Notes and Quotes from Virginia Tech HC James Franklin's Oct. 7 Post-Practice Availability

Franklin spoke to the media on Wednesday, Oct. 7, three days out from the Hokies' third road game in four weeks.

Virginia Tech Athletics

BLACKSBURG — Virginia Tech football head coach James Franklin spoke to the media on Wednesday, Oct. 7, three days out from the Hokies' Week 6 clash against California. Here's the notable tidbits and quotes from his Wednesday session, with an availability report coming at 11 p.m. ET.

Franklin spotlighted the O-line situation, saying it's not ideal.

The paramount goal is for Virginia Tech to get its best five onto the field. Whether those five are playing at their ideal positions depends on the coaching purview, but the Hokies are focused on getting the short-term best combination.

"We've trying to get our best five on the field," Franklin said. "It maynot be at their best positions long-term, but it may be our best five on the field short-term. We're just kind of working through those things, but not ideal."

Virginia Tech ran with the same five offensive linemen for all of Friday's contest per Pro Football Focus: Logan Howland at left tackle, Layth Ghannam at left guard, Kyle Altuner at center, Michael Troutman III at right guard and Aidan Lynch at right tackle. Ghannam graded out the highest of the bunch on PFF with a 63.9 grade.

What's stuck out to Franklin about the defensive line?

Depth. And lots of it. Franklin said that defensive coordinator Brent Pry's system has worked for a long time, one that focuses on defensive linemen. Combined with the work of defensive line coach Sean Spencer, Franklin believes it's coalesced into a highly competitive room that feeds off one another.

"We're able to keep them fresh," Franklin said. "We're able to keep them healthy, and we need to continue to do that. But they're having fun, playing fast — and they're being disruptive. So, getting people off schedule on first and second down is really, really important. ... They're playing with some confidence right now."

Virginia Tech's defense currently ranks tied for fifth in sacks with 18.0 and is first in tackles for loss with 51.0. Franklin believes the defensive line's success has come about because of unselfish football, spotlighting the "other pieces of the puzzle."

"We're also trying to emphasize, like a lot of times the fans and everybody get excited about the sack, but the sack was really credited to the D-tackle that penetrated, that didn't allow them to pass off the twist," Franklin said. "Now, the defensive end comes scot-free, and the defensive end gets credit for the sack, which you should for finishing it. But there's a lot of other pieces of the puzzle that allowed those guys [to make those plays]. And they're playing, in a lot of ways, unselfish football right now, which I think you have to be on the defensive line."

Franklin touched on DQ Smith, who played the second-most snaps of Tech's safeties.

Smith, a fifth-year safety who missed Tech's opener due to the NCAA's mandatory acclimation process, played 61 snaps against Pitt, and he's manned the field for 144 snaps (95 on defense). Per PFF, he's logged 3,515 snaps over the past four seasons (pre-2026), including 911 as a true freshman when he was at South Carolina.

"He's played a ton of football," Franklin said. "If you look, there's not too many players in the country that have played more reps than he has. .... You don't play as a true freshman without having some football savvy and some football IQ, and then just all that experience, take that and multiply that based on his athleticism and his body type, does a lot of really good things."

Smith has logged the third-most reps at safety behind Quentin Reddish (231 snaps, 59.6 overall defensive grade on PFF) and Tyson Flowers (222 snaps, 65.4 grade). After those three, Sheldon Robinson and Brennan Johnson have logged the next-most snaps at safety with 31 and 20, respectively.

"So we got three safeties that we kind of view as as starters, and those guys will continue to play a bunch of reps," Franklin said.

How will Virginia Tech prepare for Cal's quarterback?

Cal's starter for Saturday may not be in set in stone just about yet. Starter Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele was held out of the second half in Cal's 39-31 loss to UNLV Saturday; backup Jackson Brousseau went 19-of-32 for 200 yards and two touchdowns in Sagapolutele's place. This year, Sagapolutele has thrown for 1,180 yards, eight touchdowns and five interceptions; his season-wide quarterback rating of 47.2 ranks No. 96.

Franklin's team is prepping for a world with Sagapolutele playing because of the comment that Sagapolutele was available at halftime.

"They could have played him again and chose not to, so we're ust preparing as if he is playing," Franklin said. "I've also heard he's been practicing, so we're preparing like he's the starter. I don't think the offense changes a whole lot. It's not like the backup quarterback is this big-time runner, and the offense changes when he goes in."

What's the scoop on injuries?

Defensive linemen Emmett Laws was involved with the second-team D-line at points; the 6-foot junior has yet to play this season after sustaining an injury in the spring. Linebacker George Ballance was also not seen at practice Wednesday after exiting the Pitt game with a lower-body injury. Freshman Terry Wiggins jumped into the second-team group, while Curtis Jones Jr. moved over to the mike backer spot. Franklin said Ballance will be out for "multiple weeks".

"He was a piece for us on defense; he was a significant piece on special teams, and then just from a captain, leadership, culture standpoint, big," Franklin said. A lot of those things he can still do."

Franklin said Ballance won't travel with the team to California this week.

As a result of the injuries along the offensive line — left tackle Justin Terry is out for "several weeks", per a spokesperson, while guards Montavious Cunningham and Brody Meadows didn't play on Friday against Pitt — Layth Ghannam, who began the season at left guard, manned the left tackle spot in one-on-one drills against the defensive line, while Logan Howland (left tackle) moved across to right tackle. Cunningham and Meadows were both working at practice, though neither looked 100% and Meadows appeared highly limited.

Virginia Tech's clash against California is set for Saturday, Oct. 10 at 3:30 p.m. ET; the contest will be carried by ACC Network.