When you jump into Dynasty Mode in College Football 25, the first thing you’ll want to do is fill up your recruiting board. After all, you won’t be very successful on the field if you can’t bring in top-rated recruits. That’s how real-life college football works, and it’s no different here. Below, we’ve collected our best recruiting advice to give you a leg up on the competition, but remember that recruiting is heavily based on which team you’re playing as in College Football 25. You’ll need to tailor your approach to your school, but the following tips are a great place to start.
Focus Your Coach Archetype on Recruiting
If you want the best recruits possible, it needs to start from the foundation of your program. That means using your coach’s skill points in the recruiting tree. Now, depending on the type of team you’re building, you’ll want to spend those points in specific places. For example, if you’re running the option, you’ll want to focus on running backs and offensive line perks first. Air Raid coaches might switch that to quarterback and wide receiver. The skill tree is huge, so you want to focus on the areas you can use the most upfront.ย
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As you progress, you’ll be able to hybrid your tree out and pick up archetypes like Program Builder, but that won’t happen for at least a season or two. It’s also recommended that you check the recruits available in your first season to see which players are available. Even if you’re running an offense that needs a mobile quarterback, you might want to wait to invest points in that skill tree if there aren’t any good ones available in that class.
Know Your School
This is huge. Each recruit has certain dealbreakers you need to keep in mind. However, the Playing Style dealbreaker is a killer if you don’t manage it correctly. If you find a gem of a recruit but they don’t fit your team’s Playing Style, you probably won’t have success bringing them in. They want to play in a style that suits them. If yours doesn’t, they’ll go elsewhere. Knowing how your school likes to play and its strengths is one of the most important things you can do when evaluating new talent.
Of course, that applies to more than Playing Style. If a prospect has a dealbreaker in Proximity to Home and you’re on the other side of the country, they probably aren’t worth scouting, let alone spending recruiting points on. Getting these simple things right before you even start the recruitment process will save you a ton of time.
Pick Your Battles
You have a limited number of scholarships that can be accepted by the end of the season, but that doesn’t mean you’re limited on how many players you can target. With that in mind, it’s important to constantly assess where you are in the recruiting process and be ready to move on from a recruit even after spending time wining and dining them.
For example, say you’re playing as Georgia Southern and you find a four-star linebacker who fits your team like a glove. However, the same is true for Clemson. They have way more resources than you, so it might be prudent to give up on that recruit and move on to someone else over staying in a battle with a major school. Either way, the most important thing is to see how you stack up and then decide if you want to send the house or switch your efforts to someone else.
Hunt For Gems
Finally, a top class is often made by finding low-rated gems, especially when you’re building a program toward national prominence. Embrace your inner Mike Gundy. Find the three-star players who will play well above their star grade once you get them on the field.
The best way to accomplish this is to fill up your board with prospects and scout them. Even if you have a bevy of targets you’re already working on, it’s worth scouting more players until your class is complete. You never know when you’re going to stumble across an undervalued two-star that plays like a five-star on gameday. Hunting for these players is the best way to consistently build out your roster, especially if you’re a smaller school.ย
EA Sports College Football 25 is available now on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.
