NCAA Football 2005 -- Recruiting

After filling 30+ teams with complete rosters for the draft in Madden 2005, I've decided to move on to my Second Season with Michigan. Let's just say it was a huge surprise how they revamped the Recruiting portion. Like the game, the Recruiting just got a lot harder and more stressful.

Now, you've got school budgets to worry about, like how much money you are going to give to your recruiting efforts. There are couple of more areas, but I cannot remember them. I had lost a lot of seniors due to graduation, and 3 of my All-American offensive lineman wanted to skip their senior year to move on to the pros. I mananged to talk to 2 of them staying, while another decided to move on.

When Week 1 (out of 5) of Recruiting starts, you are given a certain number of points to use each week, and those points are given to high school prospects. I only needed three target players: a tight end, an offensive guard, and a punter. I managed to secure the top tight end prospect in the nation, but didn't get the greatest punter. I also got a few more blue chip players to redshirt for their freshman years. All-in-all, I only signed 9 recruits to scholarships, while other top programs, like LSU, USC and Oklahoma, chalked up 20-22 players. Overall, I was the 10th best recruiting school in the nation that session. I should have gotten more players than that, so after my Second Season, I'll use less points and go after more guys.

For the Pre-Season polls, USC was #1, LSU #2, Oklahoma #3, Ohio State #4, and Michigan was #5.

I've already made some progression through the Second Season, defeating all of my non-conference opponents: Bowling Green, Notre Dame, and Florida Altlantic. That FA game: 97-0. They're ranked 118 out of 119 teams, so it was pretty simple to do whatever you could do. My tailback, Jackson, through 4 games has already 800+ yards rushing. My quarterback Matt Gutierrez, who is now a senior, is a lot better, but still needs improvement. I also played my first conference game vs. Wisconsin, and defeated them 48-0 through some stellar defense.

But the man with the plan is my strong side linebacker Scott McClintock, who has 13 sacks after the 4 games, setting a school record with 6 vs. FAU. Along with McClintock, my defensive tackle Gabe Watson (pre-season All-Big Ten 2nd Team) and defensive end Pat Massey are "human wrecking balls" on the line. I'm only giving up about 72 yards per game on defense, running a 4-3 Cover 2 or when I blitz my outside linebackers (McClintock and Pierre Woods), a 4-3 "Fire 2". As you can tell, I'm having fun!

Next week, Madden 2005 is comin' out!