How to Get an FCS Offer in 2026: The "3-Minute" Rule

I sat down with Coach Pete Shinnick, D1 Head College Coach at Towson, and the conversation should be required listening for every football family trying to get their son recruited. Coach Shinnick has a .700 career winning percentage across 21 seasons, won a national championship at West Florida, and is now in his fourth year building Towson into one of the most exciting FCS programs in the country. He told me exactly what makes him keep watching a recruit's film and what makes him stop.

The biggest takeaway? Most families are hurting their son's chances without even knowing it. Their highlight film is too long, padded with average plays, and their best clip is buried at play eight instead of play one. Coaches are deciding in seconds whether your son is worth a deeper look. If you lose them early, they never see what he can actually do.

The 3-Minute Rule: Why Your Son's Highlight Film Might Be Too Long

Coach Shinnick was direct about this. Lead with your best play. Not play five. Not play six. Your absolute best play first. If that first play does not make a coach want to keep watching, nothing else on the tape matters.

He said a tight three minutes of great clips is better than a seven-minute highlight padded with average plays. His exact words: you do not want a single play on there that makes a coach question your son's ability. If a coach sees a play and thinks "why is this on here?" you have already lost ground.

He shared a story about evaluating five recruits on the same day. One kid had a seven-minute highlight. They watched to about four and a half minutes and knew he was good. Another kid had a solid three-minute tape. Both got the same result. But the kid with three minutes of great clips made the decision easier and faster.

Your son's highlight film should be exactly as long as the number of quality highlights he has. If that is 15 clips and two and a half minutes, that is enough. The coach's job is to go do the rest of the research from there. Give him a reason to want to.

Coaches Watch Game Film, Not Just Highlights

This is where most families get a false sense of security. A great highlight reel is the entry point. It gets a coach's attention. But the next step is always game film. And that is where effort separates players.

Coach Shinnick told me his staff uses Hudl to pull full game film on every recruit they are serious about. They are not just watching the plays where your son touches the ball. They are watching what he does when the play goes the other way. Is a wide receiver turning to block on the backside of a run play? Is a corner hustling to the ball even when it is thrown to the other side of the field?

He put it this way. They expect a recruit's highlight film to show his fullest potential. Then they watch the game film to see if his effort matches it. If the highlight shows explosiveness but the game film shows a kid taking plays off, that is a problem. If the highlight is great and the game film shows consistent effort, that recruit just moved up the board.

He has had players transfer out of Towson whose highlight film looked incredible. But the game film told a completely different story. That is why no coach stops at the highlight. They always go deeper.

What Coaches Evaluate Off the Field

I asked Coach Shinnick what he looks for beyond football ability. His answer was more detailed than most parents expect.

First, he looks at the transcript. Not just the GPA. He looks at absences. If a kid has trouble showing up to class in high school where every class is in the same building, he is going to have a hard time in college where classes are spread across campus and nobody is checking on him.

Then he asks questions that expose character in ways most families do not anticipate. He told me about calling a high school coach and being told "this kid is the fastest guy on our team." His follow-up question: does he win every sprint? If the answer is no, that tells Coach Shinnick the kid is not working as hard as someone slower who is beating him. Same thing in the weight room. "He's our strongest guy." Is he the hardest worker? If not, he was just born strong. That does not mean he has the motor a college program needs.

Towson's program is built around three values: smart hard work, positive energy, and unity. Coach Shinnick does not need a kid who is bouncing off the walls with enthusiasm. He needs a kid who is not negative. He referenced a concept from Jon Gordon's book The Energy Bus: no energy vampires allowed. That is the kid who sucks the life out of a locker room because he is always complaining, always bringing people down. Coaches are actively screening for that.

Social Media Is Your Son's Recruiting Resume

This part of the conversation should change how every recruit uses social media. Coach Shinnick told me his staff scrubs every recruit's social media profiles. They look at posts, likes, interactions. Everything.

But here is what matters more than avoiding mistakes. Social media is an opportunity to show coaches things that film cannot. He wants to see recruits posting weight room videos, classroom achievements, multi-sport highlights. A kid who posts a screenshot of an A on a test is showing academic commitment. A kid who posts a video of himself doing power cleans at nine o'clock at night is showing work ethic.

He told me about coaches who have offered players because of what they saw on social media. A recruit was on the fence between two schools. One of them saw him post a late-night workout video and that tipped the decision. Social media is not just about avoiding problems. It is about creating opportunities.

He also stressed honesty. Do not list yourself as 6'2 if you are 5'11. Do not claim a 3.5 GPA when it is a 2.8. Do not say you run a 4.3 when the film says otherwise. Coaches will find out. And once you lie, you are off the board. A 5'11 kid who is honest about being 5'11 has a real chance. A 5'11 kid who claims 6'2 has zero chance once the truth comes out.

How to Connect with a Program Like Towson

Coach Shinnick broke down his staff's recruiting process. It starts with either the recruiting area coach or the position coach. They do not care where the initial contact comes from. An email, a film link, a camp invite. What matters is that the film matches what they are looking for.

Towson is a strong academic institution. They are looking for recruits with above a 3.0 GPA. On the field, they recruit players in a range from D2 offers up through Group of Five offers. If a kid fits their evaluation criteria, they will develop him regardless of where he started.

The university has spent $1.2 billion on new facilities since 2014, with another $40 million in football-specific upgrades coming in the next 18 months. New offices, meeting rooms, training rooms, and a revamped weight room. They recently built a $2.5 million training table cafeteria directly above the weight room. That kind of investment signals a program that is serious about competing at the highest level of FCS football.

Join the Free Live Workshop

If your son has the talent and the work ethic but is not getting the attention he deserves from college coaches, the recruiting process does not have to be a guessing game. I am hosting a free live workshop where I break down exactly how to help your son get in front of the right coaches, send the right messages, and position himself for scholarship offers.

Register for the free live workshop at gonextplay.com/free-training.