The Mid-Atlantic is being put on notice:
He's coming. pic.twitter.com/hLKTd1FsQL— Hayes Fawcett (@Hayesfawcett3) November 25, 2025
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Decommits since the firing of Franklin, Kelly, and NapierFranklin-17Kelly- 1Napier- 0 pic.twitter.com/n8epSAIOnu— PSU Recruiting (@PSUNationRec) November 16, 2025
Expecting multiple flips tomorrow #FlipSZN— Hayes Fawcett (@Hayesfawcett3) November 18, 2025
And there have been many reports that so, so many recruits are going to follow James Franklin no matter where he goes, much like we saw when Buzz Williams went to Texas A&M.
As good as you felt when you found out we hired Franklin, just wait til you see what is about to happen to our recruiting and portal classes.
Forums:
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Comments
2:30 am and still not one flip yet. Disappointed in Franklin's recruiting season so far... /s
Are any of those decommits a 5* QB and the rest OL?
03:30AM and more of the puzzling lack continues.
4:16am and no flips. Franklin fell off
4:23 am and still silence, maybe a fax machine needs plugged in, those are a thing still right?
It's 5:12! We're not getting any younger!
Though I do think she aged nicely. She looks better older than she did younger. Though that may just be me being older too.
She was a doll when she was younger, too. I liked her with Jack Nicholson in "Goin' South".
It's because she was too skinny when she was younger. She filled out nicely and it turned her beautiful.
yup...this
Please forgive my lack of knowledge, but who is that?
Mary Steenburgen. Gif is from Stepbrothers
Mary Steenburgen, married to Ted Danson since 1995
Reminds me of Mary Steenburgen in this gif
Isn't that Mary Steenburgen?
You know what, the comments made me think I had to be wrong so I google lensed it and it returned someone else (Marcia Cross). Maybe it is! Both are up in years.
5:53am. Thought I would join you guys W.T.A.F. Is going on here. I thought the announcements would be pouring in by now. Boy oh boy, did we really miss on this one....geesh s/
My source tells me that one of the requirements laid down by Franklin was that VT had to "acquire" a specific quarterback. Anyone know who the QB might be?
I'd heard we needed a lot of money for a QB but I'd heard nothing about a specific QB. No ideas on who that could be.
He was making offers at 10pm Last night!!
One for the All-Name Team, at a minimum.
Had no idea we were pursuing Roman Legionnaires.
we are if they can block
Those fuckers are tough!!
Not too resilient against the goths though.
But then again. Same.
Well then don't schedule any games against them. Sheesh.
He RT'd the VT Football announcement tweet
Watched a lot of videos on this last night and one thing I didn't really realize that is going to happen that gives us a tremendous advantage that I hadn't thought about...
This weekend gives us an unprecedented recruiting advantage. We are going to be expected to host a plethora of top talent who will be on campus with James Franklin, but unlike a regular gameday weekend, he'll be able to spend all his time with them as he won't have to worry about the game. So for a guy who we already know recruits this region at an elite level and we already know was establishing a good class at Penn State is going to have a recruiting weekend you couldn't possibly ask to be set up better, win or lose it's a good sell.
Oh, and we did this early enough that the early signing day this year (before the conference title games) actually works to our advantage.
Things are about to move really fast in an extremely positive direction for VT
This is a great point. If only ESPN could take a "4 day option" and push this to a night game.
Great point. Lane needs to be rocking this weekend. I feel like the fan base will feel rejuvenated and particularly excited, at least for kickoff.
Now if Montgomery and Co. could somehow pull off an upset....
Yeah we really need to sell out and the students absolutely need to stay for the entire game or at least until the 4th quarter if we're being blown out. Ideally we'd be competitive and it'll be rocking the entire time.
It's been a while since we had a top 25 win. Let's have one this weekend!
Obviously, I'll take any win, especially a top 25 one. But the top 25 win I'd really love to get is during the last weekend of the season.
Let's have two of 'em!
Unfortunately a lot of students will be heading out of town for the holiday break. Let's hope there is a strong contingent that will stay and bear through the rain!
My daughter and roommate are staying, wouldn't miss Saturday's spectacle for the world.
Kevin Brown (OL) just decommitted from PSU, he was the highest ranking in their 2026 class. His dad played for woo voo, so that is probably the top competition now.... But also is wanted badly by Ohio State.
Kevin Brown, pls.
Kevin Brown is supposed to commit live on the Pat Mcafee show in the next couple of hours. Bruce Ariens is a guest on the show (this is pretty common).
He just committed to WVU and set a couch on fire on live TV (no /s)
Bring on the 'croots!
Looks like 24/7 Composite 3 Star Benjamin Eziuka is visiting Tech this weekend with an offer in hand. Give you a guess where his current commitment is.
https://x.com/AllenTrieu/status/1990821870493397370 (embedding Twitter is broken just like half that site at the moment)
https://247sports.com/player/benjamin-eziuka-46116538/
4* OL Ben Eziuka has decommitted from Penn St, announced an offer from VT and will be visiting this weekend for the Miami game
Drink
2027 4* WR Khalil Taylor from Pittsburgh has announced an offer from VT
Wait, more 4*'s have just been reported than 3*'s. Is that allowed?
Franklin to VT recruiting this morning:
...and how we're gonna make it fucking shake....
Give it a bit and they will soon become 3 stars.....
Has a crystal ball prediction to Penn St from March. Suggests we've got a good chance there!
Kevin Brown just committed to woo voo
Damn
Edit: He lit a couch on fire on the show.
Still time and we are like the mountaineers if they were slight more attractive, slightly less drunk, and didn't have the overwhelming need to burn couches.
Seems like a commitment to mediocrity at this point (not that we had room to talk); what do you think is Rich Rod's trajectory?
He won't get them back to the heights of his first regime, but they won't be at the bottom of the Big 12, and in that conference being competitive means that every couple years you can contend for a championship game berth.
He has more wins than his last first year at WVU.
I can't believe we're going to be on the receiving end of croots flipping to follow their guy to our school! Penn State level recruits coming to Virginia Tech, to play football, for Virginia Tech. I don't know what to do with myself.
