The first night of the James Franklin era at Virginia Tech is less about the scoreboard and more about the snapshots. VMI arrives in Blacksburg for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff Saturday on the ACC Network, and with the Keydets coming off a 1-11 season and no winning campaign since 2021, the matchup should tell the Hokies more about themselves than about the opponent. It’s the first meeting between the schools since 1984, and Lane Stadium will get its first look at a new head coach, a rebuilt roster and a team carrying expectations it still has to back up.
That makes the individual performances the real point of interest. Virginia Tech’s opener gives a few key players a chance to show what this team could look like when it starts to settle in.
The obvious headliner is quarterback Grunkemeyer, who followed Franklin from Penn State and is now stepping into the spotlight in Blacksburg. He spent two seasons in that program and made seven starts down the stretch in 2025 after Drew Allar’s season-ending injury.
In those games, he completed 69.1 percent of his passes for 1,339 yards, eight touchdowns and four interceptions. He closed the year with his best outing, throwing for a career-high 262 yards and two touchdowns in a Pinstripe Bowl win over Clemson.
Against VMI, the stat line matters less than how he gets there. A strong night would mean quick decisions, steady footwork when pressure does show up and a few throws downfield that hint at why Franklin wanted him in the first place.
On the ground, Hawkins is the player who already gives this offense shape. The Oklahoma City native and former Central Missouri transfer led Tech with 749 rushing yards last season at 6.3 per carry, doing it while the passing game never forced defenses to stay honest.
He forced 44 missed tackles and picked up 562 yards after first contact. His biggest games included 167 rushing yards against California and another 100-yard performance against Florida State.
For Hawkins, a good opener would look like a fast path to 100 yards and a long touchdown that lets Franklin pull him before the third quarter. That kind of night would fit the role he’s already carved out as the tone-setter for the Hokies’ offense.
Greene gives the passing game a proven target. The 6-foot-1 Knoxville native led Virginia Tech with 31 catches for 516 yards and three touchdowns last season, and his 16.6-yard average made him the offense’s most reliable big-play threat. His best game came late, when he hauled in five passes for 95 yards against Miami.
The key Saturday is simple: does the connection with Grunkemeyer click right away? If Greene lands a couple of explosive plays downfield, that’s the kind of early evidence that the quarterback-receiver pairing is ahead of schedule.
Defensively, Copeland is the name that jumps off the page. He started all 12 games in 2025 and finished with 48 tackles, 7.5 tackles for loss and a team-high 4.5 sacks.
One of those sacks came in a three-sack outing against California, making him the first Tech defensive tackle to record three in a game since J.C. Price in 1995.
He was also the only returning All-ACC selection on the roster, and his offseason work included breaking the school bench-press record at 510 pounds and climbing to No. 7 on Bruce Feldman’s annual Freaks List.
What Virginia Tech wants from him now is the kind of steady disruption that never lets VMI breathe. This is the kind of matchup where Copeland can set the tone for Brent Pry’s defense from the first series on.
White is the new face in the secondary, and Virginia Tech brought him in to make plays on the ball. The Georgia native earned All-Sun Belt Second Team honors in 2025 after posting 67 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss, three interceptions and 11 pass breakups. He’s expected to start at cornerback opposite Isaiah Brown-Murray.
A strong debut from White would be a quiet night in coverage and, ideally, something louder in the box score. If he can erase his side and still come away with a takeaway or a couple of pass breakups, that would be the first sign his production can carry over to the ACC.
In Other News...
Virginia Tech Just Gave Fans A Real Reason To Believe
Virginia Techs football outlook got a notable lift this week when the latest 247Sports 2026 Team Talent Composite Database showed the Hokies climbing from No. 40 in 2025 to No. 27 in 2026. Under James Franklin, the roster has added more four-star and three-star recruits, which helped push both the Team Talent Composite score and the average recruit rating in a direction fans have been wanting to see for a while.
For a program trying to turn recruiting momentum into something tangible on the field, that kind of jump matters. It also stands out in a college football landscape where Penn State, one of the teams that often sets the bar in this area, slipped from No. 10 to No. 26 over the same span. The next question for Virginia Tech is the one every good recruiting surge eventually runs into: whether this improved talent base can become the kind of depth and consistency that changes Saturdays in Blacksburg. [Read more 🡒]
Virginia Techs Biggest Offensive Concern Might Not Be Ethan Grunkemeyer
Ethan Grunkemeyers arrival from Penn State gives Virginia Tech a clear answer at quarterback heading into the 2026 season, and with new offensive coordinator Ty Howle in place, the Hokies finally have a direction at the games most important spot. Grunkemeyer will have plenty of attention on him as the full-time starter, but the early read around this offense is that the bigger issue is not who throws the ball. It is who reliably catches it and turns plays into consistent production.
Ayden Greene and QueSean Brown are the names to watch in a receiver room that still needs someone to emerge as a dependable week-to-week threat. Virginia Tech has bodies competing for snaps, but depth alone will not solve the problem if the Hokies cannot find steady separation, timing and big-play ability on the perimeter. For all the focus on how Grunkemeyer fits Howles system, the offense may rise or fall on whether the wideouts can finally give him a group he can trust. [Read more 🡒]
Virginia Techs Rebuild May Hinge On Names Fans Barely Know
James Franklins first offseason in Blacksburg has looked like a full-scale reset, with Virginia Tech bringing in 27 transfers and a recruiting class that climbed in the rankings. After the turbulence of Brent Prys tenure and his firing following a 0-3 start in 2025, the Hokies are leaning hard into new faces and a new direction as Franklin tries to stabilize the program quickly. Pry, meanwhile, is back on staff as defensive coordinator, adding another layer of familiarity to a roster that suddenly looks very different.
The bigger question for Virginia Tech is whether all that turnover can turn into production fast enough to matter. Several players who were hardly part of the conversation a few months ago are now expected to play major roles, which is usually a sign of either a bold rebuild or a roster still searching for its identity. For a fan base that has watched the program spend too long in transition, the coming season may be defined less by the names everyone already knows and more by the ones they are still learning. [Read more 🡒]