Virginia Tech Football Preview 2026: Can James Franklin Fix the Hokies?
NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos...
Was there a better head coaching hire this offseason than Virginia Tech getting James Franklin?
It's hard to imagine a realistically better choice.
Even though some other new head coach will (probably) do more with his program and be the next huge thing, this was a big move for the Hokies to get a guy this good.
Virginia Tech's Big Move To Be Better Fast
© Brian Bishop-Imagn Images
Penn State was in the College Football Playoff semifinals at the end of the 2024 season.
Franklin got the Nittany Lions into the last four still standing, started the 2025 season 3-0, and was a fourth-down stop against Oregon of possibly being in for a much, much different season.
A coach who has won as much as Franklin should've been given the benefit of the doubt – losing heartbreaking games to UCLA by a late touchdown and to Northwestern by a point, but … nope.
One bad three-week stretch was enough to let him go, and you could almost hear Virginia Tech go … YOINK!
Franklin took Vanderbilt to three bowl games in three years before it was cool. His only dud season at Penn State was that odd 2020 campaign, but his "can't win against top five teams" thing became too big of a narrative.
Yeah, but he won 104 other games as the head man in Happy Valley with three straight seasons with ten wins or more before he was sacked last year.
Virginia Tech has one ten-win season since 2011 – Franklin's first season at Vandy – and has just one winning season in the last six years.
Now the program will start winning again. Fast.
– 2026 Virginia Tech Schedule Analysis
Virginia Tech Quick Hits
- Head Coach: James Franklin (1st year; 16th year overall: 188-128)
- Best Case / Worst Case: Be in the ACC Championship hunt/A sixth losing season in seven years
- Key Player: Ethan Grunkemeyer, QB Soph.
- 2025 Record: 3-9
- Biggest Question: How fast will James Franklin turn the program around?
Virginia Tech Key 2025 Stats
- Total Takeaways: Opponents 14, Virginia Tech 6
- Punt Return Average: Opponents 20.5 yards, Virginia Tech 7.7
- 2nd Quarter Scoring: Opponents 111, Virginia Tech 63
Offense
Franklin didn't go too heavy on his former Penn State guys, but he got a big one with Ty Howle, the Nittany Lion co-offensive coordinator over the last four years.
Expect an instant turnaround for an attack that averaged just 349 yards and 21 points per game. There's more pop and firepower at the skill spots.
What’s Working
The backfield will be terrific. Marcellous Hawkins is a good, tough back who averaged over six yards per carry with a team-leading 749 yards. Coming in is fellow big back Bill Davis, a 230-pound back from the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns who ran for over 1,500 yards over the last two seasons.
The passing attack will be far, far better. Former starter Kyron Drones had plenty of positives, but he wasn't always accurate and was wildly inconsistent. In comes Ethan Grunkemeyer, the Penn State transfer who hit 69% of his passes with eight scores last season.
Bryce Baker is a North Carolina transfer with a world of upside, with a shot at making a push for the gig this fall.
The Hokie receiving corps should be far better. Ayden Greene is back after leading the team with 31 catches for 516 yards and six scores, averaging 16.6 yards per catch. He's a keeper, and he'll be better with the incoming stars around him.
Que'Sean Brown caught 105 passes for close to 1,400 yards and seven touchdowns over the last two years at Duke, and Marlion Jackson is a big deep threat from Louisiana Tech.
What Needs Work
There's more experience on the offensive line, but it needs to be a whole lot better. This might not be the most talented front five, but enough veterans to need more of a tweak than an overhaul.
Job One is to improve the pass protection, but this bunch has the power to blast away and get the ground attack moving. The Hokies will improve after allowing 2.4 sacks per game.
Virginia Tech shouldn't have to run wild this season to win, but it will have to grind. Its only two wins over FBS teams came when running for over six yards per carry, and it lost all eight games when it didn't hit 200 yards on the ground.
Score more. The Hokies only managed to push past 23 points three times, and one of those games was a 45-26 blowout loss to Old Dominion.
The Hokies scored 20 points or fewer seven times. By comparison, the 2024 team scored fewer than 20 points twice.
Since 2022, they're 0-19 when failing to score more than 20.
Player to Watch
Marlion Jackson, WR Sr.
The 6-2, 207-pound Louisiana Tech veteran is the third-best receiver behind Brown and Greene, but he'll be a big producer.
He caught 46 passes for 753 yards and three scores, averaging over 16 yards per grab. The deep plays are coming.
Defense
It's an interesting situation that would be highly dysfunctional at most places, but should work here.
Brent Pry was the head coach over the last four years, and now he's Franklin's defensive coordinator.
There are some very, very big things to fix, but this is where the transfer portal should fix a whole slew of problems.
What’s Working
Here come the edge guys. Dog James Franklin's time at Penn State all you want, but the guy cranked out superstar pass rushers.
Mylachi Williams, Daniel Jennings, and Cortez Harris are more prospects than producers coming in from Penn State, but they have a world of upside.
Missouri's Javion Hilson, West Virginia's Curtis Jones, and Colorado's Samuel Okunlola will all get their time in the rotation.
