Does this get you excited? At all? I still have no earthly idea what the theme is for this year's game. I know what Madden's is. But what is NCAA trying to be?
To be fair, this Dynasty post is better in the info dept even though I dunno what I think about this:
Team Prestige is now a much bigger factor in Progression; the quality of your team will influence how fast your players gain attributes.Is this across the board? Is it still possible for a small school to development a great player? I hope so.
The problem with NCAA's recruiting in terms of player progression is tied to two things:
First, there are too many elite (5 star) recruits which looks to be fixed. BUT the biggest issue is this : these 5 star recruits all turn out to be great players. It made recruiting an exercise in simply getting every 4/5 star guy you could get. Playing with OSU Mo Wells always ends up being a low 90s rated player. Mo Wells wasn't a very good back, though. But he was a big recruit so...he's gotta be good, right?
To have an effective recruiting model you absolutely need to be able to have these two scenarios: and since I'm the Buckeye fan of this here blog I'll use OSU players as examples.
First, there's a 3 star Linebacker recruit from the 2002 class named AJ Hawk.
AJ Hawk was one of the best college linebackers I have ever seen in my life. Ever. And yes, Hawk was a 3 star recruit who was basically ignored by every other Big10 school.
Nick Mangold was an All American center drafted by the Jets. Mangold was a 1 star afterthought recruit for OSU but was an absolute beast in the middle.
On the flip side...
There's QB Rob Schoenhoft.
He was a 4 star Elite 11 QB from Cincy, who transferred because his accuracy was all over the map and now plays at Delaware. OSU even toyed with moving him to Tight End...
Or how about Jamario O'Neal? O'Neal was a 5 star CAN'T MISS recruit for OSU. An amazingly gifted athlete who came from the football factory at Glenville -- the same school that produced Troy Smith, Ted Ginn, and many others. O"Neal was rated the #3 DB prospect in the nation and was the jewel of the 2005 class.
O'Neal just played out his eligibility this past year, and barely played at all his junior and senior seasons except as a special teamer. He simply wasn't good enough. O'Neal was a good kid, and his teammates rooted for him but his 5 star elite status was way, way, way overblown by the scout services. It happens. For every Ginn there's an O'Neal. There needs to be this level of uncertainty in recruiting.
An old coach once said that it's not missing out on good players that can kill a program, it's signing the kids who don't end up being that good that brings you down.
There are a lot of Jamario O'Neals in the college football world -- but they aren't in NCAA 09.
Will they be in 10? I guess we'll see soon enough.
