James Franklin has a challenging task: returning Virginia Tech to the heights of the Frank Beamer era, after the mediocrity we’ve seen lately. That doesn’t just start with improving the roster. The new Hokies’ head coach expects a full buy-in, including from the fans. That doesn’t have to wait till the start of the next season.

“April 18. We’re going to do a traditional spring game,” Franklin said. “We’re going to have a big spring game. We want it to be sold out. We’re expecting that thing to be 65,000 and make a statement nationally about what’s going on at Virginia Tech with our excitement and our lettermen and alumni coming back for the game.”

Why wait for August 27 (the season starts) when you can see the results of new leadership right away? By scheduling the spring game early and calling for a sellout, Franklin is making a savvy move to galvanize the fanbase and showcase the program’s new direction long before the season begins. Officials have scheduled the kickoff for the afternoon, but they have not yet determined the exact time. The entry is completely free and open to the public.

This has the modus operandi of James Franklin. He doesn’t waste any opportunity that can allow his players to connect with the fans, and vice versa. In his first seven years at Happy Valley, Franklin organized a “Blue vs. White” game in a traditional four-quarter setting. Every year, it was attended by over 70,000+ fans. The only time there was a departure to a non-traditional setting was last season. That was mainly due to the paranoia over scouting and the fact that Penn State was coming off a 16-game season.

At Virginia Tech, Franklin wants to return to proceedings that made him produce consistent 10-win seasons at the Nittany Lions. The hire is already paying dividends for the program. Franklin’s immediate impact is most visible in recruiting, where he has completely flipped the script. By leveraging his past relationships, he convinced 11 former Penn State commits to join him in Blacksburg, a move that has catapulted the Hokies’ 2026 class to No. 21 in national rankings, according to ESPN.

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Furthermore, the Hokies also brought in one of the top transfer portal classes that ranks 19th nationally. The overhaul is impressive. But does that mean that they are going to have instant success on the field in 2026? Well, the spring game might give some hints.

Why was recruiting bad at Blacksburg before James Franklin?

This question would have never found an answer if not for James Franklin’s addressing it.

“No disrespect to other times in other places,” Franklin said on the November 21 episode of Level 7 interview. “But there was a period where there were coaches in the state of Virginia that were not prioritizing the state of Virginia, in my opinion, from my lens. To me, I don’t care where you’re at; you have got to own your own state. It starts there. How am I supposed to go to somebody else’s state and get their best players if I’m not getting the best players out of my own state?”

During Brent Pry’s time, the Hokies’ recruiting prowess was lacking. The main problem was in-state recruiting, which Virginia Tech was very casual about. If you are unable to get the talent in your backyard, how will you get it elsewhere? During Pry’s tenure, the in-state recruitment percentage, as per On3, was 48%. And even before that, the situation wasn’t any better. The problem started when Justin Fuente took over after Frank Beamer.

During his time in 2021, the percentage was dismal at the end of the recruiting cycle, with 32%, as per On3. So the problem was throughout. However, with making amends through recruiting, James Franklin has already set the tone that things are changing in Blacksburg.