NCAA 25: Mastering Recruiting with Pipeline States

One of the most exciting and engaging aspects of the new NCAA 25 game is Dynasty mode, where recruiting is paramount to building a successful program. The return of college football video games marks a new era, and understanding the intricacies of recruiting, especially pipeline states, is crucial for establishing a dynasty. Here's a comprehensive guide to help you navigate the recruiting landscape in College Football 25.

Coach Archetypes and Recruiting

When starting your dynasty, you'll have the option to choose one of three archetypes for your coach: recruiter, motivator, and tactician. While opting for motivator or tactician doesn't preclude you from landing top recruits, selecting "recruiter" as your strength gives you a distinct advantage in attracting the best players to your program.

Realistic Recruiting Targets

A popular way to play a dynasty is to choose a smaller program that you are aiming to build into a contender. When embarking on a dynasty with a smaller program like Arkansas State, it's essential to set realistic recruiting targets. Initially, landing five-star recruits will be challenging, if not impossible. It's wiser to focus on two- and three-star players who are more attainable. While exceptions exist, smaller programs generally struggle to secure commitments from top-tier recruits. Conversely, if you're coaching a powerhouse like Georgia or Ohio State, targeting five-star recruits is a reasonable and expected strategy.

Understanding Pipeline States

A "pipeline" in College Football 25's dynasty mode influences recruiting. Every school, coach, and recruit has a pipeline, each representing a geographic region in the United States. There are 50 total pipelines in CFB 25. When creating your coach, you select your alma mater and your recruiting pipeline. The alma mater is completely superfluous and does nothing. The pipeline can have a dramatic impact on your gameplay experience and is very important. Pipelines fall into three main categories:

School Pipelines

Certain schools have an easier time recruiting from certain pipelines. EA has said this is based off actual historical data of previous recruiting classes. For example, historically the Florida Gators usually have first dibs over recruits from Central Florida over schools like Miami, Florida State, or UCF. To represent this in CFB 25, the Florida Gators have an easier time getting recruits from the Central Florida pipeline.

LSU has always reached into East Texas and taken recruits from there, so in CFB 25, LSU has an easier time recruiting players from East Texas. In the game, schools also prefer coaches that have the same or similar pipeline as them. This is not game breaking by any means, but is worth noting and may be worth taking into account. If you're trying to have the absolute best possible recruiting chances, it may be best to avoid picking Oregon as your school be using a Big Apple pipeline.

Coach Pipelines

Coach pipelines function similarly to school pipelines. If you select the Big Apple pipeline, then players from the New York/New Jersey area will be easier to recruit as that coach. Recruits do tend to prioritize proximity to home over the coaches pipeline (meaning a school's pipeline is more valuable than the coaches).

Player Pipelines

In the recruiting menu, you'll be able to see where a recruit is from. This determines their pipeline. For example, a player from Crosby, Texas, which is in East Texas, has East Texas as his pipeline. Schools like the Texas Longhorns, Texas A&M, and LSU are going to have an easier time recruiting this player than a team like Oregon or USC would.

Beyond just making recruiting easier/harder for certain guys, pipelines do produce different types of players. Just like in real life, the best recruits tend to come from California, Texas, and Florida. If you're trying to cherry pick the best recruits possible, selecting one of those areas as your pipeline will be a good idea. Also just like in real life, Texas tends to produce powerful recruits, Florida tends to produce smaller and faster recruits and the Mid West tends to produce the best offensive linemen. If you want to get as many extremely fast players as possible, selecting Central or South Florida as your pipeline would be ideal.

Utilizing Your Pipeline States

When you create your coach, you will choose your alma mater as well as your recruiting pipeline. This will factor into the areas where you have the best chance to land recruits. NCAA 25 even allows you to sort your recruiting board by your pipeline areas. If you are piloting a Group of Five program, you would be wise to target players in your state as well as your pipeline locations. Keep in mind that your actual game results can impact recruiting. While playing as UCF, a loss to in-state rival Florida prompted a top recruit to move the Gators ahead of the Knights during my dynasty run.

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The Three Phases of Recruiting

EA Sports describes recruiting in NCAA 25 as having three key phases: discovery, pitch, and close. Recruiting in College Football 25 will feel similar to the old NCAA series with some obvious tweaks. Each player has different priorities which you can discover on the recruiting trail. For example, using points to talk to friends and family will unlock more info about a player’s priorities.

Discovery Phase

During this initial phase, gather as much information as possible about recruits. Some of the different priorities that recruits have include brand exposure, proximity to home, pro potential, campus lifestyle and playing time.

Pitch Phase

During campus visits, make sure to create a plan that coincides with the recruit’s top priorities. If a recruit is prioritizing academics, have the player attend a lecture. For players who want to grow their brand, an NIL meeting would be more appropriate.

Close Phase

This is the final push to secure a commitment from the recruit.

Scouting for Hidden Gems

Use the scouting points to your advantage to make sure that you are targeting potential sleepers. Once you go through the scouting process, a green diamond indicates a player with upside, while a red sticker is a player to avoid. Using scouting points will show a player’s ratings in key areas.

Computer Assistance

If you want to land recruits but do not find the process particularly enjoyable, you can turn on the computer assistance in the dynasty settings which will take care of recruiting for your team.

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