Virginia Tech Postgame Quotes That Matter From James Franklin After Win Over VMI

Franklin's Hokies beat VMI 73-3 in the first game of his tenure as Virginia Tech's head coach.

Sep 5, 2026; Blacksburg, Va.; Virginia Tech head coach James Franklin greets fans before the game at Lane Stadium. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

BLACKSBURG — Virginia Tech football got the James Franklin era underway Saturday with a 73-3 victory against VMI at Lane Stadium. After the game, Franklin touched on the 70-point win. Here are the five most important points to note from his post-VMI press conference:

No. 1: What did Franklin think of the game-wide performance as a whole?

First, the quarterbacks: Ethan Grunkemeyer started Saturday's contest against the Keydets, completing 17 of 20 passes for 224 yards and two scores through the air. His day was done after the first drive of the second half, which Virginia Tech exited with a 52-0 lead.

Things were then handled by Bryce Baker. Baker, a transfer from North Carolina that has three years of eligibility remaining after this season, went 2-for-2 in his opening drive, one that culminated in a Marcellous Hawkins touchdown. He tallied 127 yards for the game, doing so on a 10-for-12 rate.

While Franklin did not talk about the quarterbacks during his press conference beyond Baker getting playing time, he did remark that he thought the Hokies "played a complete game."

"Offense did what tey were supposed to, defense did what they were supposed to," Franklin said. "It is difficult to play an option team that specialized in running the ball and hold them to negative rushing yards. ... We were able to get them off schedule and make them uncomfortable."

No. 2: Virginia Tech's rushing attack was firing on all cylinders.

In its first game under Franklin, the Hokies' running backs finished with 252 yards off 36 carries. Sophomore Jeffrey Overton Jr. (r-Fr. under NCAA's old rules; he played in four games in 2025) led the group with 104 yards off nine totes, while starter Marcellous Hawkins chipped in 69 yards off 12 catches. Overton scored the Hokies' first touchdown of the season with a 50-yard house call on Tech's opening drive.

"Yeah, we think we've got know a one-two punch that we had a lot of confidence coming into camp with and throughout camp, but you never truly know until you get into the games," Franklin said of the Hawkins-Overton combination.

True freshman Messiah Mickens and junior Tyler Mason also made appearances; the two combined for 38 yards on eight totes, while walk-ons Darius Taylor and John Buetow chipped in 22 and 19 rushing yards, respectively. For good measure, quarterback-turned-wideout AJ Brand turned in 10 rushing yards off a pair of Wildcat plays, the latter of which landed him in the end zone for his first touchdown as a Hokie.

No. 3: The Hokies sustained several penalties, something Franklin was't happy about.

Virginia Tech garnered 11 penalties that cost it 93 yards in total. One was inconsequential, being Hawkins' unsportsmanlike conduct penalty following his third touchdown of the evening. Four were offsides penalties attributed to Virginia Tech's defense. Two were for holding, including one against safety Jordan Bass (the stats pointed to linebacker Curtis Jones Jr. as the offender, but Franklin named Bass) that wiped out a punt return touchdown from wide receiver Tyseer Denmark.

The Hokies' defense still restrained VMI to -0.4 yards per rush and held VMI to only four first downs. Still, Franklin was cognizant of the issues needing to be cleaned up ahead of Tech's Week 2 game against Old Dominion Sept. 12.

“We tell the guys all the time: you show softness or weakness anywhere, then the next opponent is going to attack that same weakness,” Franklin said. “So we’re going to have to be prepared and ready for the things that we didn’t do well, because Old Dominion is going to be all over this tape just like we’re going to be all over theirs.”

No. 4: Of Virginia Tech's pass catchers, who stood out?

Duke transfer Que'Sean Brown led the group with 109 yards off six catches, the bulk coming off a 51-yard house call. True freshman Davion "FatRat" Brown accumulated 31 yards, while Chanz Wiggins, Tyseer Denmark and Ayden Greene also totaled 40, 36 and 23 yards respectively.

"He's not the biggest guy in the world, but he is explosive," Franklin said. "One of the fastest guys that we have in our program. We've got to continue to get him the ball in space. He's a physical blocker, and he's got a chance to be an explosive returner for us, as well. I think you would have saw even more from him today, but he cramped up, and we lost him in the first half for for a couple series there.

"... We need explosive athletes that can win one-on-ones in space. And to be honest with you, he should have had probably another 100 yards because we missed them on two long balls that we'll get those cleaned up and hit them in the future."

As for the tight ends, Reynolds led the room with 50 yards off five catches, while Ja'Ricous Hairston and Harrison Saint Germain caught one pass apiece for 33 and 10 yards, respectively. True freshman Pierce Petersohn also hauled in two catches for six yards.

No. 5: Virginia Tech made the most of its opportunity to evaluate its depth.

By the time Ethan Grunkemeyer exited on Virginia Tech’s second drive of the third quarter, the Hokies had already accumulated a daunting 52-point lead. From there, the objective shifted from putting VMI away to getting a genuine look at the rest of the roster.

Bryce Baker was the first beneficiary. Rather than asking the North Carolina transfer to exclusively hand the ball off and drain the clock, Virginia Tech allowed its backup quarterback to operate the offense, providing the coaching staff with its first opportunity to evaluate him in genuine game action with the Hokies.

"Not everybody believes this, but my belief, when you get a game like this, and the points get the way they got, my job is to get the starters out and get the backups in," Franklin said. "But they should have the opportunity to play football, like getting the threes and fours in there and still call the defense and call the offense. We need to see what Bryce Baker is able to do. To put Bryce Baker in and just hand the ball off the whole second half, that's not fair to Bryce Baker, and that's not the right thing for us to do for developing Bryce and other players on our roster. So, that depth showed up today, and this is going to be valuable for them.

"They're going to get coached. They're going to get evaluated. They're going to get patted on the back. They're also probably going to get their ass ripped a few times too."

The Hokies continued producing offensively, including a pair of Wildcat snaps for quarterback-turned-wideout AJ Brand that culminated in a one-yard touchdown. Virginia Tech ultimately broke the 70-point barrier for the first time since 1995, with much of its late production coming from players who ordinarily wouldn't receive significant opportunities.

Virginia Tech's second game of the season is set again at home, this time against Old Dominion. The contest will air on Saturday, Sept. 12, at 12 p.m. ET on The CW. The Hokies lost last year's showdown to the Monarchs, 45-26.