Haven't seen anyone share this yet
Hate to be that guy but could someone give a TLDR? Holding a sleeping baby and can't turn the volume on
The baby needs to hear this.
TLDR: Franklin is a very hands-on and successful recruiter who connects well with players and their families. Tech's dismal recruiting ranking will improve significantly for the 2026 class but watch out for the transfer portal in January and for the 2027 recruiting class which is when the "Franklin Effect" will really make an impact.
Also national recruiting director Brian Dohn isn't worried about our low ranking, he says it's more of a reflection of the small number of commits than anything else and that Franklin will likely rectify that.
Edit: adding that they like Bergeron the QB commit
ATH Pierce Petersohn (PSU commit) offered by VT today. Composite 4 star by 24/7. Reportedly will be on a visit this weekend
https://247sports.com/player/pierce-petersohn-46152551/
https://x.com/PiercePetersohn/status/1990871325666165012
https://x.com/AllenTrieu/status/1990882255502262685
https://x.com/Rivals/status/1990909158984503576
NEW: Multiple Rivals insiders have logged expert predictions for Virginia Tech to land 4-star QB Troy Huhn
Huhn recently decommitted from Penn State.
24/7 has him as a composite 4 star as well
Get Franklin his Stickum.
Cali to SWVA on short notice can't be cheap
Huh deciding tomorrow at 1 eastern
It's so wild how fast this is moving. Compare this to when Pry or Fuentes was fired... dude is hungry
This definitely feels like 1) established one hell of a "rapport with these croots"
2) A big ol middle finger to his past employer
I am all here for it
Speaking of middle finger to penn state, i just got banned on r/cfb for point out that franklin rehabbed a program at their pos school full of people who covered up and were apologists for rape
Me too three years ago when I told a guy demanding the statue go back up they were Pedo state.
So you're telling me I don't need to be concerned if a low 3 star commits to Arizona over us anymore?
This is going to be hard to wrap my head around in a glorious way!
Now we do the big dogging
Yea, this is gonna be difficult to accept....for about an hour.....
Recruiting profile?
He's a 2028, so a bit down the road, but as of right now is a 4 star with a .9295 composite
OT: somebody needs to update Coach Frank's Twitter profile
Let's get down to business
To recruit
Troy Huhn
There's a 247 crystal ball in for him to the good guys
I heard that with that, he also dropped from 4* to 3*
Yeah, but on the other hand, our current commit Cole Bergeron got bumped up to a 4*
Troy Huhn, Franklin will make an NFL man out of you.
Kinda like this ....? Don't stop me now!
" target="_blank">
This made me snort. Thank you
Yesterday, the PSU QB Commit who got CB's to Tech was .91 composite. After the prediction to Tech, ge got downgraded to a .89. Can't make it up.
Just need Franklin to put together enough .89s that those .89 start getting phantom bumped to .91
If we're getting greedy about this, why not .91s that bump to .93?
https://247sports.com/player/tavian-branch-46150520/
24/7 Composite .8867 3 star DL, decommitted from PSU today. Also of note he was at Ole Miss last weekend
Tavian plz...
.8722 3 Star composite on 24/7. OL out of Richmond
Nice! I saw he decommitted this week and was going to share yesterday but he didn't have a PSU offer. He's a big boy.
6'7" and 280 means he probably has weight to put on too
247 rated a 95 and .9283 composite.
Currently the 3rd ranked recruit of the PSU Class and the #104 overall recruit in 2026
I know it's just a part of the recruiting pitch, but it sounds like this would be one hell of a get if it came through
All maroon everything 🔥
I'm a little disappointed we didn't wear the classic maroon very much this year. We wore AME twice I think but too much white helmet mixed in, and we wore orange I think twice.
I think we should scrap the white out and do an Enter Night effect game once a season, wearing the Hokie Stone jerseys with the original black helmet and pants. Although the white helmets and pants looks sharp too.
#EnterNight
the movement has begun 💪
This is a really good idea.
Final 5, announcing Dec 3
I was thinking something more like this:
drop a VT on the undertaker's chest and logos of the ACC on the people in the ring!
I lack the necessary photoshop skills.
If anybody wants to do it, by all means, in the immortal words of Orlando Jones in Evolution, "Take it, take the leg"
and you could make the guy that was all bugg eyed at the beginning and end UVA
A1 is weird man....
Excited for the return of "recruiting is about to take off this time, no seriously I mean it" posts. This time it might actually be true instead of wishcasting!
Well, day-yum.
Can anybody post the direct link? My work doesn't like t.co. =^/
https://www.on3.com/rivals/news/trending-for-top-prospects-james-frankli...
Its behind the On3 paywall though
Oh well. /shrug
the sam leavitt thing thats getting put all over social media is false
Ya they need to Leavitt alone already.
That being said, mama Lovett has been all over twitter liking and retweeting everything about Franklin coming to Tech, so there might be a possibility that we see Dante come back, if they'll have him.
I want to see if he can flip any of the Top 5 recruits in the state. South Carolina is on the ropes and Mich had quite a few. If he starts flipping VA kids it will send shockwaves.
EDIT: Just checked Rivals VA Top 10: 1 to Sakerlina, 3 to Mich, 1 to Cuse, 1 to Rutgers, 1 to UGA, 1 to Clempsun, 2 undecided. man am I sick of this shit
I'm all in for 22 Cornell Brown recruits in year 0....IYKYK...hint - kind of a turning point in CFB early days.
Great to see all the visits being set up, but I'm cautiously optimistic for now! I think someone's skill as a recruiter just matters less today in the NIL world. Not saying it doesn't matter, just that it matters less. We thought Pry would elevate us too because of how he was recruiting at PSU and it seems like the only 4-stars we ever landed with him were busts lol. I think the real "recruiter skill" magic that comes into play is elevating our floor by getting higher-graded 3 star guys than we were getting before, which Pry did better at than Fuente.
But was it really Pry that sold PSU or was it Franklin that closed it for them?
After watching the presser yesterday, it's easy to see how we lost so many recruiting battles to Franklin. He's an exceptional communicator.
