College Football 26 All-In-One Dynasty Setup and In-Depth Recruiting Guide (Part 1)

Hey folks, I’ve tried to hit on this everywhere the past week, but just in case you still missed it, this is the first edition of the premium newsletter. This week, I wrote an in-depth piece on OS explaining the reasons behind why I wanted to do it as well as what will be included in it. The premium edition of Not Just Another Roster Update will now be hitting your inbox every Wednesday morning. Again, the normal newsletter will still go out on Fridays, so nothing changes there. We’re also doing a free trial period for the first month, so I hope you’ll be interested in supporting me in this endeavor because I genuinely think it’s important for both the health of this newsletter and OS itself. I mention this in the aforementioned article, but I’m also taking feedback via the usual email ([email protected]), over on the forums via DMs, or in this thread for what you’d like to see out of the premium newsletter because I want it to be shaped by anyone who subscribes. Okay, now let’s get to it!

With College Football 26, recruiting has both changed a lot and a little — and I assure you that makes sense. If you played a lot of the mode last year, your initial impression might be that recruiting is much harder this year in comparison to last, but I would say it’s just different rather than harder. If you have a lot of the fundamentals down from last year, most of them still apply, you might just need to adjust how you utilize those fundamentals. If you don’t have the fundamentals down or just feel completely lost, that’s also okay — that’s what we’re here to solve.

My plan with this guide over these next two weeks is to obviously take you through the initial recruiting board, the flow of a season, the portal, the offseason, and then back to square one, but I’m also going to give you things to consider when picking a school and coach as well. This will be a two-part guide because it was actually too big for one newsletter (as in the platform would not even let me publish it because it was too many words).

I’m also going to try avoid assuming too much about your knowledge base. I won’t be explaining every little thing like you’re a complete noob (here’s how you add someone to your board!”), but I do want to try and help you understand how most of the mechanics work since some do have “fog of war” aspects to them (for better or worse). I also want to keep all types of players in mind: Coach Mode folks, people who simulate a lot, people who play in online dynasties, people who play by themselves, rebuilds vs. powerhouses, and so forth. I have some tips and principles for every sort of dynasty mode player out there in this guide.

I’m also not a zealot with this stuff. I will share some insights from others (and give credit to them), and I’m also going to be clear about what I think is “cheese” or not “cheese” and how to be on the watch for some of the scummy tactics if you are in an Online Dynasty with others. I’ll also give you things to consider if you’re thinking of custom conferences, you’re unsure about what team to select, and even some slider options for your dynasty.

Even if you don’t use everything from this guide, the other hope is you’ll understand recruiting in such a way where you can implement logical House Rules for yourself if you want to make it harder for your offline dynasty, and you’ll be able to identify when others are exploiting the system to make Online Dynasty a haven for exploits.

(One last note before we hop into things. One of the things I mentioned in my article on OS as a potential option for the newsletter is gathering a bunch of us for an Online Dynasty where once a month I do a full write-up in the newsletter on what’s been happening in our dynasty and hopefully share highlights and thoughts on the league with you all. Think of it as the SportsCenter/Weekly Wrap-Up we don’t get in the game that we all wish we had. If you have interest in being part of something like that, let me know — albeit it’s obviously for subscribers first and foremost).

Subscribe to our premium content to read the rest.