James Franklin swoops in last minute and flips three-star Kentucky commit

When James Franklin was hired at Virginia Tech, he said that nobody would work harder than him. Boy, he wasn't kidding.

Over the last six days, the former Penn State coach has been doing nothing but cooking on the recruiting trail. He's not only getting commitments from some of his former Class of 2026 commits at Penn State, but he's also getting commitments from former Virginia Tech recruits who de-committed after Brent Pry was fired, and he's flipping commits from other schools.

In what has turned into a busy Monday in recruiting for Franklin with getting commits in the Class of 2026, Franklin added a couple of recruits from Penn State and got a former Hokies offensive lineman to recommit in four-star Thomas Wilder. This was one day after he got a commitment from former Wisconsin commit Maddox Cochrane.

On Monday night, Franklin added to the defensive side of the ball when he was able to flip three-star edge Garrett Witherington, who was committed to Kentucky.

James Franklin flips former Kentucky edge Garrett Witherington

Kentucky parted ways with head coach Mark Stoops after another underperforming season in Lexington, and the 6-foot-5, 290-pound Witherington flipped to Virginia Tech. The Birmingham, Ala., native is the 39th overall player in Alabama and was on campus this past weekend for an official visit.

This addition comes hours after former Penn State commit, linebacker Mathieu Lamah, committed to the Hokies. The recent additions by Franklin have put a major dent in recruiting. When he was hired, Virginia Tech was near the bottom of the FBS in terms of recruiting rankings, but right now, according to 247Sports, the Hokies are up to the 59th-ranked class. That number is only expected to go up over the next few days with signing day on Wednesday, and more commitments are likely coming.