Crystal Balls to VT for Penn State commit .90 S Pierce Petersohn and Penn State decommit .87 OL Roseby Lubintus
Inject the CBs into my veins!
Wait Pierce played QB but is projecting as TE in college??? He's PERFECT for us!!
Bring back the Wild Turkey formation
BOOOOOOOONE!!!!!!
A familiar formation in the evenings around blacksburg
More Crystal Ball news
-3 Balls for VT commit .88 OL Adrian Hamilton to Michigan
-VT decommit .89 OL Thomas Wilder to VT
-Another Ball for Petersohn to VT
VT2VT
This sounds like a early 2000s student interview show available via the dorm cable
Hey Mister Moose
I'M RESPECTING SO MANY FUCKING DECISIONS RIGHT NOW
Another PSU Commit visiting VT this weekend
24/7 Composite 4 star OT, .8923 ranking
5
I so badly want to include the "All of them.gif" from the mighty ducks but freaking Yarn apparently has a monopoly on what I am looking for
And we're coming, for your Crooties
The icing on the cake for this weekend is that Franklin will be able to spend time with the recruits on the sideline during the game and not have to worry about coaching. That's a very unique opportunity.
How many recruits are expected to be in bburg this weekend?
I don't even think Tech knows, yet. Just know its probably our biggest recruiting weekend in a decade with the volume of high profile recruits who will be on campus. Which is extremely exciting given signing day is in 12 days.
In the past when we've had weekends like this, its been in the early part of the season just trying to get kids interested. Now, its getting kids to decide.
Confirmed: Huhn, Petersohn, Lamah, Lubintus
Rumored: Eziuka
That's half of their remaining commits. 5/10. I really hope these top tier dudes want to follow Franklin to Blacksburg. If he does that recruiting bump thing out of the gate it's going to be madness (positive) finally
PSU fans complaining a lot of these had already decided to bail on Franklin before he was fired; any research into this?
Since a good number of them are considering following Franklin to VT, I think that's baseless.
I googled it, and AI agrees.
Try googling "any psu decommits looking at vt"
I haven't seen this reported elsewhere yet, but 4* PSU commit Messiah Mickens might be on campus too
24/7 Composite 4 star RB with a .9226 rating
Our football program needs them a Messiah. And Franklin loves an all star RB...
Insert Life of Brian gif here.
Do we starting calling this the JFE?
James Franklin Effect.
James Franklin effecting a Joint Forcible Entry to PSU's recruiting, for sure.
I thought we were anti-more effect games
JMFFE
JEFE....
I hope I never get used to this, because right now I don't think I ever will
The slow realization....
Which parallel universe timeline are we on now? Something still feels off. Did we win a natty with Vick?
No we just woke up
I dunno. Last I heard we were up 29-28 heading to the 4th quarter. I'm not sure they ever did play it...
I was there, wasn't I? I had to listen to the shirttail sorority sisters hollering in my ear, "Pe-ter Warr-rrick" and "Florida State, Florida State Florida State...WOOOOOOOO" as the game slipped away, didn't I? I had to run, literally, after a couple of still drunk, up all night big and aggressive FSU fans came into the VT hotel lobby yelling loudly "Who's gonna catch Peter now?" and I answered with "I dunno, maybe the cops?" They were too drunk to catch up with me, thank goodness, they was very big dudes.
Or was it just a shitty dream?
Ok, but that response warrants a
We won 2 back to back.
Apparently he did attend per Rivals/Wiltfong
Even though he was a PSU commit, if Franklin can get a dude to flip to VT when he visited like 2 or 3 days after announcing a final 3 of Oklahoma, Ole Miss, and Indiana, then I will be quite pleased.
Messiah plz
The Crystal Balls page on 247 is majority VT
Man I really hope those dudes know what they're talking about because that would be such a big influx of talent. It's definitely a big Franklin effect at play, which is what we really need.
5 🌟 RB Kemon Spell Class of 27 is expected to visit today.
247Sports
HUDL Highlights
Kemon plz 🔥🔥🔥
No! This should've died after Tavien Feaster
TKP, pls
Is there a list of recruits available for today? I have seen paywall stuff and bits and pieces, but nothing comprehensive available for those unwilling to pay 247.
I haven't seen one, its mostly snippets on Twitter in ones or twos outside of all the 247 Guys advertising their insiders list
I went ahead and begrudgingly did the new coach special. $30 for one year. Did it just for the recruiting big board stuff, to see what croots we are after and such. Could care less about the rest of their toxicity over there...
Is it unreasonable to be expecting a flurry of commitments in the next 2 days?
Asking for a friend.
It's unreasonable to expect it.
It's gracious to accept it, if it happens.
If we get 1, 4 or 5 star, I'll consider it a flurry
I'll consider it a Festivus miracle.
I have many grievances
Anything more if we might have to upgrade to a blizzard warning
BLIZZARD WARNING
Wonder if it's too late to make a run after Savion Hiter and his teammate Dyzier Carter from louisa.
Aint nobody signed yet, of course you make those calls. All the other silly geese who are committed to rutgers too
James Franklin stated explicitly during his press conference that he had already called every single top recruit in the Commonwealth.
He's been putting in this very work.
4 🌟 Athlete Keith Nolen, Class of 28
Stonebridge HS
Projects as a WR
Confirmed visit after his HS playoff win last night
247Sports
HUDL Profile
These announcers are going to twist themselves into a pretzel trying to get Miami into the CFP.
These are ACC Announcers. Isn't this exactly what the SEC does with their 3 and 4 loss teams? Shouldn't we want them doing this? I know its for WeRBak but what if that's us next year? This is exactly what they need to do.
I remember during ACC Championship game when FSU were undefeated, the announcers spent the entire game schlobbing on the SEC teams rather than talking up the ACC. That was a terrible look.
You're right, but its annoying when the SEC does it too
Let's be real, it's annoying when they do it for anyone but the Virginia Tech Hokies.
That's because in every other instance they are incorrect.
Much as I'd like to start getting the big-time OL recruits, I think I'd like to see if we can avoid the felony cruelty to children.
