James Franklin's Three Biggest Priorities For Virginia Tech After the NFL Draft

Spring Football has concluded for Virginia Tech and the NFL Draft has come and gone. The Hokies may not have had any players drafted, but they had a lot of players that they were going to need to replace from last year's team. Franklin went to work in the portal and on the recruiting trail as soon as he got hired and one of the goals was to up the talent and replace the production that was leaving.

Now that spring football and the NFL draft are over, what are the top three priorities for Franklin heading into the summer and fall?

1. Figuring out the quarterback depth

Ethan Grunkemeyer has long been the favorite to be the starting quarterback for the Hokies this season, and his spring game performance backed that up. While he has not officially been named the starter yet, all signs point to Grunkemeyer being the guy for Virginia Tech in 2026.

It is not just about the starter though. Virginia Tech has a brand new quarterback room and if Grunkemeyer is the starter, Virginia Tech will not have a backup quarterback with any experience. UNC transfer Bryce Baker had a strong spring and a lot of athletic upside, but no experience. Freshman quarterback Troy Huhn had big performances in the Virginia Tech spring scrmmages, but he is just a freshman.

Franklin has to figure out the pecking order of this group heading into fall camp.

2. How deep is the receiver room?

Virginia Tech returns Ayden Greene and picked up Duke transfer Que'Sean Brown in the portal, as well as former Penn State tight end Luke Reynolds. Those three players are going to get the lion's share of the targets this fall, but are there any other players that will make this a deeper receiver room? It was something that Franklin discussed this spring, and it seems like the competition is going to be ongoing with the pass catchers.

3. Talent acquisition

For Virginia Tech to get back to contending in the ACC, they are going to have to get more talented. Franklin was an elite recruiter at Penn State and that is why they were an annual contender in the Big Ten and won the league in 2016. The first transfer portal class as well as the first high school class raised the talent level in Blacksburg, but to close the gap with Miami and to get back to ACC title contention as well as playoff contention, Franklin is going to need to bring in high level recruits. Currently, Virginia Tech has the No. 24 recruiting class in the country right now and they appear to just be getting started.

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