Soon after Virginia Tech hired James Franklin in November, the Hokies’ new head coach executed a complete dismantling of Penn State’s 2026 recruiting class, boosting Tech’s recruiting ranking from outside the top-120 to 24th nationally, according to 247 Sports.
This abrupt turnaround was historic, and demonstrated why James Franklin was the top candidate of the athletic department’s coaching committee. He developed a reputation at Penn State as a highly skilled recruiter who knew how to sell his program, both to high school prospects and talented transfers alike.
He’ll be faced with validating his CEO-like reputation this offseason at Virginia Tech while he continues assembling his staff, as the 2026 transfer portal window opens from January 2-16. Consequently, his ability to turn over the roster with proven, high-impact transfer players from around the country will be critical to building a competitive roster in his inaugural season on the Virginia Tech sideline that features many of the ACC’s top teams.
Franklin leveraged the transfer portal during his time in Happy Valley, but never brought in huge numbers of players like West Virginia, North Carolina, or Virginia did last season. To gain a better understanding of the approaches that his staff may take to similarly assemble a roster in Blacksburg, let’s take a look at how they navigated the transfer ranks over the last five years.