Georgia OL Nyier Daniels arrested, faces four felony charges including fleeing police
You won't have to worry...I'm sure Kirby is going to take this just as seriously as he's taken the 37 other arrests since he came to Athens.
Kid will be suspended for the 1st Drive of the 1st Quarter in 2027 against Chattanooga.
He was already booted from the team
This guy was a benchwarmer
Of course he fled the scene, how else will he get caught speeding?
Me literally every morning since last Wednesday
Summary? For those without On3 or t.co access?
Obviously a pitch as well to the recruits has gotta be "You CAN make a difference here and get this program back to where it should be."
And in this day and age of transfer portal it doesn't take as long to rebuild a roster so it's not like it's "You'll see results your senior year if we keep at it...."
NIL and the transfer portal change the dynamic significantly.
indeed! loluva being in position to go to conference championship prior to the upcoming heartbreak given to them in Lane North by the Hokies is proof of NIL parity.
Note-on the way back to lot 18 after the game we saw at least 4-5 private jets climbing out after taking off...make of that what you will....
Doesn't that happen almost every game?
Pretty sure it does.
Back when I was in Blacskburg, I remember a dude gave me a $100 tip one night after a football game when I brought him to the VT airport (I was working). That was a good weekend. Definitely thought he was bullshitting me when he said he would.
the rumble was a loss for the sharks
I also was monitoring the radar and saw a more than normal amount of large sized private jets which I found concerning.
3* LB, current Penn St commit out of Nokesville, Va in May, but is now being recruited directly by Franklin for VT
247 rated 87
247 Composite .8878
Committed to Penn St over Rutgers, VT, UVa, and Central Mich
Will take every LB we can get!!
Other than Chambers, there is no one on the current roster at LB that I would miss much.
That includes Woodson, who is a very good athlete but another player without natural instincts at the position.
L- R Sieg, Mickens, Lubintus,
who's the guy on the far right?LamahLamah?
Yeah, no humps and smaller than a camel.
Lamah Lamah, maroon pajama.
Hit you so hard, you'll go cry to mama.
Looks like Lamah
Let's go on a heater, boys! First a recruiting heater and then a 12 game heater! And then however many playoff games there are these days.
I've thought about it and we could be the first team to go 17-0
12-0 in the regular season. Win the ACCCG 13-0. ACC gets disrespected by the committee (because, of fucking course we would...they'll break every precedent known to man but that one) and we don't get a first round bye for the playoff so we have to get through 3 rounds just to reach the final, 16-0. Win the whole damn thing. 17-0 baby.
or they snub us altogether in which case we should just crown ourselves
you're not wrong - it could certainly happen. Especially if we start the season unranked. An unranked-to-start-the-season-ACC-Champ is not a lock for the playoff IMO. But a 4 loss LSU team that started the season 19th is going to be the 5th SEC team into the 12 team field.
A 4 loss LSU team will stay in the top 10 and have every excuse in the world made for it
100%
!
It's not even that much of a stretch. If the SEC and B1G champ games feature teams ranked #1-4, then we could easily get dumped down to #5, especially if the Big 12 champ goes undefeated.
But hey, playoff game in Lane. I'd be down for that.
Many football pundits agree this would be incredible!
Dear God... If we host a playoff game and due to the extra weeks it would take to get there, if we actually get to experience a snow game in Lane....
This would be almost as exciting as going to the Metallica concert for me.
I've been at a late season game in Lane with some LIGHT snow, but yeah a true snow game would be cool! What I DON'T want to experience is a game on a day like the one day in January 1985 when it was -18F and windchill at -70F !!
I couldn't imagine them approving them to play in those conditions nowadays. But I love VT Football, I love Christmas season, and I love snow... Put the three together and it would be quite the experience for sure.
Yeah they canceled classes at about ten AM(too late for me since I ha an 8 o'clock class that morning and froze my ass off). BT only has three buses inside a heated area and didn't use or have block heaters for the other 27 buses so the diesels froze solid. The VT health service made them close the school cause anyone standing outside waiting for a bus would have any expose flesh freeze within 30-60 seconds!
And, of course, we didn't have cell phones back then to send/receive notifications. It was radio and word of mouth.
Barely even had PCs....and calling them 'portable' was generous/sarcasm- was size of a desktop tower , had a 4" amber on black monitor, and weighed 15-20 lbs!
At least the hard drives weighed the same as a floppy disc...... Even if they held 770KB's!
Ah yes-back when 'floppy disks' were actually FLOPPY; I missed having to use IBM punch cards by one year....
What? No one else hit this with
"Weights weigh the Same"
Slippin.
I'm guessing no one remembers the 2002 Pitt game, where it definitely snowed a fair bit, or the really cold night game against Duke in 2008 the day after a snow storm.
I wasn't around in 2002, but I remember Duke being cold, but no actual snow falling.
That Duke game was just miserable. Usually when I go to cold games at Lane, I'm opening my jacket up in the 3rd quarter because I've layered up so much. I stayed zipped up for that Duke game. I was wearing a Carhartt beanie/toboggan/toque and it just wasn't holding up. After that I discovered balaclavas and invested in one.
First game I ever use hand warmers at!
That may be more 4 stars than are currently on the roster
Daaannng what up with all these 4 stars
make it so!
I have to imagine that 7 4 star recruits in one class is probably one of our best classes in the past decade. That would be... nuts. Nuts considering he could do it in just a few weeks.
8 including Bergeron
Maybe even the past 15 years...
