"Got a Challenging Schedule": James Franklin Makes Stance Clear To Virginia Tech on Expectations
!["Got a Challenging Schedule": James Franklin Makes Stance Clear To Virginia Tech on Expectations](https://i3.wp.com/media.zenfs.com/en/essentiallysports_articles_591/78bf8b44e7423a57fd45d67e4a26a4bc?ssl=1 ""Got a Challenging Schedule": James Franklin Makes Stance Clear To Virginia Tech on Expectations")
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When James Franklin became Virginia Tech’s head coach back in November, with Clemson’s dominance fading, Virginia Tech could challenge Miami in the ACC. The Hokies overnight became a conference powerhouse that could challenge Mario Cristobal’s Miami Hurricanes in their year 2. Urban Meyer asked the Hokies’ head coach a direct question about how long it will take the program he’s leading to reach a championship level. Franklin answered by making one thing clear: Virginia Tech must first become a team that can compete every week.
He said the difference between a good team and a great one is having ‘erasers,’ players who can fix a mistake with one big play.
“We had erasers, and I think we’re in a position now where I like our depth,” James Franklin said on The Triple Option Podcast. “We were able to keep the right players, and then we brought in other guys.”
To keep his real point simple, James Franklin believes Virginia Tech does not need big talk right now. The program needs to progress steadily, developing better depth, maintaining consistency to stay in the race every week.
Since they only had 15 spring practices, it’s quite difficult to evaluate too much in so little time. James Franklin explained that it will take 4-5 weeks of summer to evaluate how many he has got. Franklin also looked back at the mistakes of the past to fix the future.
During his impressive 2016 run leading Penn State, Franklin had a 40-man roster scholarship limit, and that affected their depth. Once their stars got injured on the defensive and offensive lines, the team spiraled downward. So, he’s speaking from experience. Virginia Tech’s schedule includes tough road trips, from California to Miami, and those games will test how far the roster has really come.
Urban Meyer, meanwhile, pointed out a harsh reality: the team only won 3 games last year and asked for these upcoming expectations.
“I think that’s where I lean on the people I retained from the previous staff. Everybody feels our depth is in a much different category than it was in the past,” Franklin said. I think we’ve got a chance to be competitive every single week. Some of our toughest games are on the road, but that’s something we embrace. We’re excited about it. We have a challenging schedule.”
Even though James Franklin has only had 15 spring practices to evaluate the roster, he expects them to fight hard. The bookies like FanDuel have their regular-season win total at 6.5 to 7.5 wins. The goal is to be fully competitive every single week out of their 12 regular-season games. For Franklin, this is not only about one season. It is about showing that Virginia Tech can handle pressure, survive injuries, and start acting like a team built to win more often.
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