'The Offense Willl Have Heavy Penn State Undertones': Virginia Tech's Projection Hard To Evaluate for 2026

Virginia Tech's offense could take on a Penn State identity in 2026, but with so many new faces, projecting the Hokies remains a difficult task.

Virginia Tech Athletics

Virginia Tech football is on the hunt for a successful 2026, but the path to do so is rather murky. The Hokies draw four easier opponents — VMI (Sept. 5), Old Dominion (Sept. 12), Maryland (Sept. 19) and Boston College (Sept. 26) — to open their season, though in the second half, they draw Clemson, SMU and Miami — all on the road.

Virginia Tech, as a team, is hard to map out, too. ESPN analyst Bill Connelly said as much about the Hokies, who will kick off their first season under new head coach James Franklin this September, in his ACC preview this past week.

"His Hokies are one of the hardest teams to project for 2026, though," Connelly said. "Franklin put together an excellent recruiting class (with plenty of prospects who flipped their Penn State commitments), but that will be only so helpful in Year 1. He's instead going to be reliant on a mix of transfers — and I like the transfer haul quite a bit — and holdovers from a team that underachieved quite a bit in Brent Pry's final season in charge."

What Connelly is betting on is that Virginia Tech's offense will carry a distinctly Penn State flavor. That applies not just from the fact that Franklin coached at the program for 11 seasons and a partial 12th, but also in the personnel he'll be working with heading into Year 1.

"The offense will have heavy Penn State undertones, for better (efficiency and physicality) or worse (conservatism)," Connelly said. "Quarterback Ethan Grunkemeyer, tight end Luke Reynolds and offensive coordinator Ty Howle all followed Franklin from State College, and one assumes Grunkemeyer and Reynolds will connect often while Grunkemeyer — who produced an 85.2 Total QBR with a 76% completion rate in his last three starts as a PSU freshman — sticks the ball in the belly of backs such as Marcellous Hawkins, Bill Davis (Louisiana) and redshirt freshman Jeffrey Overton Jr."

Overton Jr. could be particularly effective. After missing the first eight games of his true freshman season, he played in the final four, logging 146 rushing yards and a touchdown on 25 totes. Overton came to the Hokies as a four-star (247Sports) recruit, ranked as the No. 14 running back in the Class of 2025 and the No. 6 recruit in the state of Virginia.

On the other side of the ball, Virginia Tech returns a familiar face: Brent Pry. Pry served as the Hokies' head coach from 2022 through the first three games of 2025. He was fired after a 16-24 record, which included a 1-12 record in one-score games and a 0-3 start to the 2025 season. Virginia Tech ultimately finished 3-9 and lost six of its last seven games. Pry's attention, however, will be focused on the defense and the linebackers, perhaps a more natural fit for the 56-year-old Pennsylvanian.

While Virginia Tech has a potentially moderate ceiling due to the influx of transfers, a plethora of whom have little collegiate experience, the Hokies also return several major skill players in Overton, incumbent No. 1 running back Hawkins and top wideout Ayden Greene. The Hokies have produced just one winning season so far this decade, but at Penn State, Franklin totaled six double-digit-win campaigns. Expectations should be tempered, but the groundwork could be set for a solid first season.

"There's a chance it takes Franklin & Co. a little while to get things aligned, and maybe this ends up being a year for getting the young blue-chippers' feet wet," he continued. "But with a manageable schedule and semi-proven QB in Grunkemeyer, there's potential for at least seven or eight wins."

Virginia Tech's 2026 season starts with VMI at home on Saturday, Sept. 5, at 7:30 p.m. ET. The game will be carried on the ACC Network.