When James Franklin was the head coach at Penn State, he would come into the state of Virginia and start plucking away some of the top talent in the Commonwealth. While the defensive coordinator under Franklin in State College, Brent Pry, also had some luck coming into Virginia, and grabbed talent.
After being hired as the head coach at Virginia Tech, Pry knew that keeping the homegrown talent in Virginia was needed to turn around the Hokies. However, while he made strides, he still lost some of the top recruits to other Power 4 programs. After he was fired in early September, Virginia Tech went through a huge search with a committee, which had Franklin fall into their lap after Penn State fired him in October.
Franklin was officially announced as the head coach at Virginia Tech in November and hit the ground running. When he spoke at his introductory press conference, he made it known that recruiting in Virginia was going to be a big priority. That will be put to the test in the Class of 2027 recruiting cycle.
James Franklin recruiting in Virginia will be put to the test with priority linebacker
Franklin's first test within Virginia will be put to the test with four-star linebacker Lucas Glover from Haymarket. The Class of 2027 recruit cut his schools down to six, with Virginia Tech, Notre Dame, Oregon, Georgia, Texas A&M, and Miami making the cut, according to Hayes Fawcett of Rivals.
While it is nice to see the Hokies back in the mix with other powerhouse programs for the top recruits in each class, this is going to take some serious recruiting from both Franklin and Pry, who is now Virginia Tech's defensive coordinator and linebackers coach.
The No. 2 player in the state of Virginia according to Rivals, the 6-foot-2, 212-pound Glover is the 11th-ranked linebacker in his class. Again, winning the recruiting battles in Virginia is going to be put to the test here for Franklin and Pry. Buckle up.