jas80s wrote:1. Generally speaking, about how many players should be recruited at any given time? My first run through, I was usually around 20 or so. I was at a medium school, so the top guys shot me down, so I started focusing on mid level guys and local talent.
2. When in the process do you offer scholarships? Is it solely near the end? Is there an advantage to doing it early?
3. Is there something to be gained by continuing to watch film on a player? Once you get the basic grades they seem pretty static, so is there something else you gain by watching again?
My first time through, I focused on local guys and continued the process with guys who showed interest and abandoned the ones that didn't. Each period I would jettison the guys who said no, and replaced them with a few more prospects. Is that about the gist of it?
1. I don't think it matters much how many players you recruit at a time. Only 50 players can be added to your call and watch lists, and other actions like watching film, hosting recruits for campus tours, scouting live at games, and visiting recruits at their homes are limited in the number of times per week one can perform those actions. Some players of the game like to keep their call and watch lists full, other players only watch about 20-30 players at a time, and sometimes players know exactly who they want and who they think they can recruit to their school and pursue less than 10 recruits during the recruiting season. It's your preference. I like to recruit at least 4 guys intensely because that is the maximum number of home visits one can make per week during the contact period. At small schools I will have a plethora of prospects on my call and watch lists since few decent recruits are interested at first in attending low prestige programs. It also takes several weeks to watch film and scout the different summer camps in order to assign grades to recruits and their skills. When coaching schools that likely won't land any top recruits, it's important to consider the grades recruits have to see if they have the skills necessary to play well in your offensive and defensive systems.
Some players do prune their call and watch lists by removing recruits who don't show interest after a few weeks of recruiting, then add some new recruits to the lists to see if any of them begin exhibiting interest. I like keeping players who have the skills I prefer on my lists for months at a time because sometimes a good player will take that long to develop interest in my program. I also keep tabs on these players for the spring recruiting session if I don't fill all of my scholarships in the fall. Sometimes recruits won't look at attending small programs until spring. I do add players to the lists, watch film of the freshly added players, and remove other players from the lists in between fall and spring.
At lower prestige schools, it is easier to recruit local players than out of state and especially out of region prospects.
2. I do not know if there is any advantage to offering scholarships to recruits early (like in July). I prefer to offer scholarships in August, especially on August 14. Recruits' top preferred schools update when the game progresses to August 21, so I like to see if offering a scholarship the week prior makes a difference in how much my prime targets are interested in playing for me. Sometimes I do offer scholarships in July, other times I wait until September.
3. There is nothing gained by watching film of a player more than once.