Dynasty Mode is the heartbeat of College Football 26-the place where players pour hundreds of hours into building a powerhouse, nurturing pipelines, and shaping the next generation of college football legends. But for as deep and rewarding as the mode can be, one feature continues to lag behind the rest of the experience: auto recruiting.



For years, fans have asked EA Sports to improve this system, and in College Football 26, it remains almost exactly where it was last season-functional in theory, but deeply flawed in execution. At its worst, auto recruiting can turn a 5-star powerhouse like Ohio State into a program finishing outside the top 30 on National Signing Day CFB 26 Coins.



Today, we're taking a deep dive into auto recruiting-why it behaves the way it does, how it can ruin an otherwise great Dynasty run, and what EA needs to overhaul for the future.



Auto Recruiting in College Football 26: The Feature That Should Help… But Doesn't



Auto recruiting should be a quality-of-life feature.



It should help Dynasty players who don't have time to micromanage 15–25 recruits every single week. It should handle the basics-offer scholarships, apply the appropriate pitch strategy, and keep you competitive with other programs while you focus on games, coaching trees, and roster management.



But right now?



Auto recruiting is essentially unusable unless you understand exactly how it behaves.



The First Problem: Auto Recruiting Fills Your Board With the Wrong Players



Let's start with the most glaring issue.



Even when coaching at a premier program like Ohio State, auto recruiting will:



Keep your board filled to exactly 31 players, every week

Add and remove recruits constantly

Prioritize players who don't make sense

Ignore the players you manually added



If you fill your board, set up your dream class, offer scholarships, and then turn on auto recruiting, the system throws away everything you did. It wipes out your entire board, replaces your targets with CPU-selected recruits, and proceeds to "recruit" based on its own preference logic.



This is the opposite of how a helpful assistant should behave.

Players want assistance-not a replacement.



The Second Problem: Auto Recruiting Spreads Hours Poorly

The next issue is how the system allocates its weekly recruiting hours.



Even as a powerhouse, auto recruiting will:



Put 35 hours into 5-star recruits

Put 75 hours into random 3–4 star players

Ignore priority battles

Fail to respond to momentum shifts

Miss obvious "hard sell" and "soft sell" opportunities

Overinvest in players you're already dominating



Ohio State putting 78.5 hours into a mid-tier in-state prospect while only investing 35 hours into a national 5-star WR is just... bad AI. And this isn't an isolated case-it happens constantly.

Because of this randomness, auto recruiting cannot execute a coherent strategy.



The Third Problem: Auto Recruiting Doesn't Use Basic Strategy Tools



College Football 26 introduced deeper recruiting strategy:



Hard sell

Soft sell

Send a house

Evaluations

Visit scheduling

Motivation targeting

Top-five reactions



Auto recruiting barely uses any of it.



It refuses to consistently:



Offer scholarships

Trigger soft sell at the right time

Switch to hard sell when top-five locks in

Remove unnecessary pitches

Adjust energy based on competition

Respond to recruiting battles dynamically



The CPU opponents already recruit using simplified logic. Auto recruiting uses an even weaker method. The result? You lose battles your program should win easily.



Sim Results: Auto Recruiting at Ohio State Is Shockingly Bad



To see how broken the system really is, let's look at the outcomes of a two-year Ohio State simulation with auto recruiting enabled.

Season 1



Early National Signing Day:

5–6 commits

Ranked #78 nationally



Final (after transfers):

9 total signees

Ranked #34



A blue-blood program-ranked 5-star at the start-finished with a class worse than some Group of 5 rebuild teams. Even with elite head coaching boosts.



This is unacceptable in a simulation.



Season 2



Early National Signing Day:

8 commits

Ranked #32



Final:

#34 again

The system is consistent-but consistently terrible.



Even when Ohio State has:



Full pipelines

Elite coaching abilities

High prestige

Winning seasons

Favorable location

Recruiting momentum



…auto recruiting performs as if the program is an 80-ranked team from a mid-major conference.



