Virginia Tech Football 2026 Season Preview: Hope Is a Dangerous Thing (8-19-26)

By: Joey Raymond 

Headline Photo Credit: 3780 Media-LMS Network

There is something different about Virginia Tech football right now. You can see it, you can hear it, and, perhaps most importantly, you can feel it. The James Franklin era has officially begun in Blacksburg, and for the first time in a long time, Virginia Tech enters a football season with something it hasn’t had much of over the past decade:

Hope.

And as any good Virginia Tech fan will tell you, hope can be a dangerous thing. Just ask anyone who watched Justin Fuente win 10 games in 2016. But this feels different. Maybe.

From the College Football Playoff to Blacksburg

The James Franklin story is bizarre enough that if you pitched it as a television script, someone would probably tell you it was too unrealistic.

Just months before taking over at Virginia Tech, Franklin was leading Penn State into the 2025 season as one of the favorites to compete for a national championship.

The Nittany Lions entered the year ranked No. 2 nationally after reaching the College Football Playoff semifinal the previous season, where they fell 27–24 to Notre Dame. Franklin had already established himself as one of the most successful coaches in Penn State history, compiling a 104–45 record and six 10-win seasons during his tenure.

Then everything fell apart.

Penn State started 3–0 before losing three consecutive games to Oregon, UCLA and Northwestern. The Northwestern loss was the final straw, and Penn State fired Franklin after more than 11 seasons at the helm.

And Virginia Tech basically looked at the situation and said:

We’ll take him.

For a program that had spent years trying to find its way back to relevance, landing a coach with Franklin’s résumé was an opportunity Virginia Tech simply could not pass up.

Franklin arrives in Blacksburg with a career record of 128–60 , a Big Ten championship on his résumé, seven New Year’s Six bowl appearances and a College Football Playoff appearance. More importantly, he arrives with the reputation of somebody who knows how to build a program. That is exactly what Virginia Tech needs. Because this isn’t just about winning football games.

It’s about rebuilding an identity.

Re-Establish Virginia Tech

Franklin has repeatedly used the word “re-establish” when talking about what he wants to accomplish in Blacksburg. And honestly, after some much thought on my part; it’s probably the perfect word.

Virginia Tech doesn’t need to invent an identity. It already had one.

For decades, the Hokies were one of the most recognizable programs in college football. Lane Stadium was one of the most intimidating environments in the sport. Defensive players were expected to fly around. Special teams mattered. Recruiting mattered. Development mattered.

Virginia Tech football meant something, but over the last several years, that identity faded.

Since 2016, the Hokies have gone 63-63  including a 3–9 campaign in 2025. The 2025 season was particularly ugly, with Virginia Tech finishing 3–9 overall and 2–6 in ACC play. Last years offense averaged just 21.4 points per game while the defense surrendered 30.2. Virginia Tech finished with only six takeaways all season, opponents had 14. The Hokies also scored 20 points or fewer in seven games.

Those aren’t just bad numbers. Those are numbers that explain why a program needed a reset.

And the reset came quickly after a brutal loss to Old Dominion on their home turf. When Brent Pry was relieved of his duties. 

The Brent Pry Plot Twist Nobody Saw Coming

Perhaps the strangest chapter in this entire story is the return of Brent Pry. Pry was fired on September 14, 2025, following an 0–3 start and a 45–26 loss to Old Dominion. His tenure as head coach ended with a 16–24 record. However, one take away from the fan base at large, Brent Pry loved Virginia Tech. 

Then Franklin took the Virginia Tech job. And suddenly, Pry was back. Not as head coach. Not as an analyst. Not in some ceremonial role, but as the defensive coordinator.

It is one of the strangest coaching twists in recent college football history.

Franklin and Pry have a history that goes back decades, including their time together at Vanderbilt and Penn State, and Franklin clearly believes Pry is better suited to running a defense than an entire program. I think most Hokies fans would agree. 

For Virginia Tech, it’s a fascinating gamble. Because Pry has something to prove. And Franklin has something to prove. The question is, can they actually prove it? 

The Roster Looks Different

If there is one thing that immediately stands out around the 2026 Hokies, it is the physical transformation. The players look bigger. They look stronger. They look like a team that spent the offseason taking the strength and conditioning portion of this rebuild seriously.

And that matters because in years prior this looked like a team that could care less about the offseason. It matters because Franklin didn’t simply walk into Blacksburg and start running the same roster through a new set of drills. He attacked the transfer portal and he attacked recruiting. He brought pieces from Penn State and elsewhere who fit what he wants Virginia Tech to become.

The result is a roster that looks considerably deeper and more physically imposing than the one that finished 3–9 a year ago. The preseason analytics reflect that improvement.

ESPN’s Bill Connelly placed Virginia Tech in the sixth preseason SP+ tier, alongside Clemson, Illinois, Missouri and TCU. The group sits between No. 20 and No. 35 nationally, essentially labeling the Hokies as a team good enough to matter but still flawed enough to have serious questions.

That’s a pretty remarkable starting point for a team coming off a three-win season.

Ethan Grunkemeyer Gets the Keys

The most important new face in Blacksburg might be the guy wearing No. 17. Ethan Grunkemeyer followed Franklin from Penn State and enters the season as the presumed starting quarterback. The best part? He isn’t walking into the job completely untested.

Grunkemeyer played in 11 games for Penn State in 2025 and started the final seven. He completed 69 percent of his passes for 1,339 yards and eight touchdowns while adding another score on the ground. He also helped Penn State finish the season with a four-game winning streak.

That’s important because Virginia Tech desperately needs more consistency from the passing game. The Hokies averaged just 349 yards and 21 points per game last season, and they scored 23 or fewer points in nine of their 12 games. Grunkemeyer doesn’t have to become a Heisman Trophy candidate. The Hokies don’t need him to be. He just needs to make the offense functional.

