Why Penn State Should Be Nervous About James Franklin at Virginia Tech

The Hokies' new head coach presents unique challenges to Penn State's football future.

Virginia Tech Hokies head coach James Franklin speaks during a press conference at Cassell Coliseum. | Brian Bishop-Imagn Images

Historically, I’ve believed that when Team X loses a player in recruiting or to the transfer portal, the ideal outcome is for Team Y to be far removed from the immediate ecosystem. For example, the difference between Drew Allar leaving Penn State for Iowa versus Vanderbilt.

The same principle applied to James Franklin’s firing. From Penn State’s perspective, the best-case scenario was for Franklin to land somewhere deep in the self-cannibalizing SEC. There, he would either have limited success or not expand the number of legitimate playoff teams in the conference.

But Franklin’s move to Virginia Tech changes the calculus, as the Hokies present unique challenges for Penn State.

The regional dynamics of James Franklin at Virginia Tech

The @VTCorpsofCadets gave Head Coach Franklin a proper Hokie Welcome 🫡 pic.twitter.com/f6Dyekgoix

— Virginia Tech Football (@HokiesFB) November 20, 2025

Simply put, Penn State is the best and most consistent major college football program east of Ohio and north of Charlotte. The Mid-Atlantic — more specifically the Delaware/DC/Virginia region — is ripe with talent that other Big Ten and SEC programs recruit. But Penn State is the major program in the entire region.

While college football’s growing parity and an interconnected world impact traditional recruiting footprints, Penn State enjoys the luxury of not having multiple peer-level neighbors physically in the region. But that could change.

Blacksburg and State College are nearly the exact same distance from Washington D.C. — the gravitational center of Penn State’s primary non-Pennsylvanian recruiting footprint. Franklin’s reputation — and his staff’s — in the region will create issues for Penn State that will only grow as Franklin finds success.

RELATED: James Franklin's move to Virginia Tech complicated Penn State's prep for Nebraska

James Franklin goes recruiting at Penn State

Don’t know bout you guys, but Head Coach Franklin is a natural at the Hokies chant 🙂‍↕️

(Thanks for letting us borrow the court @HokiesMBB 🤝) pic.twitter.com/ZBcAK719mt

— Virginia Tech Football (@HokiesFB) November 20, 2025

Whatever level of change is coming Penn State’s way this offseason, it’s likely Franklin will take some players with him. Losing staff to Virginia Tech is less of an immediate concern because those losses were happening either way. But player departures come with a lot more guesswork.

Who might Franklin target? A good number of players. Penn State’s current roster boasts nine players from Virginia alone, among them offensive linemen Anthony Donkoh and Alex Birchmeier as well as linebackers Tony Rojas and Amare Campbell.

All four of those players would be huge losses for Penn State this offseason. They also represent just a smattering of players who check off the very large box of, “liked James Franklin well enough to commit to him once already.”

It’ll be interesting to see how this unfolds. Penn State can likely survive long-term regional recruiting battles, but the current roster getting gutted creates immediate issues to resolve. Penn State has 23 seniors on the roster. Everyone else is fair game.

Penn State’s next coach can mitigate this with players he brings along. But Rojas, Campbell or others [Chaz Coleman] leaving Penn State creates immediate real-world impacts on the Nittany Lions’ success.

This issue was going to be true no matter where Franklin ended up. But there’s something to be said for players needing a U-Haul to move instead of a plane ticket.

The national perspective

We present to you….Head Coach James Franklin 🙌 pic.twitter.com/GX9oMCfz3P

— Virginia Tech Football (@HokiesFB) November 19, 2025

This is a broader viewpoint of the whole situation, but an improved Virginia Tech in a quietly improving ACC only generates more traffic for the College Football Playoff picture. It’s hard to know how the field will change over the next 5-10 years, but the more quality programs there are in the game, the more Penn State can’t just waltz its way into the postseason.

This will impact recruiting, scheduling and more. Franklin will have to primarily contend with Miami, Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech and Louisville, not to mention Bill O’Brien at Boston College. That being said, there’s a very reasonable path for Virginia Tech to become a playoff contender quickly, especially if the field expands to 16 teams. 

The bottom line

Penn State making a quality hire can manage a lot of these issues, especially if it takes Franklin a few seasons to get Virginia Tech up to speed. But Franklin being in Penn State’s backyard isn’t going to go unnoticed.

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