Why CPU Teams Recruit Better Than Human Teams Using Auto Recruit



One of the most surprising revelations is that CPU-controlled Ohio State will sign elite classes-but user-controlled Ohio State using auto recruiting will not.

Why?Because CPU teams use a different internal logic designed for simulation. When a human activates auto recruiting, the system switches to a less efficient set of rules-likely for balance, but far too handicapped.



This creates a massive problem:



The moment a human turns on auto recruiting, their program gets worse.



You are punished for using a feature that's supposed to help you.



What Auto Recruiting Should Do



The frustrating part is that fixing this system wouldn't even require major overhauls. Auto recruiting needs to function like a real assistant coach-not a complete takeover AI.



Here's what the feature should do:



1. Respect the Player's Board

If a user adds 15 players to target, auto recruit should never remove them.



2. Fill Out Scholarships Automatically

If the user offers none, auto recruit should apply them logically.



3. Maintain Core Strategy



Example:



Top-five reached → switch to hard sell

Pipeline match → increase energy

Competition detected → adjust pitch order



4. Highlight Recommended Actions

Small UI improvements-like auto-highlighting the hard sell button-would make massive differences.



5. Follow a Smart Allocation Model



The system should:



Prioritize realistic battles

Avoid dumping hours into lost causes

Avoid overinvesting in locked-in recruits

Use house visits intelligently

Schedule optimal visit weeks



6. Allow Optional "Assisted Recruiting"



A hybrid mode where the CPU handles:



Scholarships

Pacing

Weekly hour distribution

Visit scheduling



…but leaves your board untouched.



This is how most modern sports games implement it-NCAA 14 fans have wanted something like this for years.



Coaching Tree Upgrades Can Improve Auto Recruiting (But Not Enough)



There are ways to make auto recruiting better, but they require heavy investment:



Program Builder

Pipelines

Relationship Building

Strong Roots

Elite Recruiter

Pitch Mastery



These help significantly.



But they don't fix the core issue:



Auto recruiting ignores the players you want.



Even with maxed coaching abilities, Ohio State still ended with a class ranked in the 30s. The system becomes usable-but never optimal.



Why This Matters for Dynasty Players



Dynasty Mode is supposed to be a long-term experience. For many players, the most tedious part of running year after year is managing 20+ recruits weekly.



Auto recruiting should allow players to:



Sim years quickly during rebuilds

Focus on gameplay

Handle multiple teams in multi-coach dynasties

Play casually without micromanaging



Right now, it can't do that.



Turning on auto recruiting means:



Losing battles you shouldn't lose

Signing tiny classes

Dropping prestige

Falling behind rivals

Breaking the immersion of realism



Even for casual users, the system is too inefficient to rely on.



What EA Needs to Prioritize for College Football 26



Auto recruiting doesn't need a complete rewrite-but it badly needs refinement. Here are the top priorities:



Make auto recruiting respect the player's board

Improve hour allocation logic

Implement smart pitch and visit scheduling

Add an "assist mode" instead of full control

Allow toggles (auto-scholarships, auto-visits, etc.)

Stop removing user-selected recruits

Remove the hard cap on 31 auto-added players



With small improvements, auto recruiting could become one of the most useful tools in Dynasty Mode.



Final Thoughts: Auto Recruiting Has Potential-But Isn't Ready Yet



College Football 26's Dynasty Mode is incredibly fun, but auto recruiting remains an underdeveloped feature that needs serious tuning. Right now, it behaves like an outdated system that actively hurts your progress NCAA 26 Coins for sale.



For players who love recruiting micromanagement, this isn't a huge issue. But for players who want streamlined progression, sim-only dynasties, or multi-team control, auto recruiting must improve.



Until then, it's simply not reliable enough to trust-especially if you're running a major powerhouse like Ohio State and expect to sign the classes that match your on-field dominance.