The college football season is just under three weeks away with the Week 0 schedule. Virginia Tech fans have to wait another week for James Franklin's opener in Blacksburg against VMI on Sept. 5, under the lights.
Last week, preseason watch lists for end-of-the-season awards began coming out, which is just another sign that the college football season is right around the corner. Kemari Copeland and Luke Reynolds were two players who were already named to award watch lists, but one teammate of theirs was snubbed from one list.
Kicker John Love, who is one of the top kickers in the country, was not named to the Lou Groza Collegiate Place-Kicker Award. Some names from the ACC that made the list over Love were Will Bettridge of Virginia, Aidan Birr from Georgia Tech, Nolan Hauser of Clemson, Luca Lombardo of Boston College, Jack Olsen of Miami, and Gabe Panikowski of Florida State. There have been many Hokies players who said they are entering the season with a chip on their shoulder. You can likely add Love to that list.
Five-star QB picks Ohio State over Virginia Tech and others
Some Class of 2028 quarterbacks are making some early commitments, and James Franklin and Virginia Tech, along with quarterbacks coach Danny O'Brien, were in the mix for some of them, but just how involved they were is up for debate.
Over the weekend, five-star Christopher Vargas, a rising junior at St. John's Prep in Danvers, Mass., committed to Ryan Day and Ohio State over the Hokies, Oregon, and others, according to Hayes Fawcett. I say according to Fawcett because he was one of the few who had the Hokies in the mix. It wasn't surprising that Virginia Tech was on the outside looking in for Lawrence, Mass., native, as the Hokies have their eyes on in-state Class of 2028 signal caller Anthony Turner from Virginia Beach. There was a prediction from Rivals logged for Turner to end up in Blacksburg when he commits down the line.
James Franklin is open to adding Class of 2022 players
Now that the Class of 2022 got an injunction for players to play a fifth season, you're going to see some programs add or bring back players for one more year of college football, whether you like it or not. Is Franklin open to the idea? He addressed it at Virginia Tech's Media Day on Sunday.
"Yeah, we're open to it,'' said Franklin. "I think you're going to look across the country, and some schools are going to have opportunities to do that. Based on how the draft and other things went, some schools won't. ''
It would have to be the perfect scenario for the Hokies to add someone at this point; however, never say never.
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