudden come on hard that means that I (as in Tulsa) will always be fighting an uphill battle (please don't throw the that's how it really is for Tulsa, because on a video game if you never get ahead at some point you wouldn't play it).

[baseballplyrmvp]

oweb, you're trying to walk a very fine line here. on one hand, people want it as realistic as possible and more of a challenge. on the other, people still want recruiting to be arcadey and easy. unless a recruit grew up right down the street from the golden hurricanes, no 5* in real life, would sign with them. if i had my way, the recruit wouldnt even answer the phone call for practically all of the 1, 2, and 3* schools on the game.

if every recruit on your board requires an hour each week, then imo, you're setting your sights too high. in this site's 360 od, i'm 5* arizona state and i'll end up landing 6 5* recruits. 2 of them have already committed, but i had a 500 point lead on one of em (77 ovr), and a 1300 point lead on the other (82 ovr). some guys are gonna require an hour every week....thats just the norm. some guys wont though, and you have to know when to call it quits. i've ended up cutting a guy from my board when i was only 80 points behind the #1 guy, simply because i track my points from week to week. i had a big lead on a couple recruits, and just started losing it to lsu and alabama. i had most of my highly graded pitches found and realized that my max point phone call just wasnt enough to beat out lsu and bama.

but again, i think you're setting your sights too high if you have to spend an hour on every recruit every week, just to stay competitive. imo, that should be the risk you have to deal with for going after those higher rated recruits, with a smaller rated school.

[oweb26]

I am not sure you are getting my point ; I think you are, but I was using examples I wouldn't actually try to get a 5* recruit with tulsa.

[baseballplyrmvp]

I am not sure you are getting my point ; I think you are, but I was using examples I wouldn't actually try to get a 5* recruit with tulsa.

ok but still, even if you're targetting 3* recruits with tulsa, i just dont see how every single one of your 15 or so 3* and lower recruits (you said rarely get up to 20) is gonna require an hour every week. some guys will, some guys wont. but certainly not all of them. for od's, its a little different as you're trying to out-recruit another person so naturally you're gonna throw the kitchen sink at the recruit each week, but against the cpu, i just dont see it....idk, your experiences are different from mine. but i've never come close to what you're describing. i, almost always, end up in a position where i can start cutting back on time for elite recruits, about midway through the season; usually going as low as 20 minutes a week, and maintaining my lead over the second place school.

[pantherone26]

I would like to see a bigger deal made of National Signing day. It's become a big deal in the real world, why not in the game? Real time announcements from the top players in the country sure would be cool on Signing Day would be amazing.

[oweb26]

ok but still, even if you're targetting 3* recruits with tulsa, i just dont see how every single one of your 15 or so 3* and lower recruits (you said rarely get up to 20) is gonna require an hour every week. some guys will, some guys wont. but certainly not all of them. for od's, its a little different as you're trying to out-recruit another person so naturally you're gonna throw the kitchen sink at the recruit each week, but against the cpu, i just dont see it....idk, your experiences are different from mine. but i've never come close to what you're describing. i, almost always, end up in a position where i can start cutting back on time for elite recruits, about midway through the season; usually going as low as 20 minutes a week, and maintaining my lead over the second place school.

So you have missed my point....and I will just say okay because this could go on for some time.

[baseballplyrmvp]

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/re...-modifications

Removing communication limits for coaches and assistants is still uncontested, so the 10 hour limit is gone, it (irl) is now unlimited. Same with texting and social media.

and now those proposed rule changes will get reviewed.

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/st...medium=twitter

[jaymo76]

My concern for 14 is that recruiting will look and feel more like NCAA basketball 10. I know this is a divisive issue but I am at the point (much like smooth, oweb26, etc.) that recruiting is just becoming too time consuming. Late in my dynasty I just stop recruiting all together and let the cpu take over. I actually liked NCAA 13 and I really don't want anymore complexity. I really want the team to focus on all of the other stuff that can be added to dynasty to increase the immersion.

[JeffHCross]

Agreed, jaymo. I love the depth at times, but I don't have as much time as I used to.

[pantherone26]

It sounds like people would favor two versions of recruiting, a deep immerse edition and a quick version. Might be a feature EA should look into. I personally love the recruiting and want it to get more and more in depth every year, it's my favorite part of the game, but I know plenty of people who don't like it as much as I do.

[JeffHCross]

The problem is how do you make both versions even in terms of points? And if you do, why do you make a deep version? Otherwise you've just told all the people that don't have the time for the deep version that they lose recruiting.

If they can make it deep AND quick then you have everyone satisfied. And yes, that is possible.

[SmoothPancakes]

The problem is how do you make both versions even in terms of points? And if you do, why do you make a deep version? Otherwise you've just told all the people that don't have the time for the deep version that they lose recruiting.

If they can make it deep AND quick then you have everyone satisfied. And yes, that is possible.

Yeah, if they can pull it off, I'd be cool with it. I might try the deep version at first, but ultimately I would opt for the quick version. I play NCAA for the action on the field, not in the recruiting menus. I'm fine with recruiting as it is right now. There are some things here and there that could use and do need changed or reworked, but as it is now, I'm fine with it. It can take a while, but it's not an obscene amount of time spent on recruiting week to week.

Playing 9 minute quarters, while simultaneously typing up game summaries to post in my dynasty thread, it takes a good 2 1/2 hours just to simply play one game and post the game recap in the thread. Add in the time spent typing up the weekly recap of top 25 action, polls, etc, and then recruiting, it can take 3 1/2 to 4 hours just to complete a single week, starting with recruiting, playing the game, then all the top 25 recaps and new polls, and finally advance to the next week. It makes it extremely difficult to get more than one, maybe two games in at a time, and that's pretty much only if I'm off that day or stay up half the night getting the games in. Much deeper recruiting would only lengthen that amount of time, making me lucky to get anything more than one game played anytime I jump on NCAA.

[JeffHCross]

Yeah, but Smooth you could easily cut down on some of that. I'm more thinking about the guys that have an hour forty-five to play a 90 minute game and recruit.

[Rudy]

Interesting article. I think change is always good to keep it fresh and more realistic. I also agree with Smooth and Oweb that recruiting is time consuming enough and can be tedious. Adding time to that process is something that may appease the hardcore but I would think the majority of kids buying the game would find too much.

The first NCAA game I ever bought was NCAA 06 which I had to import from the US (more of a pain back then) and I loved it. I loved recruiting because it was so simple on the PS2. You just allocated hours to each prospect and every week would see if you went up or down. You didn't specify what you did and so it was a quick call system without the option to spend more time. I had more fun doing it that way every week. I can still quick call in the new game but my anal side takes over and doesn't like to lose control. It's a double edged sword for me although I haven't immersed myself deeply in an NCAA dynasty since NCAA 11. The first week of initial board setup can be very time consuming and tedious. I always dreaded that week and dreading something isn't good. Sort of like having to practice in Madden 13 to get XP.

The true beauty of NCAA's dynasty mode is the quick roster turnover, not the recruiting process imo. Every year is exciting and fresh because you are losing so many kids and adding so many new kids. I like doing stuff during the year in Madden 13 (re-signing guys, scouting) and it was really good this year (other than practice which was optional) but it didn't take too long. I don't mind taking a long time in the offseason for the draft or free agency but not during my season.

[JeffHCross]

Rudy, I agree with you about the turnover. But without the process, you don't have the control over said roster.

I really do imagine we're badly overthinking this. I don't foresee a complete overhaul coming at this point.