Looking back to 2011 on 247, the number of 4 stars we've brought in (including transfers):
2025: 3 - Overton, Peterkin, DeLoatch
2024: 1 - G Williams
2023: 2 - C Fitzgerald, James Jennette
2022: 3 - Wright, Givens, Gosnell
2021: 2 - Harvey, Lawson
2020: nada
2019: 2 - Payoute, Nester
2018: 7 - Hollifield, Turner, Artis, Webb, Ellis, Patterson, Tisdale
2017: 9 - Hunter, Deiuliis, Farley, Keene, Rivers, Proctor, Garbutt, Hooker, Dzansi
2016: 2 - J Evans, R Floyd
2015: 6 - Settle, A Clark, M Reynolds, T Hill, Nijman, D Lawson
2014: 12! - Fisher, I Ford, M Williams, McKenzie, C Phillips, A Ford, Durkin, Mihota, Walker, Minor, CJ Reavis, DJ Reid
2013: 3 - Teller, Hodges (+ 1 5 star, K Fuller)
2012: 6 - J Caleb, D Clarke, Ekanem, J Jones, JC Coleman, T Edmunds
2011: 4 - K Jarrett, K Harley, C Marshall, Vandyke
That 2014 class should've had a 5 star DE and a 4 star DT too if I'm not mistaken. No wonder that 2016 team was loaded.
someone refresh my memory...2014 - A Ford.....is that the qb, from the Isaiah Ford pic on tv, that ended up at UMass or something like that?
Correct, Andrew Ford. Picked us over Temple and UMass and then transferred to UMass
no disrespect to him or the comment, but was he really a 4-star QB? Surely he would have had some other offers if he was a legitimate 4-star prospect
He was the 9th best player from PA, the 18th best QB in the nation, and 247 gave him a 90 making him a 4-star. He also had offers from Nebrask, Iowa St, and Colorado (at varying times throughout his re/recruitment) Our 2014 class.
247, no but was a 4* composite
He ended up passing for almost 7000 yards in two and a half seasons at UMass. Junior year he had a 22/4 TD/INT in 11 games. Finished with a 62.6% completion rate and a 143.7 QB rating. Threw INTs on only 2.6% of attempts. Thats a pretty solid college career. If he had played in the portal era, someone would have poached him after his Junior season. Got hurt late in Senior year and never played again.
The Andrew Ford hype when he came in was real. All my friends were talking about him as the messiah his freshman year (pun? intended).
The Quincy hype was real too
This one there is no redemption story...although he got a National Championship
5 years at D1 607 yards passing and552 yards rushing in 29 games.
One year at NDSU played in 14 games 813 yards passing and 660 yards rushing.
NDSU went 14-1 and won the D2 National Title. He should have stayed with them.
classic e$pn dipshittery
Don't @ me bro??
Almost forgot about him..lol
As a side note... Nothing was more satisfying that year than watchin Quin Blanding get absolutely bullied anytime he got near another D1 football player. Clearly fell into the category of on of Virginia's most overrated (or underdeveloped) players coming out of high school.
2016 and 2017 has Evans and Webb who were both transfers and today would be counted differently. We might get some 4 * transfers too.
That would be incredible.
Because of previous lack of experience of 4 star recruits, are these just high schoolers? Because if this is in addition to transfers, holy shit...
They are all high school 2026 recruits. If we were to land all of them today, we'd jump up to the 33rd ranked class from 124th.
Huh, so I guess a coaching change can immediately improve the short term outlook of the team
It's easy to understand if you could just picture this team, then keep the current coaching but put in place players that already know how to play the position, and are comfortable there.
Better tho is to picture the team with those players AND with more experienced coaching.
Come on guys, we all know that the second all these 4 stars commit to us they will get downgraded to 3 star. /s
That 33 ranking includes Adrian Hamilton staying. He's likely to flip to Michigan, so taking him out and adding all these puts us at #40 from #124 currently, and #9 in the ACC from last currently.
Really hope they can keep Hamilton. He can ball. Would be one heck of a guard.
That's really going to help our blue chip ratio.
We could be a blue chip ratio school in a couple years that's crazy
Arians said we got 5 commits (i think blue chip based on what they mentioned) this past weekend on the McAfee show
5x 4Stars committed last weekend!
That's like 20 stars if all math math's the same.
I'm way too burned from the Fuente era to get excited about "silent commits"
Not trying to argue that it isn't true, just that I've been hurt before haha
Absolutely valid, and I said something similar on reddit yesterday. I feel better about whoever they are based on the info we have and that it's Franklin and NSD is the 3rd. I would guess a few more roll out like one a day as a scheduled hype machine.
Did Bruce put his foot in his mouth again?
yes, all five toes!
Does anyone know what's going on with .91 WR Davion Brown? He's #6 composite in VA and decommitted from PSU the day after Franklin was fired.
Believe I saw he's visiting this weekend.
Visiting this weekend i believe, even though we're playing away
I thought this week was still a home game.
I mean, it's a home game away from home...
"Look, these are our facilities away from home, so can you only imagine how much nicer our actual facilities are?"
Its our cottage up north.
Davion, pls.
Not sure how this OV works but Franklin has brought some of his recruiters so maybe they are working this in Blacksburg while everyone else is at Lane North
247Sports
In his press conference or his Level 7 interview he mentioned having 2 visits lined up with recruits and I was wondering how that was going to work.
OT Maddox Cochrane will also be visiting
For those interested, this is the new bat signal
Mickens
Hell yeah! If Franklin wants to deploy Ghostface then I'm all for it.
Wu Tang is for the croots
Wu Tang is for the Hokies
BOOM
Is it bad that I'm happy to be in the position to be let down by a blue-chipper's signing day decision, instead of not even being mentioned?
It's a process.
No, I find it really exciting
4* 94 rated on 247. #120 nationally, #8 LB, #4 in PA
4* .9263 composite. #189 nationally, #11 LB, #6 in PA
Recruiting profile
I'm kinda shocked this is actually happening
Is this what happens when you hire an actual big-name coach instead of a first time HC or a relative unknown G5 HC?
It's not just the big-name coach and it's not just the NIL; it's the way this all went down. Truly the perfect turn of events. JMFF was out the game for 7 weeks. Because we share a similar region of the country and a similar type of campus (rural land grant), he could pick up right where he left off, recruiting the same guys to basically the same school just a different location.
This class could go from outside the top 100 to inside the top 35 in 6(?) weeks.
I don't think any other coaches could have done this.
We need all the LBs!!!!
Kolby Crawford and Matej Sis hinting that recruits could be announcing tomorrow. I feel like that does traditionally happen on Thanksgiving as well, so tomorrow could be another good day
Another CB for Lubintus. Wouldn't be surprised if it's him and Huhn
If anyone has some downtime today, you can paste the names of the highly touted visitors into 247's recruiting calculator and see how much our class would improve if we land those guys.
