When Virginia Tech hired James Franklin as their next head coach, like his former assistant coach, who he's replacing in Blacksburg, Brent Pry, he knew what needed to be fixed in terms of recruiting. Striking it big in the Commonwealth.
At Penn State, Franklin, and even Pry, when he was the defensive coordinator at State College, would come into Virginia and pluck some of the top recruits that state had to offer. Oftentimes, it was done with little resistance.
Franklin has hit the ground running recruiting-wise and flipped a Virginia recruit over the weekend, wide receiver Demarcus Brown. Franklin was in Norfolk on Monday night and spoke about recruiting in the 757 and didn't beat around the bush.
James Franklin said what fans know about recruiting in Virginia and the 757
Nobody understands the importance of recruiting like Franklin, and the first-year head coach said that he wants to take recruiting in the 757 to another level.
“No one has better history in the 757 than Virginia Tech, and we need to get that back,” Franklin said. “I think Brent Pry did a really great job of getting back into some of these schools that we had not been to in a couple of years, but we want to take it to a whole other level.”
Franklin isn't wrong about Pry. He, too, knew that recruiting in the Commonwealth needed to be fixed and relationships needed to be mended. He tried along with Fontel Mines, and yes, progress was made, but not enough to have programs come in and pluck recruits.
In his first nearly six months on the job, a lot has changed with the Hokies program under Franklin, and recruiting is beginning to take off. Sure, he is going to lose some battles for some of the state's top players, but there are going to be more wins and successes than in previous seasons. Don't be surprised if Franklin does indeed take the recruiting to another level sooner rather than later.
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