Stop me if you've heard this before, but with the Virginia Tech football program, there is a lot of hype surrounding the Hokies going into a new season. If your memory serves you correctly, that was the case going into the 2024 season.
By now, all Virginia Tech fans know how that season ended. A disappointing 6-6 and a Duke's Mayo Bowl loss to Minnesota. It was such a letdown of a season that began with a ton of hype. However, the 2026 hype is going to surpass it with one major difference: James Franklin.
Franklin's former defensive coordinator at Penn State, Brent Pry, was fired by Virginia Tech after a 0-3 start to the 2025 campaign. Then, a month later, Franklin was fired at Penn State, and in November, he was hired in Blacksburg. Since being hired, he has hit the ground running with a major program turnover from the roster to the staff. Now, with just three months to go until the season-opener, Brad Crawford of CBS Sports had a take that should have ACC fans bracing for disaster.
CBS Sports said what is painful to ACC fans ears about James Franklin at Virginia Tech
Crawford broke down the Top 10 college football teams generating buzz ahead of the 2026 season. One of the schools mentioned, naturally, was Virginia Tech.
"One could argue that no coaching change flipped a program's trajectory more than James Franklin's arrival at Virginia Tech. The impact was almost immediate, with a noticeable boost on the recruiting trail and multiple high-profile flips, including several former Penn State commits who followed him to Blacksburg,'' Crawford wrote.
The impact has been felt right away. From the flipping of Penn State commits in the Class of 2026 to the work through the Transfer Portal, where several former Nittany Lions' players followed Franklin to Blacksburg. Oh, did we forget to mention Pry is back as the DC?
However, for years since Frank Beamer retired, one thing nationally about the Hokies has been that they are a sleeping giant waiting to be woken up. Crawford believes that Virginia Tech, under Franklin's leadership, is ready to break through.
"Franklin also arrives with one of the most consistent résumés in the sport, ranking fourth among 26 current Power Four head coaches with at least a decade in the FBS in winning percentage (.681). The move to the ACC offers a different level of week-to-week grind compared to the Big Ten, and the belief in Blacksburg is that Franklin could position Virginia Tech as a sleeping giant finally ready to break through,'' Crawford added.
If Virginia Tech is going to break through under Franklin, well, that's bad news for the rest of the ACC. Last week, the school got a $75 million donation that is only going to help Franklin speed things up in Blacksburg in terms of turning things around. He took the job knowing that the resources were going to change there; otherwise, he wouldn't have accepted the position. Virginia Tech committing to football the way they have in less than a year and hiring Franklin is a nightmare that the ACC is not ready for.
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