The month of May has been a busy one for Virginia Tech football coach James Franklin. A lot of the news has been surrounding the recruiting and the commitments that he has made, along with the rest of his staff.
You knew as soon as he was hired in Blacksburg that the recruiting was going to go to another level under Franklin. It has. However, he isn't the sole reason for recruiting taking off. His assistant coaches have had a big hand in the recruiting success. That became more evident this past weekend.
Virginia Tech picked up a handful of commitments from some visitors, and some of those commitments have vaulted four Hokies assistants into the Top 10 in the ACC. Offensive coordinator Ty Howle, defensive ine coach Sean Spencer, running backs coach Norval McKenzie, and wide receiver coach Fontel Mines are all in the Top 10 in the ACC.
Virginia Tech #Hokies ACC Recruiter Rankings:
— Matej Sis (@MatejS247) May 30, 2026
No. 3 Ty Howle (No. 13 Nationally)
No. 5 Sean Spencer (No. 15 Nationally)
No. 7 Norval McKenzie (No. 27 Nationally)
No. 8 Fontel Mines (No. 36 Nationally)
Mines is the lone holdover from Brent Pry's staff, and he has always been a big recruiter and was Pry's top recruiter the last couple of seasons in Blacksburg.
Virginia Tech and Maryland drop two games from future schedules
When it was announced last week that Virginia Tech and Maryland were canceling two future matchups over the next two seasons, the Penn State and Maryland fans came out and blamed Franklin for ducking the Terrapins. If only they could understand the reasoning behind the decision, instead of trolling the former Nittany Lions coach.
Virginia Tech will head to Maryland this year in Week 3, and instead of playing the Terrapins the next two years, they dropped them. Maryland will make the return visit to Blacksburg in 2029. So what was the reasoning behind it?
The ACC lies in other power conferences, which are going to nine conference games. That means the Hokies will play two power conference non-conference games over the next two years, giving them 11 on their schedule for 12 games. Even Penn State wouldn't do that.
So instead of playing 11 power conference schools, the Hokies will pick up home games, while Maryland will play two with Baylor. It should be noted and pointed out that Maryland was only playing Virginia Tech as a power conference school in the two years where the games were canceled. But because that doesn't fit the fanbase's narrative of trolling Franklin, they are going to turn their heads and look the other way with the truth.
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