Arlie - recruiting

[GeoWar]

Can we have a way to encourage "higher" level walk-ons ? We would need to be able to offer scholarships to players after the season or before . If you have a player that is making an impact or if you have a scholarship leftover you can assign it to a player.

[Arlie Rahn]

The problem with having "better" walkons is that it makes the recruiting process less relevant for smaller schools. if you know that a walkon has a similar ability as a lower recruit, you can just go after better players knowing (worst case) you will just get walk-ons slightly worse than the lower level recruited guys.

[monaghanhusker]

Follow-up -- Preferred Has there ever been any consideration for recruiting a "preferred" walk-on. You would still have to allocate money, etc. to a specific player, but you wouldn't necessary have to use a scholarship. I'm mostly thinking about lower star players who may have few/no offers. Perhaps there could be some restriction (such that the player would be guaranteed a scholarship at some point -- ala "grayshirting")?

[SkyDog]

[quote=monaghanhusker]Has there ever been any consideration for recruiting a "preferred" walk-on. You would still have to allocate money, etc. to a specific player, but you wouldn't necessary have to use a scholarship. I'm mostly thinking about lower star players who may have few/no offers.[/quote]The problem is that in the vast majority of cases, doing so would be very unrealistic. You may be leaving out something that is a huge consideration in real life, but isn't modeled in BBCF: smaller colleges offering these kids scholarships. Having been around a ton of those kids (lower star players who have no offers from D1 schools, but one or two from lower-tier schools), I'm telling you that it is [I]EXTREMELY [/I]rare for a prospect to get a full scholarship from somewhere like Tusculum or Ga. State or South Carolina St. or Alabama St. or Newberry, and instead decide to walk on at Georgia/Auburn/Bama/USC/Clemson, for four primary reasons: 1. money 2. money 3. money 4. not having the grades/SAT's to get into a D-1 school as a "normal" student Around here, would they all LOVE to walk on at an SEC or ACC school??? Of COURSE!!! However, I can point to kid after kid who went to Samford, Presbyterian, Newberry, Maryville, South Carolina St., Tusculum, etc. etc. etc. when they got an offer from them, instead of becoming walk-ons at top-tier programs. I've been very close to the program at one of the "Very High" schools in Georgia in the game, and I can state definitively that in the last 8 years, we've had only ONE prospect who was a 1-2 star guy, was offered money by lower-tier schools, but instead chose to walk on at a D1 school (Clemson). That particular kid comes from a quite wealthy family. His daddy went to Clemson. His granddaddy went to Clemson. He was going to Clemson. In every single other case (and I'm talking three to six 1-2 star kids every year from this school), these types of guys ended up at a small school on scholarship. Heck, while there's one who walked on over the years, I can point to three who had the grades, AND [I]whose families COULD afford tuition at a UGA[/I], but who STILL accepted scholarships offers at lower tier schools (one at Samford, one at Presbyterian, and one at Georgetown). I'm a member of two UGA recruiting paysites, and they do profiles of walk-on players from time to time. In nearly every case, they are kids with a 3.0+ GPA's who went to high schools that are solidly middle to upper-middle class. The majority of them never get to dress for a road game. They're live tackling dummies. For every one feel-good story you hear about a walk-on earning a starting spot, there are literally hundreds of kids who never see the field on game day. BOTTOM LINE: It is an [I]extremely[/I] rare prospect who has both the grades and the money to be able to turn down a full ride at a lesser school in order to be a walk-on at a D1 school.

[btmlltt]

So much for my Rudy recreation. :( :D

[SkyDog]

[quote=btmlltt]So much for my Rudy recreation. :( :D[/quote]Well, that's what makes the Rudy story such a special one. It's a fairly tale come true. It's J-Mac hitting 6 three pointers. It's a lightning-striking, once-in-a-lifetime moment. If it happened with any sort of regularity, they wouldn't make a movie about it, now would they? ;)

[Arlie Rahn]

To Ben's point. One of the balance issues with BBCF early on was that the lower level recruits were basically the same as walkons (a big thanks to both Ben and Quiksand for pointing this out when they did). I didn't take into account the fact that many unrecruited kids would go I-AA, II or III and had to make that change in one of the updates.

[SkyDog]

[quote=Arlie Rahn]I didn't take into account the fact that many unrecruited kids would go I-AA, II or III[/quote]Don't beat yourself up too badly. I was testing and playing the game nearly every day for like three months before it hit me that all those guys shouldn't be walking on. :p

[Dirk9827]

SkyDog, you are complete correct in your eloquent response. I went to a small Division II school, and you cannot believe the difference it made in terms of quality when our conference decided to go from non-scholarship to scholarship. Most scholarships are partial, but that got us kids who were all-state and just undersized compared to the prototype Division I player. Besides the money factor, which is huge, and grades, I would add a reason players will go for the scholarship at a smaller school: ego. If someone offers you a scholarship, even a partial one, it is an endorsement of your talent. Every kid wants to say that he is on a basketball or football scholarship. It sounds like you are someone important. Being a walk-on, however noble, is a tough road. SkyDog was right in saying the deck is generally stacked against you because the focus and opportunities are going to go to the scholarship players since they were offered rides based on "potential" and will get every opportunity to prove themselves. Even if you are say, a great walk-on who busts his butt on scout team, you are still part of a cohesive unit. You may be playing great but if the guys around you aren't getting the job against the first-team defensive, for example, it's tough to stand out. If you are walk-on quarterback consistently throwing to 7th-string wideouts in practice against a top-caliber SEC defense, there isn't much you are going to do that is going to look fantastic.

[GeoWar]

[QUOTE=Arlie Rahn]To Ben's point. One of the balance issues with BBCF early on was that the lower level recruits were basically the same as walkons (a big thanks to both Ben and Quiksand for pointing this out when they did). I didn't take into account the fact that many unrecruited kids would go I-AA, II or III and had to make that change in one of the updates.[/QUOTE] I am from Nebraska and the college has always had an outstanding walk-on program. In Nebraska they play 6-man, 8-man, and 11-man football. 6 and 8 man players don't always give a good read for major college. Nebraska has had walkons go on to play Pro ball. Some are playing today. A higher level walkon would be recruited and likely visit, but due to scholarship numbers would not be offered --- that is why the game should allow you to offer scholarships to walkons ---- players who have walked on may decide to transfer or focus on academics if they choose .... or maybe he is content except that he feels he deserves a scholarship (if he does not get one it effects his play).

[GeoWar]

I still feel this needs to be adjusted in some way -- EGO of players is a factor ...