When to Pitch a Recruit - Better to Redshirt or No?

[unreal5]

I'm starting out with Colorado. We're horrible and I'm just hoping not to get fired before I can turn it around.

 

I have 2 questions....

 

In recruiting is it better to wait until you know the EXACT pitch or to pitch early?

 

In player development is it better to redshirt my best recruits so they come back the next year better than ever, or should I play them? What gets their ratings highest in the long run?

[bsmitty]

The later you can pitch to a 9-10 interest level recruit, the better. However, if they have multiple offers after week 1 or 2, you may have to go ahead and offer if you want a chance. That's also a good indicator of how good the recruit actually is. If a recruit is 4-5 weeks into recruiting with little offers, they may not be as good as advertised. In budgeting/recruiting services, I pay up for the best service in the region my team is located.

 

Regarding redshirting, you have to consider the player's liklihood to transfer. Top recruits will likely transfer if they are redshirted. I write down what a player's rating/potential rating is when my class is signed and then compare it once camp ends. Offseason workouts can impact some players that you would have considered redshirting right after signing them but they improve enough by the end of camp that you put them on the 2-deep.

 

Somewhat related, on Transfers, I will only consider players that are Freshmen and are a potential 4-5 star. Two teams I have coached are Texas and Tennessee so with their prestige, that is doable. Just remember if a Transfer joins your team, they sit out a year and are not an immediate help.

[unreal5]

This is great knowledge. You seem to know a lot about this! I'm loving playing so far. It's been tough with Colorado because of the budget and the competition but I'm hoping for a 7/8 win season which should increase the budget next season.

 

In regards to setting up your roster how often do you switch positions with players? It seems impossible to get any decent secondary players to come and so it might make more sense to switch line backers and wide receivers to safeties and CBs.

[william1993]

I made a post on switching players on one of the player guides

 

One thing you have to understand with switching is that a player may never have played that position before. They might be undersized or oversized in the parameters of the game engine. You can take some 5'10 170 WR and TRY to convert him to CB, but if he never played before(usually on a recruit's stats page you can see if they played O and D in school) his development rate will probably be slower and his upside probably poorer.

 

I don't switch positions a lot unless they are close (OG to C or DT to DE,etc) AND I am really desperate (for example, if I have 9 S but only 3 CB, then I'd switch some S)

[bsmitty]

William, regarding switching positions, I've only done it a couple of times. Recently I changed a player from OLB to ILB. The game indicated that the upgrade would take the player from "Good" to "Very Good". That was all i needed to see. Do you put much value in that indicator?

[william1993]

I do, but when you do it, realize that the game engine may have different weight requirements for position

 

so taking a OLB (who is 215/230 lbs) to OLB (who might be 225/240 lbs) would be good because they have the opportunity to pack on more pounds, they are not oversized.