Recruiting/Transfer Portal Issues That Need Fixing

Have put some hours into dynasty at this point and noticed multiple things that could and should be fixed to make the experience more enjoyable. I’m sure many of you have noticed them as well.

1. Recruiting seems to be way more about quantity than it is about quality. I routinely see schools signing 4 or even 5 freshman QB’s in one class, which just wouldn’t happen in real life. The AI for teams seemingly never takes into account how many players they currently have on the roster when pursuing recruits. Which would make sense if they’re going after a big time 5 star, but not to bring in 3 star RB’s when they already have 6 on the roster. This over-recruiting leads to some ridiculous roster cuts in the offseason. Which leads to my next point.

2. The encourage to transfer screen should be BEFORE the portal opens, not after. I know sometimes guys you cut will pop up on other rosters, but encouraging them to transfer after the portal closes makes zero sense. It would be fun to watch guys you “encouraged to transfer” hit the portal and actually go elsewhere instead of just disappearing. It would be fun and strategic if you had to over-cut guys before the portal opened to make room and if you hit 85 it locks you out of recruiting more players.

3. The logic of who enters the portal could be better. I routinely see 2nd-3rd string seniors rated in the mid-high 80’s on the top teams. In real life, those guys portal for a chance to start. Maybe program it so that as guys get to be juniors or seniors, playing time becomes a significant dealbreaker for them.

4. The logic of what school portal players are interested in needs to be better. I’m constantly seeing guys transfer to schools where they never play a down. Again, playing time should be a significant dealbreaker for any junior/senior that enters the portal. No player in real life is transferring to a top level school to be the 3rd string LB, with the exception of maybe some freshman or sophomores with an eye on the future.

Quite frankly, the mid and lower level schools should be the ones feasting in the portal the most, with the top level schools only grabbing the truly great players that portal up, or filling significant roster needs.

5. The AI logic needs to be better with how recruits are prioritized. In real life, 5 stars aren’t losing their scholarships because the 3 star committed first. You’re also not cutting your current 4th string RB in order to bring in a portal guy who’s the same quality of player or worse. Maybe that’s just me being a little nitpicky, but I’ve seen it happen and it makes zero sense and just annoys me when I see it.

6. I’ve also seen good players in the portal and out of high school not signing anywhere because the schools they were interested in weren’t interested back. Which, I get that in real life many guys enter the portal and don’t make it out, and many guys don’t sign out of high school. Guys should be allowed to go backwards with their interest level to open things up to more teams. For example, if a player is down to their top 8 but has no offers, they go back to being open, or even change their interest list entirely. Dealbreakers should also disappear as well if the player isn’t getting offered by anyone.

It would also be a fun add-on if those guys who didn’t sign either went JUCO and got re-recruited the next year, or could be found on the FCS teams when you play them.

Again, I’m probably asking too much with all of this, and it’ll never be perfect. But I think many of these things can be incorporated into the game or fixed, and it would make the game mode that much more fun and enjoyable. It’s so nice after 11 long years to be able to have these discussions again.

discussion

11 Replies

woodwardm28
Rising Vanguard
9 months ago
Some good stuff here. I have also seen it where a guy has me as first on his list, but I can't offer because I'm locked out due to a dealbreaker. Well if that is a dealbreaker, I wouldn't be first on his list. It's a contradiction.
I will say I disagree on your point about schools not cutting their 4th string RB to bring in a portal RB of the same quality. In real life, you don't have ratings to know who is better. You would know that your 4th string isn't good enough because you've seen him every day in your system. You would likely look to improve by signing someone from the portal. If he happens to be the same quality, that's bad luck, but it would and does happen.
ajhnyc51
New Rookie
9 months ago
@woodwardm28 To your first point, I’ve also seen dealbreakers pop up at the very last second that locks you out. I was at JMU recruiting Adam Randall out of the transfer portal, he was the only WR I had on my board, and all of a sudden I was hit with a dealbreaker that wasn’t there in weeks 1-3. Very weird and stupid. However, I did still sign him because I was his only offer, so it is possible to supersede the dealbreaker.

Your last point is true, but I’m more referring to the logic of bringing in a junior/senior to be 4th string while freshmen/sophomores of the same quality need to be cut to make room for them. More of a complaint about things I noticed at the big time schools that already have established guys at the position, especially at QB. Just goes back to some of my other points above with how AI over-recruits certain positions and transfer players need better logic with decision-making.
ajhnyc51
New Rookie
9 months ago
Another one that I have noticed. CPU teams do not prioritize recruiting kickers/punters. In my current save Alabama did not have a kicker or punter on the roster going into year 2 (it did give them one of each tho before the season started).Now, I’d almost rather them just leave this alone because EA would probably over adjust this and teams will be signing 3-4 kickers in a given cycle, but obviously in real life if a team doesn’t have a kicker/punter on the roster, that team is pretty much screwed.
daHamer
9 months ago
After signing day some of my freshmen are showing up as upperclassmen. I had 5 in one year, 2 listed as seniors. It kind of ruins the draft and develop part of the game.
MysteryG21
9 months ago
Product: EA SPORTS™ College Football 25
Platform:Xbox Series X
Please specify your platform model. Microsoft Xbox Series X
What is your gamertag/PSN ID? GYoungCEO704
Date/time issue occurred 07/31/2024
What type of issue do you have? Gameplay
Which mode has this happened in? Dynasty
Summarize your bug Can’t schedule visits with recruits even though I’m in their Top 5
How often does the bug occur? Every time (100%)
Steps: How can we find the bug ourselves? Recruit players in Dynasty; schedule visits when down to Top 5 schools.
What happens when the bug occurs? Player signs with another school; rendering recruiting efforts useless.
What do you expect to see? To schedule visits. I expect NOT to be playing the BETA version of NCAA 25.
I’M STILL SUFFERING FROM THIS BULLSH*T!!!!
Dirty_Smeegs_33
9 months ago
I am actually okay with that because it balances out the insanely easy recruiting system and terrible ai recruiting logic..... gotta find some way to level the playing field if they can't program in proper logic! And I don't even have any recruiting tree abilities.
ncballer5
9 months ago
If you actually look closely, the guys you “cut” actually do end up on other rosters, just have to manually search when the season starts
RoccosWorld2023
9 months ago
The week after the national championship
game if you switch to coach another school then “encourage Transfers” will pop up and you can literally make any player on that team transfer.
you can do this with as many teams you want
During the off-season # of players in the position group matter in terms of who you want to transfer can’t leave a roster or position group with 0 players
how well your team does still matters
seniors can still enter transfer portal for multiple years from what I’ve played
have fun
66212Pookie
9 months ago
Need two transfer portals. One needed to be added before the new season start. It should not let user sign player unless they have an available scholarship. This is how it is done in real college!
PatTheR0man13
8 months ago
I find a lot of your points to be great. One thing you forgot that really bugs me is that transfer players are treated as recruits so they do not progress in the offseason upgrade window. I don’t know if this an easy or even possible fix but I would love this to get touched up on.