Tkp harder! Someone did the math above it would take us to 33rd (someone noted we are likely to lose one recruit so somewhere around 40)
https://www.thekeyplay.com/comment/1335660#comment-1335660
Also have to assume there might be guys coming in or interested that we don't yet know about
Would this be the 247 total? Or would this be the 247 average composite? I think the latter would be a better indicator of where we are relative to our peers.
The calculator just does the total, unfortunately. When I posted the other day I was too lazy to calculate it manually. But, if we were to land everyone that's being rumored I'd guess or average would be .88 or so.
So I've done it a couple times. I added the guys visiting who we think we'll get as well as some other additions who may flip from PSU and some who are uncommitted (combo of guesses and guys who are warm on us). We could hypothetically land somewhere around 25. If we just land the guys who are visiting (basically that tweet above) it'll be somewhere around 40.
Ok here's what I've done:
Subtract OL Adrian Hamilton (flip to Michigan)
Add:
-S Matt Sieg
-LB Terry Wiggins
-WR Davion Brown
-QB Troy Huhn
-TE Pierce Petersohn
-OL Thomas Wilder
-LB Mathieu Lamah
-OL Benjamin Eziuka
18 commits
222.52 score
28th nationally
6th ACC
Bat signal up!
Called it
Round 2 turkey day
THANKSGIVING BEEF DAY
Marlen Bright has committed, two in one morning...so far!
Update to this comment on our recruiting ranking. We're still in last in the ACC, but our average recruit ranking has moved up from 13th at 87.03 with Lubintus to tied for 12th with Syracuse at 87.23 with Bright. There are 6 teams between 87.24 (GT) and 87.48 (Louisville). One more commitment will likely put us in that range, a 4* may put us at the top of it.
Nationally we are now ranked above Penn State (and Colorado & Nebraska)
UPDATE: Petersohn
We're no longer last in the ACC, we've jumped UVA to move up to 16th. Our average recruit ranking has moved up from 12th at 87.23 to tied for 6th with Louisville at 87.48.
Nationally we've moved up to 81st ahead of Arkansas, UVA, UCF, Liberty, and UConn
UPDATE: Cochrane
We've moved up to #74 nationally, passing ECU & SDSU. We are still 16th in the ACC, however our average recruit ranking has dropped 0.02 to 87.46 which drops us to 7th in the ACC.
Caveat here is that our class includes a kicker with an 82 grade, bringing the average down. However other ACC teams could also have a specialist bringing their average down.
Its been a few hours since the last commitment where are the croots
Still getting extra helpings of pie
Just finished dinner. Wife just took the homemade apple pie out of the oven. The food coma is imminent
#PSU2VT
Dessert signal is up!
Six Seven
Also, we just bumped JMU from 67th
Stolen from Reddit /cfb
4* S - Matt Sieg
4* LB - Terry Wiggins
4* RB - Messiah Mickens4* WR - Davion Brown
4* QB - Troy Huhn
4* TE - Pierce Petersohn4* OT - Thomas Wilder
4* OT - Marlen Bright3* LB - Mathieu Lamah
3* IOL - Benjamin Eziuka
3* CB - Amauri Polydor
3* OT - Roseby Lubintus3* OT - Maddox Cochrane
Checking the boxes 1 x 1
I can only imagine the trauma PSU fans must be feeling as they watch the exodus. It pleases me.
It is the most massive amount of coping possible and a lot of "have fun not winning big games", not realizing that that isn't an insult for us right now lol
Their fans are definitely tweeting @ croots right now and it isn't pretty.
Annual reminder don't tweet @ croots.
#PSU2VT amuses me greatly.
Really want Sieg.
And Wilder
And Brown
And Wiggins
I would add Jackson Ford to that list
Thanksgiving Day 2025
Its almost noon and I need my croot fix
Its not called "Black Friday" for nothing....
A down vote for THAT!? Dang.....
It's been almost 36 hours without another 4 star recruit. Without ANY recruit. At this point, you have to start wondering if JMMF is the right guy to meet the completely unrealistic expectations he's set after vastly surpassing our realistic ones (which, honestly, were pretty sad). What's the buyout look like if we cut the cord now? I just don't know if he's going to be able to take us forward from here. I didn't want to point it out yet, but he hasn't signed a single Fuller. Not even an Edmunds.
He may be slipping, or it may be that we're just not used to "the new normal".
He's clearly lost the locker room .
He's new, give him some time. I'm sure being lost in the locker room is pretty common when you don't know your way around yet.
So what exactly is happening with visits? We play an away game and have all the recruits in town with the future head coach? Seems great. Can't wait for all the commits this week
Preventing them from being able to watch this game. Elite recruiting strategy by Franklin.
Lol man imagine the shit Franklin is talking about how much better those recruits would be watching this team right now. We shot ourselves in the foot so many times against a team that is now playing in the title game. Franklin could easily have us dominating this shit conference almost immediately
James Franklin today, I assume.
Might be having a announcement soon
The signal has been lit
OT Maddox Cochrane
Yes please! Keep the OL coming. With the difficult nature of scouting HS OL, the strategy is probably bring in 4 every year and spend 2 years developing them to figure out if they can play. We will either have a nice 3 deep or players will portal out to lower levels
Because by that point, there won't be any higher levels!
Because by that point, there won't be any higher levels!
Class of 2026 OT Maddox Cochrane has Committed to Virginia Tech
The 6'7 285 OT from Midlothian, VA was previously Committed to Wisconsin
In CC's article over on TSL, he lists the current OL commits including Aidan Hamilton, but notes that Hamilton is expected to decommit and sign with Michigan.
Is this us losing a good prospect, or is this a symptom of overrecruiting a meh OL class?
Hamilton is good. But we are bringing in better prospects. Imo
He is better than Purgatory and Cochrane.
Well shit.
Well. Hamilton is a IOL. Cochrane and Roseby are tackles. So two different positions. Plus. Offensive line are the hardest to judge on who's better. So we wouldn't know that until they are on the field and we get flim
Welcome back dude and primus sucks
Leg for half of that comment
I don't think you understand.
