When James Franklin took to the mic on Thursday in Charlotte for Virginia Tech's media availability this week at ACC Media Days, he touched on a lot of subjects. As has been the case since he was hired in Blacksburg, some of his quotes were met with immediate overreactions.
Shocking, I know. As you can imagine, one fanbase took everything he said and ran with some of it, twisted his words, and misread the meaning of what he said. Again, shocking, I know. You can guess which obsessive fanbase that is.
College football writer explains James Franklin point of quote at ACC Media Day
One thing that Franklin said that some people read a lot into was how the Hokies have won the offseason. Of course, his quote was taken out of context.
“I think we’ve won the offseason,” Franklin said. “We’ve done the right things. There’s a lot of excitement. There’s a lot of momentum right now, and this is kind of the end of that, right? All these different things, whether meet-and-greets in Richmond, or whether it’s a 7-on-7 (event), whether it’s recruiting, or whether it’s a transfer portal, spring ball, or spring game, these are all opportunities to build and create momentum.
“After this, we’re getting to the stuff that matters most: practice, winning games, and having that stadium rocking.”
So for, for people who are taking what he said out of context and running with it, the former Vanderbilt and Penn State coach was talking about winning the offseason in terms of where things were when he was hired, compared to where things are now after eight months on the job. Ari Wasserman of On3 listed the top 5 winners of the offseason, and no, the Hokies were not among the schools. However, he did clarify what he meant.
"Franklin wasn’t declaring Virginia Tech the winners of the offseason for all of college football. He was just saying that Virginia Tech did everything in its power to improve the program’s stature heading into the season. And he’s right,'' wrote Wasserman.
Thank you, Ari. The fans who just go to social media to troll Franklin often take what he says and run with it, taking it out of context. Again, shocking, I know. Franklin will be the first to admit that the results are only going to matter when the games start for real in a couple of months. Until then, fans are still going to take everything he says and, well, overreact. It's what fans who can't move on from him do.
Add us as a preferred source on Google