Whether you're managing your favorite SEC powerhouse or attempting to rebuild a team that hasn't been anywhere near a championship in years, all good coaches in EA Sports College Football 26 have to master the game's recruiting mechanics. The recruitment system has seen some pretty big changes since last year, so even veteran College Football 26 coaches have some learning to do.
You only have so many hours to spend on each prospect, and all that time can go right down the drain if they end up signing with another school. Thankfully, there are plenty of ways to prevent potential players from choosing your rivals over you. You can have success with just about any team in College Football 26 as long as you know the ins and outs of the recruiting process.
All Difficulty Modes in College Football 26, Explained
Whether you're a newcomer or a seasoned veteran, there's a difficulty mode for everyone in College Football 26. Here's what they all do.
Best Coach Backstory and Pipelines
When you start a new Dynasty save, you'll be prompted to create your own custom coach or use an existing coach at the school of your choice. If you go with a custom coach, you can choose from one of three backstories: Motivator, Recruiter, and Tactician.
These backstories will influence your main game plan, giving you access to unique skill trees for your chosen backstory that the others can't unlock until much later in their careers. If you're serious about recruiting talent to your team, then the Recruiter backstory is the best of the bunch. If you're playing with a low-tier team that will have trouble attracting star players, however, Motivator or Tactician might be a better choice, allowing you to focus on building up your existing roster and raising your team's prestige.
Your pipeline choice is also a huge deal, so think carefully before selecting one. Your pipeline determines which part of the country you primarily recruit from, and prospects within your pipeline will have a much higher chance of signing with your school instead of others. Recruiting from your local pipeline is also a great way to guarantee a solid rating for Proximity to Home, which most players value pretty heavily.
These are some of the strongest pipelines to choose from in College Football 26:
- East Texas
- North Texas
- Central Florida
- South Florida
- Metro Atlanta
- South Georgia
- New England
- Southern California
- Big Apple
- Tidewater
Remember that certain pipelines work better with certain schools. Choosing a pipeline close to your school's location is the best bet for most coaches.
How to Influence, Sway, and Pitch Prospects
Prospects will narrow down their top schools throughout the season, and it's your job to convince them that your school is the best fit for them. You only have so many hours to spend each week, though, so knowing how to influence, sway, and pitch potential players is crucial.
Influencing is the first stage of the recruitment process. Once you've scouted a prospect enough to realize that they're a good fit for your team's needs, you can search their social media profiles, send them a DM, contact their friends and family, or send the house. Each of these will teach you more about the player's wants and needs, preparing you for the pitching stage once they've narrowed down their top five schools.
Soft Sell versus Hard Sell
As you influence a player, you'll start to see green check marks and red Xs appear next to their list of motivations. These are the most important things to each player, and trying to sell them on your school with the wrong angle can completely ruin your chances with them. Once you've spent enough time researching, you can choose a Soft Sell or Hard Sell depending on your level of confidence.
When you select either pitching option, you can choose from a grid of strategies that group together three motivations each. I f a player has green check marks and your school has a high grade for those motivations, the pitch will be successful. The fewer green check marks and the lower your school's grades in those motivators, the lower your chances will be.
A Soft Sell doesn't require as many hours and only has a small negative impact if you choose the wrong motivations, while a Hard Sell is for confident coaches who are sure they know what players want. Failing a Hard Sell has harder consequences than a Soft Sell failure, though, so weigh your options carefully.
Swaying Players
If you can't find the perfect combination of motivations, you can Sway a player to convince them that they should want something else. After spending a few turns Swaying a player, they'll get a fourth green check mark next to another motivation. This will give you more options for your next pitch, drastically increasing the chances of a prospect falling in love with your school.
Scholarships
If all else fails, you can always offer a Scholarship to a player. You only get 35 Scholarships per season, but most schools will offer them to top prospects. It's a good idea to use the bulk of your Scholarships early in the season to get a head start, but save a few of them in case some prospects end up locking you out or signing with other schools.
How to Use the Transfer Portal
In addition to high school prospects, you can also recruit players from the Transfer Portal at the end of a season. Once the season is over, some players will seek out other teams because they're not happy with their current conditions. This is a gold mine for some teams, but don't forget that your favorite players can transfer away from your school if you're not careful.
The Transfer Portal works mostly the same as the standard recruiting process, but there's a much shorter window to influence and convince students to transfer to your school. Still, it's a great way to snatch some players for positions you missed out on during the seasonal recruiting period. Just make sure that your school grades are high enough so that your best players don't transfer away.
How to Improve School Grades
Your school is graded in several different areas, and players will have different opinions about your school depending on its reputation. These grades are used in the recruiting process when pitching and swaying players, but they also affect your existing roster.
If your players are unhappy with the way that your school's grades have changed throughout the season, they'll have a greater risk of transferring to another team. As such, you should try to keep your school's grades as high as possible. Here's how you can increase every school grade in College Football 26.
|
School Grade |
How to Improve |
|---|---|
|
Academic Prestige |
You're stuck with whatever your school has. |
|
Athletic Facilities |
Win games and increase your team's rating. |
|
Brand Exposure |
Play and win high-profile games like playoffs and championships. |
|
Campus Lifestyle |
You're stuck with whatever your school has. |
|
Championship Contender |
Recruit higher-rated players and improve your overall roster. |
|
Coach Prestige |
Hire talented Offensive/Defensive Coordinators and meet your coaching contract goals. |
|
Coach Stability |
Sign long contracts and stay with the same school for a long period of time. |
|
Conference Prestige |
You can increase your team's prestige, but other teams in your conference can drag your average down. |
|
Playing Style |
Make specific play types to pad your seasonal stats in the desired direction. |
|
Playing Time |
Check your depth chart and make sure that players are likely to see action at some point during the season. |
|
Pro Potential |
Raise your seniors' ratings and have them become projected NFL draft picks. |
|
Program Tradition |
Play and win conference championships, bowl games, and things like that. |
|
Proximity to Home |
Recruit players from pipelines close to your school. |
|
Stadium Atmosphere |
Win more home games to increase fan turnout. |
Remember that each player will weigh these stats differently in College Football 26, so it's a good idea to find like-minded prospects who value the same things. Otherwise, you'll have to cater to all sorts of different people, and you'll inevitably end up with transfers at the end of the season. If you don't want to deal with all these stats, you can always check out Road to Glory mode, but you'll still need to deal with other factors like Coach Trust and Happiness on that side.
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