When Penn State fired James Franklin as head football coach in October, he became the top candidate on the coaching market. That firing came a couple of weeks after Virginia Tech fired Brent Pry, Franklin's former defensive coordinator. Little did anyone know how things were about to play out.
In mid-November, Virginia Tech's search committee came away with Franklin as their top target, and he was officially named head coach. Once he was hired, he hit the ground running in terms of recruiting in the Class of 2026 and overhauling the 2025 roster for next season and beyond.
It took Penn State athletic director Pat Kraft some time to name Franklin's replacement in State College, but he hired Matt Campbell away from Iowa State. Campbell retained Terry Smith on his staff, as there was some thought that Smith might follow Franklin to Blacksburg. When Smith was retained, it was widely thought by Penn State fans that Smith's retention was going to block a lot of Nittany Lions' players from entering the Transfer Portal and following Franklin to Blacksburg. Guess what, it didn't.
James Franklin barrles through Penn State's potential road block
It was thought that Smith was going to be able to retain a lot of the Penn State players and block them from going to Virginia Tech. In the end, a dozen players who entered the Transfer Portal followed Franklin to Blacksburg. The biggest names are quarterback Ethan Grunkameyer and tight end Luke Reynolds.
In this day and age, you knew there were going to be some players who followed Franklin from Penn State. Again, it is more about the coach than the name of the school for college players right now with NIL and the portal. There were bound to be some players who followed Franklin, and that was the case. Regardless if Smith was retained by Campbell or not.