The linebackers will quickly become a problem for the ACC. The depth takes a hit with the loss of Michael Short to TCU and Caleb Woodson to Alabama, but the main men will be great.
Penn State's Keon Wylie is a great get, and Kaleb Spencer led the team with 67 tackles and nine tackles for loss. They're good, and there's more in the 4-2-5, with Noah Chambers back after missing several games. He made 44 tackles and should be a force with a full season.
The tackles will be a strength. 301-pound Elhadj Fall and 290-pound Kemari Copeland combined for 72 tackles with seven tackles and 11 tackles for loss.
That's a good place to start, and coming in are 322-pound Eric Mensah from Ohio State and 312-pound Randy Adirika from Penn State.
What Needs Work
James Franklin's defenses are great. Last year's Penn State defense wasn't great, and it still finished in the top 25 in total D. The 2024 bunch finished seventh, was No. 2 behind Michigan in 2023, and so on.
Virginia Tech will be way better, but the overall talent isn't there compared to what he had at Penn State. Give it a little bit, because …
Franklin's defenses might have been strong, but last year's bunch – and it was his for only half the season – was 98th in takeaways.
Georgia State and Wisconsin both forced six turnovers, and Virginia Tech was right with them – they were tied for dead last in the nation with the Panthers and Badgers.
Even worse, the Hokie defense didn't recover a fumble after Week 2.
Third down stops. This goes hand-in-hand with the pass rush problem, and that should be fixed with the new guys coming in. Last year's Virginia Tech defense allowed teams to convert 45% of their chances.
It got ripped up for 50% or more in each of the last three games and four of the last six.
Player to Watch
Cam Chadwick, CB Sr.
He might not bring the hype of several of the Penn State players coming in, and some good Hokies still around, but Chadwick is exactly what the defense needs – a veteran playmaker who picks off passes.
In his last two years at UConn he made 114 tackles with six interceptions and ten broken-up passes. He'll shine at one corner spot.
Keys to the Season
- Crank up the pass rush and be far more disruptive.
- The offense has to be more efficient and explosive.
- Do the little things right – fewer penalties and the coverage units can't be among the worst in the nation.
Player Who Needs To Shine
Ethan Grunkemeyer, QB Soph.
He won't run much, and he didn't set the world on fire at Penn State, but he's a talented young passer who's familiar with how this all works under Franklin.
Don't be shocked if Bryce Baker shows the upside in fall camp to make a push, but Grunkemeyer's accuracy will make an instant difference.
Biggest Concern
Tempering expectations.
Franklin was a big hire. He did big things in the transfer portal to improve things right away, and he kicked it all in with a terrific recruiting class.
Virginia Tech fans have been waiting for years for the program to be a big deal again, and it didn't help that rival Virginia got good last season.
Franklin will start winning right away, but he'll need several huge breaks to take the Hokies from nothing to fabulous in a few months.
Biggest Game
at SMU, November 7
How jelled are the Hokies by early November? They have four road games in six weeks before getting the last week of October off, and then comes another road game, going to SMU.
Oh yeah, and there’s still a little trip to Miami to deal with.
Transfer Portal
In case you haven't noticed in this, lots of Penn State players are making the move down to Blacksburg.
The fantastic class of new players is about more than just the Nittany Lions, but there were a ton of rough losses, too.
It would've been nice to keep a few more players to have a bigger base to build off of, but there's absolutely no complaining about what Franklin and his staff pulled off.
Best Signing
Que'Sean Brown, WR (Duke)
Brown caught 105 passes for close to 1,400 yards and seven touchdowns over the last two years at Duke.
He was more steady than sensational, and then he closed out the season with 178 yards and two scores on ten grabs in the bowl win over Arizona State.
Biggest Loss
Caleb Woodson, LB (Alabama)
One of the best producers for the Virginia Tech defense is now off to Alabama. He's got size, toughness, and 152 tackles of experience over the last three seasons.
Other Names to Know
- Javion Hilson, EDGE (Missouri)
- Jaquez White, CB (Troy)
- Luke Reynolds, TE (Penn State)
CFN Season Prediction
It's hard to buy in when the 3-9 program came closer to being 1-11 last year than it was to bowl eligibility.
The proud program and former ACC superstar has gone 3-13 in its last 16 games against FBS teams, but this has the feeling of a rehab project more than a massive teardown.
The school decided it was ready to be good at football again. It's making the push starting with Franklin and continuing in the portal, and the success is coming.
But how soon can this thing turn?
CFN Prediction: 7-5
It starts with beating all the teams Virginia Tech is supposed to. Old Dominion might have walloped the Hokies last year, but this time around that has to flip.
VMI will be a win to open the season, and then come a slew of games that are all winnable.
No, Franklin's bunch won't run through at Maryland, at Boston College, Pitt, at Cal, and Georgia Tech, but it'll pick off enough to be interesting.
And then things get funky with the last three road games at Clemson, SMU, and Miami – and there's the problem.
The Hokies will make a big jump up and be the hipster-hot thing going into 2027, but for now, just being good under Franklin will be enough.
Related: Virginia Tech Football 2026 Schedule Outlook and Analysis
More at NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos