Joel Klatt labels Virginia Tech as a 'stock up' team entering 2026 with James Franklin

After spending 12 seasons at Penn State, James Franklin is starting anew at Virginia Tech. While most coaches aren’t expected to immediately lead their teams to great success, FOX Sports‘ Joel Klatt believes Franklin could be building something special at VT.

“Virginia Tech made a great hire with James Franklin. That’s a good football coach who just kind of capped out, ceiling-type deal, at Penn State,” Klatt said. “Listen, you can’t argue with what he was able to accomplish at Penn State.

“The guy was successful, very successful, and he didn’t win some of the bigger games, and they ran him out, which is fine. I’m not saying that they shouldn’t have, and candidly I think he probably would have admitted it was time for a change, but he’s a very good coach.”

Virginia Tech won’t have a completely new look next season. In an odd turn of events, Franklin hired Virginia Tech’s previous head coach, Brent Pry, to serve as the Hokies’ defensive coordinator.

Pry, who had been Virginia Tech’s head coach for the past four seasons, was Franklin’s defensive coordinator at Penn State from 2016-21. The pair were excellent together, leading Penn State to the Big Ten title in 2016.

Franklin has wasted no time building his roster, either. Virginia Tech has reeled in 27 players from the transfer portal this offseason, while only losing 22 to it. Twelve of Virginia Tech’s incoming transfers are following Franklin from Penn State.

Most notably, former Penn State quarterback Ethan Grunkemeyer committed to the Hokies in January. Grunkemeyer started Penn State’s final seven games of the season after starting QB Drew Allar suffered a season-ending injury.

Grunkemeyer finished the 2025 campaign with 1,339 passing yards and eight touchdowns compared to just four interceptions. He completed 69.1% of his pass attempts and also scored one touchdown in the ground game. Klatt revealed he’s heard high praise about Grunkemeyer from at least one credible source.

“Grunkemeyer played really well against Indiana, the undefeated national champ,” Klatt said. “Penn State had them dead to rights in that game before [Fernando] Mendoza and [Omar] Cooper go down the field and break Gus’ vocal cords.

“Grunkemeyer played really well, and after the game I’m texting with Bryant Haines in preparation for some of the future games — Bryant Haines, the defensive coordinator at Indiana — and I was like, ‘Man, credit that offensive line; they ran the ball well.’ He texted back, ‘I was so impressed by their quarterback.'”