This is what I think happens in recruiting preferences:
In general, preference categories are on/off switches. So matching a preference is good, the stronger the better. Missing out on one hurts, but not fatally. It is important to remember that the opposite is NEVER true. I'll comment on that below.
So what do they mean?
Academics: Each school has a rating. If a recruit has a preference for academics, the higher your school's rating, the better. Fairly simple.
School and Conference Prestige: Your school has a rating for prestige. The higher the better. Not having a preference does NOT mean the recruit WANTS to go to a lower tier school, merely that those schools won't be penalized when the recruiting preferences are summed and totaled. You can improve these ratings by winning.
Coach Discipline: You, the coach, have a rating for this. Whether or not the discipline ratings of your staff come in to play, I don't know.
Location: How close is your recruit's hometown to your school on Google maps? Remember that not having a preference for location does NOT mean he wants to play on the other coast. Simply that far away schools won't be penalized.
Facilities: Similar to Prestige, your school has a rating. Only a Board request can improve this.
Lastly is Playing Time. This is the most nebulous category in that you cannot promise a kid playing time. So what does it mean? I think it means the same thing as in other college games, and that is simply, does your team have a Senior starter at the recruits position. If it does, that's good. If not, it is a zero. What this means is that a school graduating a player will have an edge trying to replace like-for-like.
To summarize, each category is totaled up by multiplying the the strength of preference and your school's score in the category. Zero is as low as you can go, there is never a negative score.
How the game totals up interest is unknown to me. It likely keeps track of the recruit's Top Ten and adjusts for the interest shown by those schools--that is recruiting time spent. Most importantly scholarship offers are added in. It seems that should a recruit have a 100% MUST-HAVE category that you are not meeting (such as location for a distant player) it will take time for him decide in your favor, time during which a school that can fulfill that need can strike and snatch him up.