James Franklin has already changed the recruiting conversation at Virginia Tech, even though he hasn’t coached a snap in Blacksburg.
The Hokies are sitting on 26 commitments in the 2027 cycle and have climbed into the top 20 nationally with a class that was built before Franklin ever put a team on the field. That kind of early momentum says plenty about the appeal of the pitch. It also sets up the real test, because fall camp is where recruiting talk starts needing evidence.
Franklin arrived with a built-in sales job. His résumé does a lot of the heavy lifting: 128-60 as a head coach, a Big Ten title, and six top-10 finishes at Penn State.
Virginia Tech has also backed the message with money, including the Invest to Win campaign and a $75 million gift, the largest in school history. And Franklin kept one of the ACC’s better recruiters in offensive recruiting coordinator Fontel Mines, which only strengthened the effort.
That combination moved quickly. Franklin helped push the 2026 class to a top-25 finish with barely a staff in place, then assembled a 2027 group that sits near the top of the ACC, behind Miami and Clemson.
The centerpiece is Peter Bourque, a top-100 quarterback from Massachusetts who chose Virginia Tech over Georgia and Penn State before finishing third at the Elite 11 this summer. He is the highest-rated commitment the Hokies have landed since 2019.
He’s not carrying the class alone, either. Virginia Tech has six four-star pledges, including tight end Jordan Karhoff and in-state tackle Junior Saunders, along with linebacker Amarri Irvin, a Notre Dame flip.
Still, the class has a gap that no amount of momentum can hide. Chris Whitehead, the top-ranked player in the Commonwealth and the kind of in-state talent Virginia Tech has long wanted to keep home, chose LSU over the Hokies in June. It’s a reminder that promise only goes so far until there’s proof on the field.
That’s why fall camp matters. The 26 commitments have to survive all the way to December, and the programs that have been pulling players out of Virginia for years will be waiting for any sign of weakness. If Virginia Tech starts winning early, Franklin gets something he has not had in any living-room visit yet: tape.
Mines put it simply over the summer, saying kids are "returning calls that probably hadn't returned calls in the past." The calls are coming back. Now the Hokies have to make sure they keep coming.
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Virginia Tech Still Has One Huge Offensive Line Decision To Make
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Even with that added depth, Pry has not settled on the starting group yet, and the evaluation process is still ongoing as camp continues. It is the kind of decision that can shape everything else the offense tries to do, because the line has to hold up for the scheme to function and for the Hokies to take advantage of the talent around it. [Read more 🡒]