Knowing how to recruit effectively in College Football 25 can turn a lackluster Dynasty team into a powerhouse squad of players. Here are all the recruiting tips you need to dominate in Dynasty mode.
While Road to Glory lets you step into the shoes of a single student-athlete, Dynasty gives you the chance to run a college program in College Football 25. Recruiting is a huge part of the process and something you’ll want to master in the mode.
These recruiting tips are valuable for however big your program is and work regardless of how far into a save you are.
Recruiting tips in CFB25
Start early
The game’s preseason gives Dynasty Mode players a chance to go through the prospect list and look at the available high schoolers who will head to college the following year. This is when you’ll want to highlight which players you want the most.
Go to ‘Recruiting‘ and ‘Prospect List‘ to look at the full list of players. Luckily, the board shows which positions coaches need the most help in. From there, select players with A (for Xbox) or X (PlayStation) and add them to the recruiting board.
Also, take a look at which players come from which Pipeline and the interest (Int.) level. The latter indicates how interested a prospect is in coming to your school.
Up to 35 players can be added as targets and up to 35 scholarships can be used each season.
Scout and uncover characteristics
After narrowing down an initial list of players to target, one should begin to scout and uncover characteristics of players.
Select a player on the board and go to ‘Scouting’ in their profile. Use hours to uncover stats. If a green jewel shows up, that player is a Gem for that star level, meaning a 4-Star Gem could be like a 5-Star Level.
Busts, indicated by red jewels, mean the player won’t play up to the level indicated in stars. However, that doesn’t mean Busts will be bad. Per EA Sports, 5-Star Busts should still be good players.
Once a player is fully scouted, make sure to uncover their characteristics. This can be done by searching their social media, DMing players, contacting friends and family, and “sending the house” – which costs the most amount of hours. Doing all of that will uncover what exactly a prospect wants; i.e. whether the prospect is more interested in Academic Prestige, Brand Exposure, etc. We’ll get more into this in a minute.
A green box next to the category means the player cares about that specific attribute of the school. A red box means the prospect doesn’t care.
Don’t waste hours
Hours are very limited in-game so be careful with how you use them.
Each week, players are given a limited number of hours to scout, recruit, and so forth. However, more hours will be made readily available in the offseason, including the four-week signing and Transfer Portal period after the season.
And, coaches are limited with how many hours can be devoted to a recruit. In most cases, only 50 hours can be devoted to recruiting actions, notwithstanding scheduled visits. However, those with the Recruiter Archetype and Always Be Crootin‘ active can get an additional 15 hours when at Tier 3 of a position ability.
What one should do with a player is take one or two actions before doing a Sell or Sway. Search social media and contact friends and family to uncover those character traits. Then, do a Sell (a broad pitch) or Sway (a specific pitch) once a player narrows down the list of potential schools.
Regardless of whether you choose a Sell or Sway, make sure to sell players as per the university’s strengths and the green check boxes that show up on the right-hand side.
Schedule a visit
As mentioned earlier, schedule a visit with a player as soon as possible, once you’re intent on landing that specific player. However, spreading out the visits is also a good idea, given the limitation on the number of hours needed to book one.
Choose an activity the player is interested in and make sure to try to win when a high-prized prospect visits during game week. A loss can result in a decrease of interest.
It’s worth noting, that you can’t schedule a visit until a prospect gets to the top five schools.
Don’t chase after an unattainable player
In the recruiting board, Dynasty Mode coaches can see the top schools that a top prospect is interested in. Throughout the year, prospects will narrow down to the top eight and top five. Each of these times allows a school to perform more recruiting actions once the player narrows his list.
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However, it’s important to be conservative and not too aggressive.
If a school has a significantly strong chance of landing a player, meaning a rival school’s interest bar is much higher than yours, consider bailing on the prospect. A significant advantage is hard, albeit not impossible, to overcome. If you try to chase after an unattainable player, the loss of resources won’t be reimbursed.
Take advantage of Pipelines
Pipelines are different states and regions of the country in which schools have advantages in recruiting. College Football 25 has 50 different pipelines. Some are labeled as states, while others are more precise, like South Florida or Metro Atlanta.
There is a tiered ranking system to represent how strong a school is in recruiting players from a region, ranked from one being the weakest to five being the strongest. So if your Pipeline is ranked better, it will be easier to land that recruit because you have more influence.
