It's no secret that when James Franklin was hired at Virginia Tech to replace his former defensive coordinator at Penn State, Brent Pry, he had a rebuilding project ahead of him. Less than two months after being fired at Penn State, Franklin got the Hokies' job and hit the ground running in recruiting.
On Wednesday, Franklin secured a talented recruiting Class of 2026 and, in doing so, he flipped 16 recruits to come to Blacksburg, including 11 from Penn State. Getting the commits from Penn State to follow was not as hard as you may think, as the Nittany Lions and athletic director Pat Kraft are still looking for their next coach.
Making the move to the ACC is where it could be beneficial for Franklin in terms of quickly turning things around and competing. The conference is going through some changes of the guard with Virginia and Duke playing in Saturday night's ACC Championship Game, while Florida State and Clemson are down. Miami is good, but Mario Cristobal can't win enough ACC games to get his team to Charlotte, and SMU and Louisville are up-and-coming, but not unbeatable.
CFB analyst thinks Virginia Tech can bolt to the top of the ACC sooner rather than later
Bud Elliott of CBS Sports sent a message to the rest of the ACC now that Franklin has hit the ground running in Blacksburg.
“I think Virginia Tech has a real shot to become the number two team in the ACC very quickly if Franklin nails it," said Elliott.
Franklin still needs to officially hire a staff around him at Virginia Tech, but you have to think that things are coming into place with that over the next month, after the bowl games end. The recruiting class he just signed in Blacksburg is a start, and he hasn't even started recruiting through the Transfer Portal. If he nails that, then things are really looking good.
If he has the same success with the portal and retaining key players at Virginia Tech, then with the ACC being what it is, there is no reason that Franklin can't have Virginia Tech back near the top in no time. Another recruiting class with the Class of 2027, like this class, will really expedite the rebuild quicker than the rest of the ACC wants to see.