I’m not saying the long hard winter for Hokie football fans is over.
But there are signs.
After months of starting every Monday with a huge sigh during the fall while thinking of how my team did the previous Saturday, 2026 is feeling a lot different. Much has to do with the November signing of James Franklin as head coach, but the real test was going to be the two-week opening of the transfer portal that just ended at midnight Friday.
I’d say Franklin and the Hokies passed with flying colors.
In rebuilding a team, there are certain truths you just can’t deny. In football, it’s all about the quarterback, as it’s very rare to see a team win without a good one. In the past two weeks, Franklin got two: Ethan Grunkemeyer, who started the second half of Penn State’s games and is ready to play right now, and Bryce Baker, who is highly regarded (originally committed to UNC) and after a short time in Franklin’s system, has the potential to be a star.
If you’re keeping score at home, that’s two QBs who can both play at a high level. When was the last time Virginia Tech had that situation?
To keep both quarterbacks healthy, you have to protect them. To do that, despite what you may have been told, size does matter. The Hokies already had 11 offensive linemen on the roster as of today’s listings on the Virginia Tech football website, and 8 are 300 pounds or more (the other three are 296 and 298) but they added six more: Justin Terry, Logan Howland, Justin Bell, Michael Troutman, Randy Adrika and Eric Mensah.
The six average 313 pounds. That’s almost a ton of new offensive lineman.
Football is a different game these days as the players get bigger and faster. No longer are the days of the Washington Redskins “Hogs” where they barely reached 300, and these days you can’t win with a line a biscuit under 300 pounds when the other team has such superior size. Eventually your guys wear out from being beat up by 325 pounders all afternoon and it shows in the fourth quarter.
Sound familiar?
To take pressure off a QB you need good running backs, and the Hokies already had two in Jeff Overton and Marcellous Hawkins. The got a commit from 4-star Messiah Mickens in November, and picked up a bowling ball-type runner in Bill Davis. The running back room has a few stallions.
Great passing games depend on solid tight ends, and the Hokies already have one in Benji Gosnell, but they added two highly regarded tight ends in Luke Reynolds and Matt Henderson, both via Penn State, where close to half all the transfer portal commits came from. By my count, 12 of the 25 on the list were Nittany Lions in 2025.
Unlike recent seasons, I don’t think the 2026 Hokies are going to forget they have tight ends to throw to.
Speed kills and you need it at wide receiver to go with the QB, OL, RB and TEs you just got. Franklin added 4 good ones: Jeff Exinor Jr, Marion Jackson, Tyseer Denmark, and Que’Sean Brown.
If I was drawing up a wish list for the offense (I’ll get to the defense another day) I couldn’t have done better than what Franklin and staff have acquired in just the last two weeks. And it has made me realize something I never really appreciated back in the Frank Beamer glory years. Frank managed to recruit and develop talent to the point there was a depth at skill positions you almost took for granted.
If a running back got injured back then, another one would go in and do just as well. Same on the offensive line. Or wide receiver. Or linebacker.
Frank recruited knowing there would be injuries during the season and made sure he had the depth to deal with it. The last 10 years, the Hokies haven’t had it and you could see it on the field.
No more. James Franklin took care of all that in just the last two weeks.
It has certainly made for a much better Monday in anticipating the next football season, making me remember gratefully the days of Frank with 10 wins, great recruiting seasons, and being nationally ranked, even in the preseason.
Which is why I’m smiling even more right now. There’s a website called On3, that just put out it’s way-to-early preseason rankings for 2026.
Virginia Tech is ranked No. 23 😊
Great update! Been needing to hear this!
After shaming me for not writing enough in your previous comment, I felt like I had to write this 🙂