When the ACC released the conference slate of games for the Virginia Tech football team in 2026, it was a road slate that looked difficult on paper. As we know, games are won on the field and not on paper.
Week 0 begins in eight days, and leading into the 2026 season, preseason award watch lists have been dropped over the last couple of weeks. On Thursday, the watch list for the Davey O’Brien Award Preseason Watch List was released, which is given to the nation's top signal caller. Four ACC quarterbacks were on the lost and three of the four the Hokies will be playing in James Franklin's first season in Blacksburg.
4 ACC quarterbacks named to the Davey O'Brien preseason award watch list
The ACC had four quarterbacks on the preseason watch list, and three of the four are on teh Hokies' schedule, and all of the games will be on the road, which will make it that much tougher. Here are the four nominees and the three Tech opponents a bolded.
- Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele, California
- Darian Mensah, Miami
- CJ Bailey, Jr., North Carolina State
- Kevin Jennings, 5th, QB, SMU
Talk about a daunting road slate of top quarterbacks in the ACC that Virginia Tech will face. Defensive coordinator Brent Pry and Franklin will have their work cut out for them when it comes to preparing for them.
Sagapolutele will be the first quarterback Virginia Tech will face when the Hokies fly to Northern California in October. As a freshman for the Golden Bears last season, he was impressive and threw for 3,454 yards and 18 touchdowns. He was 24-for-39 for 286 yards in a 42-34 overtime loss at Lane Stadium last October. He will be even tougher to stop this season in Berkley.
As for Jennings and the Mustangs, they are a contender in the ACC, and some see them as the biggest threat to Miami this season. Virginia Tech picked up a ninth conference game this season, and as luck would have it, it is at SMU in early November. Then there is Mensah, who transferred from Duke to Miami, and the Hokies head to South Florida in late November in what could be a huge game for the Hurricanes in terms of the College Football Playoff and the ACC race to Charlotte.
Nobody said things were going to be easy this season for the Hokies, and this compounds how tought things are. Franklin wouldn't have ti any other way in 2026.
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