Welcome back, my man!
4* S - Matt Sieg
4* LB - Terry Wiggins
4* RB - Messiah Mickens4* WR - Davion Brown
4* QB - Troy Huhn
4* TE - Pierce Petersohn4* OT - Thomas Wilder
4* OT - Marlen Bright3* LB - Mathieu Lamah
3* IOL - Benjamin Eziuka
3* CB - Amauri Polydor
3* OT - Roseby Lubintus3* OT - Maddox CochraneWe need a list like this of all the TKP'ers that left but then got recruited back so I can keep track.
Too much work to find the original thread, but OT Buddy Wegdam from Woodberry Forest confirms that he's staying with VT after his official this past weekend
24/7 profile .8644 composite 3 Star
That's 4 OL recruits for next year so far with Bright, Lubintus, Cochrane, and Wegdam
Tyrell Simpson reaffirmed his commitment as well
.8633 composite OL
https://247sports.com/player/tyrell-simpson-46154783/
Tyrell Simpson got measured this weekend. He is now 6'8 350👀
That is large
Whoever is behind that line is going to have massive humans trying to block for them. Goodness
Hope they can see over the line
Maybe we'll get to see some "Eff it, he's down there somewhere" tosses
thats a good problem to have
Simpson 6-8 350
Lubintus 6-5 330
Cochrane 6-7 280
Bright 6-7 290
Wegdam 6-6 280
Average size of 6-7, 306
Hope our portal signal caller is 6'5"
Listed at 6-4.5
A set of good insoles should do it.
New CBs coming in from 247 national predicting Lamah flip from PSU and Garrett Witherington flip from Kentucky
So for shits and giggles. I put in all the potential commits and flips I've heard in a class calculator. And it came out to a 26 person class. At a score of 239.08. Which would put Tech at 20th overall. And 5th in the ACC
List the 26 commits
Sieg
Wiggins
Mickens
Ford
Huhn
Petersohn
Davion Brown
Harley
Wilder
Bright
Lamah
Eziuka
Bergeron
Cleveland
T-ron
John-Patrick Oates
Polydor
Cochrane
Roseby
Witherington
Simpson
Grant Jr
Buddy
Johnson
Pena
Love
John Patrick Oates is the only name I don't know
(It's Pina, not Pena. Might be an autocorrect)
JPO is a JMU commitment. Listed as a TE but the new staff watched his defensive highlights and really liked it. So they are going to bring him in as a Linebacker
Ooo, these days JMU is one of the offers I like to see on a recruits offer list. I'd love to flip an 88 rated JMU commit. We're long past the days of Knox Kadum, those JMU guys can play. Indiana and Cig showed that a lot of those kids can compete at the highest level when put in the right situation.
🎶If you like Pena alotta🎶
🎶then come and play on my team🎶
I feel like I'm more surprised that there are 4 ACC teams inside the top 20?
I was thinking the same thing
Decided to look as of today: Clemson 18, UNC 17, FSU 15, Miami 10. We would have been so hosed without Franklin.
UNC being at 17 is shocking to me.
Again, this is based on the total number 247 gives. Since UNC has 38 commits, that certainly helps significantly in making that number hyper inflated.
Shocking that 38 people want to play a that shit hole.
Without knowing the specifics of their roster, I think if you need to take 38 high schoolers in a single recruiting class, it's probably an indicator that your roster is mismanaged and program likely poorly run. Same energy as Fuente signing 6 RBs.
So it kind of makes perfect sense for UNC currently.
What makes you think that we're not going to take 38 high schoolers in this class?
We absolutely should, too.
JMMFJMFF had better be overrecruiting current players.38 is too high IMO bc likely very few of them will play and you're better served getting a bigger class (maybe ~25) and then augmenting with the transfer portal. I know without scholarship limits, this dynamic changes slightly, but I think the principle stays the same.
So yes, I'd expect Franklin to bring in a ton of new players to overhaul this roster (including a good sized high school class). But I would hope for a good chunk of transfer portal additions who can likely contribute immediately.
there's still a scholarship limit of 105
I figure most teams will still try and add 20-something HS recruits and 10-15 transfers to replace graduating seniors and transfers out.
There's no such thing as a scholarship limit now. It's a roster limit. Players can get paid a variety of ways now in the NIL era.
There absolutely is a scholarship limit. No more than 105 football scholarships may be awarded for any given season. Previously this limit was 85 scholarships.
There is also a limit of 105 total players on a football team. Previously this limit was greater than 85 (100-125 depending on time of year, IIRC).
Sorry, I conflated other sports with football. The Olympics are changing how they're structured. Too many generalizations in some of the meetings I've been in...
Love the vision. Get the road graders in here, build up that physical powerful Big 10 style running game, punish opposing defenses like we used to. No more of that "oh I had a great time in Lane, I'd definitely come back" or whatever that Louisville guy said a month ago. No, we need to get back to you come here and you're gonna get pushed around/possibly truck stick'd for sixty minutes. I see the vision and I like it
It's very clear what we are trying to do on offense, and I love it!
Now, based on what CJF stated in his press conference about being good up front on both sides of the ball, I am really anxious to see how he starts the rebuilding process of the front 7 on defense.
Think we need a December thread. This is getting tough to load.
I was gonna ask if anyone else is having issues on mobile. The thread constantly wants to refresh the page for me.
Only gonna get worse as we get towards Wednesday
Especially since we are getting a commitment at 1 PM EST
Huh(n) you don't say?
Bergeron just decommited
Reminder that decommits get a new individual thread and ya gotta bring sources like a link or a tweet embed
New individual thread and not a comment in that recruits commitment thread?
Yup, new threads both for commitments and decommitments
For anyone who is keeping count, we are now #7 in the ACC if you look at the "average composite" (the total is a BS number that means very little). And it won't take much to get us a top 4 finish in the ACC , just behind the Clemson, Miami, FSU.
Again, this is based on the QUALITY of the recruits, not so much the total number of recruits.