If he can consistently hit the throws that were left on the field last season, this offense has the potential to look dramatically different. And he has some legitimate weapons.

The Skill Positions Could Be Fun

Marcellous Hawkins returns after leading Virginia Tech with 749 rushing yards while averaging more than six yards per carry. Then comes Bill Davis, a 230-pound transfer from Louisiana who has rushed for more than 1,500 yards over the past two seasons. That’s a pretty intriguing combination.

The Hokies also added one of the more productive receivers available in the portal in Que’Sean Brown. Brown caught 105 passes for nearly 1,400 yards and seven touchdowns during his two seasons at Duke.

Marlion Jackson gives Grunkemeyer another deep threat after catching 46 passes for 753 yards and three touchdowns at Louisiana Tech in 2025. Not only that but, Ayden Greene is back after leading Virginia Tech with 31 receptions for 516 yards and six touchdowns last season.

Suddenly, Virginia Tech has options. That’s something the offense desperately lacked last year.

The offensive line remains one of the biggest questions, particularly in pass protection. The Hokies allowed 2.4 sacks per game in 2025, so keeping Grunkemeyer upright is going to be critical. But there is enough experience returning that this shouldn’t require a complete rebuild. As well as having the same offensive line coach in Matt Moore? That’s something the Hokies have also struggled with recently. It needs to be better. Not perfect. Just better.

And Then There’s the Defense

This is where the Franklin experiment gets really interesting. Because Franklin has historically built good defenses. Largely thanks to his good buddy Brent Pry. And Pry is now back in the building.

The raw numbers from 2025, however, are ugly. On drives beginning on their own side of the field against FBS opponents, Virginia Tech’s defense allowed 2.8 points per drive—the worst mark in the ACC and 128th nationally.

The Hokies also forced just six turnovers. Dead last nationally. That cannot happen again. Kaleb Spencer returns after leading the team with 67 tackles and nine tackles for loss. Noah Chambers returns to the linebacker room after missing time last season. Kemari Copeland and Elhadj Fall give the Hokies legitimate size in the middle, while transfers Eric Mensah and Randy Adirika add even more mass up front.

Copeland was ranked No. 7 on Bruce Feldman’s 2026 Freaks List after reportedly benching 510 pounds, squatting 735 and reaching 20.2 miles per hour on GPS tracking. Kaleb Spencer also made the list at No. 83. Those aren’t just fun offseason numbers. They’re evidence that the physical transformation happening in Blacksburg is real. The question is whether that strength translates into better football.

The Schedule: Opportunity and Ambushes Everywhere

The schedule gives Virginia Tech an interesting path. The Hokies open at home against VMI before hosting Old Dominion. And yes, that Old Dominion game matters.

Last year’s 45–26 loss was one of the final nails in Pry’s tenure. This year’s matchup is an opportunity for Franklin to immediately establish that the program has changed.

After that comes Maryland and Boston College on the road before Pitt comes to Lane Stadium for a Friday night showdown. Then Virginia Tech travels west to play California before hosting Georgia Tech. And that’s where things start getting serious.

Clemson. SMU. Miami. All on the road. Then Virginia comes to Lane Stadium to close the regular season.

The schedule is definitely difficult. But it’s not impossible.

College Football News projects Virginia Tech to finish 7–5, noting that the Hokies have enough manageable games early in the season to build momentum before the brutal late-season stretch.

And seven wins would represent a massive improvement. But that’s also where expectations have to be handled carefully. Personally, I have them winning 8, maybe 9 if they can get a few lucky bounces. 

Hope Is a Dangerous Thing

This is where Virginia Tech fans have to take a deep breath. Because this is the most inspired I’ve seen this program look in several years. I’ve covered this team through multiple coaching staffs. I’ve watched the practices. I’ve watched the players. I’ve talked to people around the program. One of the biggest things that stands out this year isn’t a particular player, It’s the operation.

The schedule is structured. Meetings start on time. Practices are organized. Everything appears to have a purpose.

The players seem engaged, the team looks physically different, and, perhaps most importantly, the players seem excited. That’s not something you can put in a box score.

The Virginia Tech program spent years looking like it was trying to remember what it was. Now it looks like someone finally walked into the building like mufasa from the lion king and said:

Remember who you are.

That’s Franklin’s job.

Not to turn Virginia Tech into Penn State. Not to copy the past. Not to promise a national championship in Year One. His job is to make Virginia Tech matter again, and there is legitimate reason to believe he can.

The national expectations are still relatively tempered. ESPN’s preseason SP+ puts the Hokies in the same general neighborhood as Clemson and several other teams capable of making noise, while College Football News predicts a 7–5 season.

Seven wins would be progress. Eight would be impressive. Nine would have Blacksburg absolutely losing its mind. And if Virginia Tech somehow finds itself in the ACC Championship conversation in November?

Well…

That’s when the dangerous part begins. Because hope is a funny thing. It doesn’t take much of it to make an entire fan base believe again. For the first time in a long time, there is something in Blacksburg worth believing in.

Obviously, the 2026 Virginia Tech Hokies haven’t even played a snap yet and they’re definitely  not a finished product.

They’re not guaranteed to win eight, nine or ten games and There are still enormous questions on both sides of the football. But for the first time in years, those questions feel like questions about how good Virginia Tech can become, rather than questions about whether the program is capable of getting there at all. That’s a pretty significant difference.

The James Franklin era has begun. And maybe—just maybe—Virginia Tech is ready to re-establish itself. At this point after what I’ve seen? Maybe it’s just blind optimism but I’ll drink the kool aid.