James Franklin explains Virginia Tech’s run on Penn State commits

The last two weeks have been a full-speed sprint for James Franklin at Virginia Tech.

The former Penn State coach still hasn’t assembled an on-field staff, and with only a skeleton group of support staffers in the building, he’s been grinding: recruiting nonstop, hosting visitors, and constructing a class almost entirely from zero. The payoff has been one of the most stunning turnarounds in recent recruiting memory. Franklin has lifted a class that once sat at No. 124 in the 247Sports Composite Team Recruiting Rankings all the way to No. 22 as night fell Wednesday, which was the first day of the three-day early signing period. 

How did Franklin and the Hokies pull it off? Relationships. And plenty of former Penn State commits.

“It’s been a scramble,” Franklin told CBS Sports on Wednesday. “Some of these coaches that took some of these jobs around the country, and none of the recruits decommitted. One of the coaches I saw landed his plane, and the No. 1 recruit in the country was waiting for him there.

“We had a very different experience.”

If you didn’t know already, that coach is Lane Kiffin. He ditched playoff-bound Ole Miss for LSU on Sunday and was welcomed at the Tigers’ facility by defensive lineman commitment Lamar Brown, who is not quite the nation’s No. 1 recruit — but No. 4 overall is close enough. 

Meanwhile, the chaos in Blacksburg has worked in Franklin’s favor. Cast aside by Penn State on Oct. 12 after three straight losses — including collapses as three-touchdown favorites against UCLA and Northwestern — Franklin has capitalized on the market. He said he hosted 17 recruits last weekend alone.

The results speak loudly. Franklin has flipped 10 Penn State commitments to Virginia Tech, sinking the Nittany Lions’ class to No. 150 in the rankings, one spot below FCS South Dakota State. Twenty-three players have decommitted from Penn State since Franklin’s firing, leaving only two signees in the class of 2026.

“People are saying, ‘Oh, well, Franklin’s flipping all these recruits,'” Franklin said. “Well, it’s the kids that I know and have relationships with. It has nothing to do with a previous school. It has nothing to do with hurt feelings or any of those types of things. They’re the players I know. They’re the players that I have longstanding relationships. And although they committed for the academics and the school, it’s also about the relationship with the head coach.”

Adding to Penn State’s troubles is the lack of movement with its coaching search. Of the 13 openings in the four power conferences this fall, only two remain: Penn State and Cal. Several coaches on Penn State athletic director Pat Kraft’s list of candidates have pulled out of consideration over the last six weeks – Indiana’s Curt Cignetti, Nebraska’s Matt Rhule, Louisville’s Jeff Brohm, Georgia Tech’s Brent Key, and, most recently, BYU’s Kalani Sitake. 

There was real momentum Monday for Sitake, who is 22-3 the last two seasons, but BYU’s donor base rallied. Crumbl founder Jason McGowan publicly offered support, and a day later Sitake signed a long-term extension, just ahead of the Cougars’ Big 12 Championship matchup with Texas Tech.

On Wednesday, Virginia Tech served Crumbl cookies to media during its signing day event — a widely interpreted jab at Penn State’s latest whiff on the coaching carousel. Franklin denied any such mischievousness.

“Everybody’s just trying to create drama and connect the dots,” Franklin told CBS Sports. “If you go back and look at the last 11 years at Penn State, we had Crumbl cookies at every single event. I think a lot of people use them. They’re in all these college towns.”

The dots fans can connect: this is Virginia Tech’s best recruiting class since finishing 21st nationally in 2013. The program had logged only one top-25 class in the previous 12 years.

“(Tight end signee) Pierce Petersohn is asking me, ‘Who’s the tight ends coach?'” Franklin said. “I don’t know. ‘Who’s the offensive coordinator?’ You’ve got to trust me. ‘Who’s the strength coach?’ You’ve got to trust me. 

“That was happening with all of these kids. The only answer I could say is you’ve got to trust me.”

Next for Franklin is building a staff. 

“We’ve got to move quickly because all these other jobs are filling up or are filled,” he said.

The next stretch will be another blaze of activity for Franklin, who admitted Wednesday he was “shocked” when Penn State fired him.

“When these decisions get made, people don’t realize this affects hundreds of people,” he said. “It affects the coaches and their wives and their children. It affects the off-the-field staff and their wives and their children. It affects the current players and their parents. It affects the recruiting class and their parents and people not even talking. We had the No. 1 recruiting class in the country for the 2027 class.

“Part of me taking this job is — not only do I want to coach, obviously — how do I help as many people who have been affected by this? Because I feel ultimately responsible for all these people.”