Have to admit, I am enjoying Franklin SZN more than Fuente SZN and Pry SZN combined
Love the OL recruiting, it's a big position of need (no pun intended) and I would love to see some action on the DL side as well since that's equally vital.
Edit - deleted
Hadn't been on TKP for a long time and just noticed I can see the comments again. Nice! Won't get nothing done at work today or tomorrow with signing day now. Really missed this place. Man it's great to be excited about recruiting and football again.
Welcome Home boys
Vandy just flipped 5 🌟 QB from UGA...woof
And he might actually have a chance to see the field when Diego Pavia's eligibility extensions run out in 2032.
So how bad is the withdrawal going to be on Thursday? Because the last few days have been pretty euphoric
We just switch recruiting high to coordinator and position coach announcement high
The Portal took hard
It's about to give spectacularly
How many big games is Penn state going to win without a coach and 4 recruits
Haven't been able to talk smack in years - feel good
Are we really sure they're still going to have 4 recruits...
Only one seems like a sure thing. Sieg is coming down to VT/Pitt, Polydor and Wiggins are flip targets. The last kid is the only one that seems to be on board with Penn State and I'm sure there's plenty of people with the same message "you sure you want to sign up with no coach?"
If that one kid remains, Penn State's class ranking will be just behind Utah Tech.
No but suggesting otherwise ruins my narrative
To be clear I was suggesting that they will have a number of recruits that is smaller than 4. I expect more croots to flip tomorrow.
Epic to see so many recruits jumping onboard. Part of me still feels a bit cautious, wondering if Franklin can continue at this level of recruiting next year too or not, but I'm cautiously optimistic.
If there's one thing we know that he can do, it's recruit. I would be surprised to see a dramatic drop off but I guess weirder things have happened
I agree. Recruiting has been Franklin's calling card, it would be weird if he somehow became incapable.
Also, this all feels sudden to us, but it isn't. He's been recruiting these kids for years. The venue just shifted, but all the relationships have been built on a normal time scale.
So I expect he'll continue to recruit well, but in future years it won't all seem to hit in a single week.
.
Reddit seems to be convinced that both Sieg and Wiggins are headed to WVU...
Anyone else heard this?
Yeah, it was posted somewhere else here too. They got CBs out of nowhere overnight
Sieg definitely. WVU is expected to have a class of 45 and throwing around some serious money. Expecting multiple flips today. Not sure about Wiggins. I just don't think it's sustainable there. You can try to "build" all you want, but these kids will transfer out after getting destroyed by Texas Tech and BYU next year.
People could say the same about us. This class is tremendously exciting, but they'll all be true freshmen for the 2026 season.
Without a strong portal season, we likely lose a lot of games again. And many of these exciting freshmen could decide to go elsewhere.
FWIW, I don't think that happens. I think we have an unusually strong (for us) portal season, and I think these kids stick with Franklin for more than a single year; I just mean someone could view our situation very similarly to how you just described WVU.
I don't see how a school (WVU) has the financial resources VT has to properly fund their football program in this era. The school itself recently downsized its major offerings and had to cut some serious costs. They had to consolidate majors that have zero relation with each other in order to streamline costs.
So, they may land a recruit or two, but I don't see them ever moving to the level of investment VT has committed to even if they wanted to.
I know there are folks on this site that know the in's and out's of WV. Would be curious to know their thoughts.
There is a shit ton of natural gas and coal money in that alumni base. Go drive around Cheat Lake neighborhoods (if you can get in) and you will not doubt they could pile up some cash fast if convinced it will get them back on track.
pat mcafee is dumping a lot of cash on their NIL
McAfee just prints cash for himself and friends at everything he does and he just gives a lot of it away. I don't think he is technically an employee anywhere and owns rights to everything he does. Especially with Rich Rod there who Pat loves, not surprised he is handing out NIL funds like candy.
Which is shocking because he is garbage.
Coat cutting due to state legislature isnt the same as not having money to donate to sports.
Also some weird things are going on at WVU they are setting up a shadow college inside it where the curriculum isnt accredited. So money has been diverted to this effort in some sleazy ways.
What are they going to call it.....The Upside Down?
That sounds like a really bad idea, but hey, what do I know?
That's in Indiana, unless it's spread since 1987
Interesting.
"The Pat McAfee School For Kids Who Can't Kick Football Good"
That poor kid from Pitt will never live it down. Missed two in a row with $1M on the line for himself and another $1M for local charities.
There is a small number of staff that want to teach alternative theories, one of the professors is proud that he has the most complaints of any professor and his complaint largely about him being sexist, racist and bigoted. From what I have heard from multiple people people that work there is that they are getting funding for creating new classes which do not align with the university or often reality. There is an internal power struggle right now between the administration and the politicians in Charleston that seem to be funding this.
26 - 5 🌟 signed with top 12 teams
6 - 5 🌟 signed elsewhere (1 to Terps of all places)
Terps make sense. Locksley has always been a master recruiter and awful coach
Good OC though
Meh... Terps have one 5 🌟 Edge ...and then sixteen 3 🌟...not exactly master recruiter but they appear to be higher 3 🌟 at least.
Curious about LSU. Are those Kiffin flips or guys that stayed LSU with Kiffin? Appears to be 4 flips out of 16 total.
Nobody decommitted from lsu.. I could coach there and bring in 5 stars
Just was odd seeing they dropped two spots in Team Rankings today. Not sure if that is other teams got better, LSU lost flips, or the new flips lowered their score or combination of two or more of those.
yeah, and I think Franklin mentioned this at the press conference today "LSU fired their coach and kept their 4 and 5 star recruits who are coming regardless of who the coach is, we are not there yet"
Also, those 4 and 5 star recruits will be playing for Lane Kiffin, so that likely helps...
If there was ever a school/coach combination where guys were committed exclusively to the school and not the coach, it would be Brian Kelly and LSU
BC QB Dylan Lonergan entering the portal. Spent his freshman year at Alabama.
Anyone know anything about him?
I think he spent his freshman year at Bama before transferring to BC.
Wasn't he at Boston College after a frosh at 'Bama?
Thoughts on Boo Carter from Tennessee as a transfer?
Scary....