Prestige and success matters
Having high Prestige and winning games is a difference-maker when it comes to recruiting.
Let’s get back to those character traits. The character traits are influenced by how the prospect views the importance of priorities and the traits of the school. When in the recruiting section, go to ‘My School.‘ Here, you’ll see what exactly your school excels in.
Each school will have a grade in 14 specific categories, which include the following:
- Playing Time: This represents how long it will take for a player to become a starter at their position. Playing time is individualized to each recruit and player based on their position group and OVR.
- Playing Style: This is a representation of how you play. Every player archetype has a stat that is tracked over the course of the season. How high that stat is relative to other teams determines your grade. For example, Field General quarterbacks playing style grade is driven by passing yards per game.
- Championship Contender: This measures how close the team is to winning a championship. It takes into account the team’s current ranking and roster composition.
- Program Tradition: This is a holistic view of a program’s history and success overtime based on the number of Conference and National Championships, total wins, and awards won.
- Campus Lifestyle: This is a representation of the city and area surrounding the campus, as well as the campus itself. This grade cannot be changed or impacted.
- Stadium Atmosphere: This is driven by the stadium’s Toughest Places to Play ranking, which is determined by a team’s historical performance in home games.
- Pro Potential: This is a projection of how likely it is that players on the current roster will play on Sundays.
- Brand Exposure: This grades a team’s overall brand recognition, the potential NIL opportunities a player could get at the school, and how often the school plays in primetime games.
- Academic Prestige: This ranks all universities based on real world academic rankings. This grade cannot be changed.
- Conference Prestige: This represents the overall strength of a conference based on each conference member’s team prestige.
- Coach Prestige: This is a reflection of the school’s coaching staff. The Head Coach carries the most weight here, but coordinators are also taken into account.
- Coach Stability: This measures how long the coaching staff has been in place and how likely they are to remain there for the next four years.
- Athletic Facilities: This grade measures the quality of athletic facilities for the program. Waterfalls and barbershops are a plus here.
- Proximity to Home: This grade is unique to each recruit and is based on where the school is in relation to the recruit’s home pipeline.
Now, remember those checkboxes as a high grade in a category, plus a green check box, means your school will have an upper hand when it comes to recruiting based on that school attribute.
Some of these can be modified. A Championship Contender trait can be boosted on the school’s side simply by being competitive. On the other hand, Campus Lifestyle and Academic Prestige are based on how the university excels in other non-athletic areas. Thus, schools like Stanford and Northwestern will have an advantage in academics.
Make sure to do well in the categories you can improve. And remember, winning games improves Coach Prestige.
Upgrade coach stats
Our next tip on how to recruit effectively in College Football 25 has nothing to do with the process. Instead, simply make sure to use Coach Points.
Every week, coaches will progress their XP level. Doing this will unlock Coach Points (CP), which can be used in the ‘Coach Abilities‘ section.
Upgrading Archetype Perks is crucial for in-game attribute upgrades, as well as recruiting bonuses. Additionally, those with the Elite Recruiter Archetype active, which can be obtained with two top-five recruiting classes, can give more bonuses.
Watch for Deal Breakers
Each prospect has a Deal Breaker. A Deal Breaker is simply something that can dissuade a student from coming to campus. These vary by student and include promised playing time, proximity to a player’s home, brand exposure, and coach prestige.
Again, some of these are influenced by characteristics out of your control. For example, a 4-Star recruit from New Jersey with a heightened desire to stay at home likely won’t go to a school in California. Be cognizant of this, or otherwise valuable hours will be wasted.
Make use of the Transfer Portal
Lastly, make sure to dip into the Transfer Portal.
The Transfer Portal is not filled with true freshman, although redshirt freshman can be in there. This portal is filled with players from other schools who are leaving to find a more desirable situation. It can be tough for some coaches, at least those who lose players. At the same token, it can be beneficial, especially for a coach who can nab a 4-Star or 5-Star recruit.
This works much the same as prospect recruiting. You’ll need to scout, uncover information, and then pitch and close, all within a four-week period. Like in-season recruiting, offer a scholarship to a desired player, optimize research, schedule a visit, and then look to close.
For more College Football 25, check out the best offense and defense playbooks, best settings to use, how to kick, and how to enable play selection in RTG.