Virginia Tech has its quarterback, and James Franklin is leaning into the familiar. Penn State transfer Ethan Grunkemeyer will open the season as the Hokies’ starter, giving Franklin a player he knows well as he tries to speed up the rebuild in Blacksburg.
The choice won’t shock anyone who watched Grunkemeyer follow Franklin from Penn State, but it also wasn’t handed down as a formality. Franklin said the job stayed competitive through the offseason, with North Carolina transfer Bryce Baker pushing all the way through the race before Grunkemeyer separated himself.
"He's been the leader in the clubhouse for a number of practices -- any maybe weeks," Franklin said. "I don't think it was a foregone conclusion that this was gonna happen, or we would've told you guys and made an announcement. I think it's been a real competitive room."
What gave Grunkemeyer the edge was a mix of experience, trust and polish. He was a four-star recruit and the No. 8 quarterback in the 2024 signing class, and he already has 12 college appearances on his résumé. Franklin pointed to the respect he’s earned from teammates, along with the steadiness he’s shown in the building.
"He's got his teammates' respect," Franklin said. "I think there's a level of consistency and maturity that he's shown to give the coaches and his teammates trust.
I think you guys know his game experience, which we think is valuable, as well as his ability to distribute the ball and his decision-making. ... He's worked really hard on getting stronger and more explosive.
I think he has the ability to still be a threat in the running game or extend the play."
Grunkemeyer’s Penn State tape offers a pretty clear picture of why Virginia Tech went this direction. When Drew Allar went down with a season-ending injury in Week 6, Grunkemeyer stepped in as the full-time starter and showed real upside. He completed 69.1 percent of his passes for 1,339 yards, eight touchdowns and four interceptions.
The late-season stretch was especially encouraging. Over Penn State’s final four games, Grunkemeyer threw six touchdowns and no interceptions while completing 73.8% of his passes. After the rougher early stretch, he settled in and finished with more confidence.
That matters for a Virginia Tech team that wants to get moving quickly. Grunkemeyer already knows offensive coordinator Ty Howle’s system from their time together at Penn State, and Howle now runs the offense full-time in Blacksburg after serving as co-offensive coordinator from 2023-25. That shared background should help the Hokies avoid some of the usual early-season growing pains.
It helps, too, that Grunkemeyer has already dealt with high-end Big Ten competition. He went through Iowa, Ohio State and Indiana in three straight games last fall, a brutal run that tested him even if the results weren’t always pretty. He struggled in those games, though he was better against Indiana, and the ACC won’t throw that kind of week-after-week gauntlet at him.
The schedule also gives Virginia Tech room to breathe early. The Hokies open with VMI and Old Dominion, then face Boston College and Maryland before Pitt comes to town on Oct.
- That should give Grunkemeyer and the offense time to settle in before the tougher part of the slate begins.
The bigger picture in the ACC also leaves some room for movement. Miami sits at the top, while Louisville and SMU are in a separate tier behind the Hurricanes, but the race for the league’s No. 2 spot is still open. Virginia made a statement by rolling past NC State in Week 0, though it remains fair to ask how much of that was the Cavaliers looking strong and how much was the Wolfpack struggling after losing key pieces.
For Virginia Tech, the path is simple enough: if Grunkemeyer takes another step, the Hokies have a quarterback who can tilt some conference games in their favor. He’ll face Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele at Cal, Kevin Jennings at SMU and Darian Mensah at Miami, but there’s a real scenario in which he’s the best quarterback on the field in most of the other six ACC matchups.
If that happens, Franklin and Virginia Tech will have a much better chance of beating expectations in Year 1.
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Week 0 gave Virginia plenty to feel good about, and the Cavaliers made a clean early statement in their 34-8 win over NC State. The offense moved the ball with purpose, the defense kept the Wolfpack from ever finding a rhythm, and the opener had the kind of shape every team wants in late August when everyone is trying to figure out what is real and what is just opening-night noise.
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Beau Pribula was right in the middle of it, piling up yards with his legs and arm while helping steady an offense that looked in control for much of the night. With the defense matching that energy, Virginia suddenly has something it has been missing in recent seasons: a believable path toward competing in the ACC race, and perhaps even a larger postseason conversation if this level of play holds up. [Read more 🡒]
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Week 0 gave Virginia a useful early snapshot of where it stands under Tony Elliott, and the opener against NC State was as encouraging as the Cavaliers could have hoped for. Virginia came out of the gate with authority, looking organized and sharp in a game that quickly separated it from some of the more uneven performances around the country, including close calls and shaky showings elsewhere on the opening weekend.
Elsewhere in the ACC and beyond, the early season also offered a reminder that first impressions can matter a great deal, especially for programs trying to reset their tone. Memphis, with Charles Huff in charge, gave its fans reasons to buy in right away with a promising debut, and Virginia will know that the next step is turning one strong start into something more durable once the season settles in. [Read more 🡒]