Go Mastodons!

Purdue-Fort Wayne, One-Star Recruits, and the fun of Team Builder.

Jul 29, 2024

So EA Sports NCAA Football 25 has been out for over a week, and we’ve all had time to digest as much of the game as possible. Whether you preordered the game, got the standard edition, or even used every bit of the 10-hour free trial (EA Play), enough time has passed to decide what your favorite game mode is.

In one of my recent articles for this publication, I expressed my frustration/complaints with Road To Glory, and I stand by it. While I criticized one game mode that I thought could’ve been better, the one game mode that has been the most enjoyable for me is Dynasty Mode.

Admittedly, I knew coming into the release it would likely be my favorite, but it has exceeded my expectations. 10 years ago in NCAA 14, you would set targets for recruiting, fast forward to this release, and it’s much more extensive than that. You can soft sell, hard sell, send the house, offer scholarship, set up a visit, and much more. To begin the dynasty, I love the opportunity to choose what type of coach you want to be: Motivator, Recruiter, or Tactician. In addition to that, you can’t max out your skill trees like you could in the last release, which makes it more realistic.

Another addition to Dynasty that makes it more realistic is the prospect skill trees. A recruits' skill tree doesn’t become available until you set up an official visit at the school. During that time, the program also has to stay above a specific cut line, since the prospect will cut their college list to top 10, top 8, top 3, etc. This was an underrated addition to recruiting, adapting to the way it has changed in 10 years. While a lot of people complained that you can’t edit prospects in Dynasty Mode, I love that you can’t do any of that. Personally, I never utilized that when I played NCAA 14 or any games prior to that.

So, to bring you in on the beginning of my journey of Dynasty Mode. I will eventually start one with a current college with conferences, and everything aligned the way it is today. Instead, I decided to try out Team Builder. I tried to create my own team until I realized how precise it is and how long it would’ve taken. Instead I decided to download a previously built team in Team Builder. There is a Division-1 college where I reside in Fort Wayne, Indiana that has an athletic program for every sport – except for football. I know it doesn’t make sense to me either. The University of Purdue-Fort Wayne (formerly known as IPFW) was the team I decided to begin my Dynasty journey and build a program from scratch. Besides, let’s be honest, a Mastodon is a perfect college football mascot.

These were a few screenshots that I remembered to get for you all in my early process. As a first time program, Purdue-FW is pretty much mid-60’s across the board in team ratings. I wouldn’t have downloaded the team if they were like 80’s or higher, that is just unrealistic. I wanted a challenge, and that is what I got. It has made my experience thus far a lot more exciting. And yes, I screenshot a 3-star recruit committing to my program. At this early stage, I am taking all that I can get, especially since other than a few 3-star recruits, I mostly only have 1-star recruits interested in my program at the moment. 10 weeks into my first season, I am finally beginning to receive some votes for the Top 25! We’re getting noticed!

It was refreshing that one of the most exhilarating aspects of the game will remain so. I have been having a blast in Dynasty Mode and will continue to keep you all up-to-date with anything new I notice, and notify you on my journey to create a successful new Division-1 college football team.

Dedrick Hendrix is a Featured Columnist for Four Verts: A College Football 25 Substack. He also writes for Fansided and Just Baseball. You can follow him on X @dchendrix, Twitch @itsdchendrix, and Instagram @officialdchendrix.