One staple of James Franklin's time at Penn State was his ability to recruit at a high level. When he was at Vanderbilt before making the move over to the Nittany Lions, he would recruit at a high level. He would own the DMV (D.C., Maryland, and Virginia), and nobody knew that more than Virginia Tech fans who would see Franklin come into the Commonwealth to pluck recruits out from under the Hokies.
That happened way too many times under Justin Fuente and Brent Pry. In Pry's defense, he was able to slowly rebuild relationships from his time under Franklin at Penn State as his defensive coordinator. When Franklin was hired as the next football coach at Virginia Tech on Monday, there were several reasons to be excited, including his recruiting résumé.
James Franklin attempting to flip Penn State commit from Virginia
This home game over the last couple of weeks has been circled by a lot of people in terms of a potential James Franklin hiring and a big weekend for visits. That appears to be the case, and one recruit from Virginia who is still committed to Penn State is linebacker Mathieu Lamah.
Lamah is a three-star from Nokesville, VA. However, it appears that Franklin is trying to get a flip with the 6-foot-3, 235-pounder who committed to him back in May. After Franklin was fired last month, Lamah posted on his X account that he was still committed to Penn State, but he was reopening his recruitment. It's not surprising that Franklin quickly reached out.
If Lamah's name sounds familiar to Hokies' fans, it should. Pry and the staff were in on him even after he committed to Franklin. Lamah took an official visit to Tech in June, and he was offered a scholarship in October of 2024. This isn't a guarantee flip for Franklin, but one that would be huge.