Can James Franklin Deliver On His Promise for Virginia Tech To 'Shock The World'?

The Hokies have revamped expectations following a 3-9 2025 campaign.

Virginia Tech Athletics

During the break between the first and second quarters of Virginia Tech football's annual spring game, Hokies head coach James Franklin made an intriguing statement over the public announcement system: "We're gonna shock the world together."

#Hokies coach James Franklin to the crowd during break: "We're gonna shock the world together."

— David Teel (@ByDavidTeel) April 18, 2026

When askeed about his statement after the game, here's what he had to say:

"There's an excitement right now, and we want to keep that excitement going. We have been fortunate to be a part of two turnarounds in two different conferences, and we plan on doing that again, and this place knows what it looks like. They've done it before. That's what this whole re-establishment is about. And for us to go where we want to go, that's going to take the players, the coaches. That's going to take the community, that's going to take the fans, that's going to take the lettermen. We had a bunch of lettermen show up today, but we got a chance to do something very special here. We're not going to hide from that, and we're going to need everybody to understand and buy into that, for us to go where we want to go. The positivity — in this town and the excitement in this town right now — is infectious. It affects our players, it affects our coaches, it affects recruits and it's going to make for a very difficult environment for people to come and play in. So, we're not going to shy away from those things. We came here to do something special, and with a great group of guys in the locker room that have bought into what we're doing."

Franklin enters Virginia Tech with elevated expectations. Franklin — the head coach at Vanderbilt from 2011-2013, then Penn State from 2014 through a shortened 2025 — has compiled a 128-60 record during his time as a big whistle. With the Nittany Lions, his teams compiled double-digit wins in three straight seasons from 2022 to 2024 (six overall).

In 2024, Penn State went 13-3 (8-1 Big Ten) under Franklin, qualifying for the College Football Playoff Semifinals and losing 27-24 to national title runners-up Notre Dame.

However, the following year, Franklin went 3-3 in his first six games, losing his first three in-conference games. After an Oct. 11 loss to Northwestern he was fired.

Now, Franklin comes to Virginia Tech with a retooled roster — the Hokies went 3-9 last year, losing six of their last seven contests. Virginia Tech welcomed a deep 27-man transfer portal class and added 23 high school recruits. In Bill Connelly's preseason SP+ rankings, Virginia Tech clocked in at No. 32, fifth in the ACC behind Miami (No. 8), Clemson (No. 23), Louisville (No. 27) and SMU (No. 28).

Viewing the claim of whether Franklin's team can shock the world depends on whether you're looking at it from the glass-half-empty or the glass-half-full approach. Virginia Tech welcomes over 50 newcomers, but its offensive line is largely unchanged from last season. The Hokies welcome in four new quarterbacks who, in theory, offer the team a higher ceiling, but only one has taken snaps at the college level.

It is entirely plausible that in a retooled and revamped ACC, Virginia Tech can compile an eight-win season, which would be the team's first since the 2019 campaign. It is also entirely plausible that the Hokies could go 5-7.

Virginia Tech's season opener is set for Saturday, Sept. 5, against VMI, the two schools' first meeting since 1984.