When James Franklin was fired at Penn State, it created a lot of questions surrounding the Nittany Lions' Class of 2026 commits. When a coach is fired, generally there are some players who de-commit, or when there is a coaching change is someone leaves for another job.
The problem with the Penn State recruits is that there was no telling what the future held for Franklin and their college careers. Franklin went on College GameDay and made it known that he wanted to coach again and was looking to find a job for next season. After six weeks unemployed, Franklin landed on his feet at Virginia Tech.
As soon as he was hired in Blacksburg, he went to work recruiting, and who did he turn to? He turned to his Penn State commits. Now it was easy to knock on the door with those recruits, as Penn State athletic director Pat Kraft didn't hire a coach right away. In fact, as Early Signing Day came on Wednesday, he still doesn't have a coach lined up or in place.
That opened the door for Franklin to swoop in and pluck some of his Penn State recruits to Virginia Tech. Mission accomplished. As signing day was unfolding, one commit made his announcement live on 247Sports. Terry Wiggins announced that he is committing to Virginia Tech, and he gave his reason as to why.
Virginia Tech football commit explains decision to follow James Franklin
In two weeks, Franklin took a recruiting class at Virginia Tech and moved them from near the bottom of the FBS to inside the Top 25. Wiggins committed and gave his reason why, and it was an eye-opening comment.
"All the other recruits that committed to Virginia Tech,'' said Wiggins. "We all have a very strong relationship with each other. We all stayed in contact with each other. We were communicating what we were going to and trusting in Coach Franklin."
Wiggins also mentioned that Virginia Tech felt like Penn State 2.0 on his visit. Let's be honest, we're at a point in college sports where NIL is involved, and players are committing to the coaches more than they are the schools. That's what makes James Franklin a great recruiter, and it's only going to get better at Virginia Tech. Hokies fans should really be excited about the future.