When James Franklin was hired at Virginia Tech in November, he knew one thing he needed to do: remake the Hokies roster at several positions. The best way to do that in this day and age is through the Transfer Portal. However, when it comes to Franklin and recruiting high school kids, he usually gets some of the better ones.
Another area of the program where decisions were made was with the existing coaching staff. Franklin retained some coaches from the previous staff, including Fontel Mines and Matt Moore. After coming over from West Virginia last year as the offensive line coach, Moore made strides in turning the position over and heading in the right direction. He was retained, and between Franklin and Moore, they have put together a promising unit through the portal and high school recruits.
Virginia Tech rebuilds the offensive line through the portal and Class of 2026 recruits
Franklin flipped some recruits from Penn State to Virginia Tech on signing day in December, but he also added some talented players through the portal. Here is a list of offensive linemen added by Franklin.
Transfers Portal Additions
- Justin Bell, Michigan State
- Logan Howland, Oklahoma
- Michael Troutman, Penn State
- Justin Terry, Ohio State
Class of 2026
- Thomas Wilder
- Tyrell Simpson
- Buddy Wegdam
- Benjamin Eziuka
- Roseby Lubintus
- Marlen Bright
- Maddox Cochrane
If there is one takeaway from this group, and really, one takeaway from the entire work through the portal is that Franklin targeted players who have multiple years of eligibility remaining. That's not something that happens a lot nowadays in the portal at any position.
The offensive line was tough to stomach at times, the last couple of seasons, and really, Moore did some miracle work with it this past season. Franklin and Moore knew that it needed to be attacked aggressively in the portal, and that's what they did. It was work that will pay dividends over time, but a new-look offensive line should be deeper and better in 2026 after the easy work was done over the last couple of months. Now the hard work begins in the spring with practices in preparation for the fall.