Ethan Grunkmeyer never started a game for James Franklin. The redshirt freshman only took over once Drew Allar suffered a season-ending injury and Franklin was fired midseason. Still, the 2024 four-star did enough in the Nittany Lions' final seven games of the season to play his way into a starting role for 2026, only that will come in Blacksburg, not Happy Valley.
On Sunday, as Matt Campbell’s three-year starting QB at Iowa State, Rocco Becht announced his commitment to Penn State, Grunkemeyer committed to Franklin’s Hokies. He will head to Blacksburg with three seasons of eligibility remaining after spending two years at Penn State, and though he started just seven games, the Ohio native posted an emotional goodbye to the program where his promising college football career got started.
— Ethan Grunkemeyer (@e_grunkemeyer) January 5, 2026
Ethan Grunkemeyer commits to Virginia Tech out of the transfer portal
Grunkemeyer finished the season with 1,339 yards and eight touchdowns while completing nearly 70 percent of his throws. He was one of the most efficient freshman QBs in the country, decisive with a big arm to attack downfield. Once Terry Smith and Andy Kotelnicki opened up the offense for him, and he finished a three-game gauntlet against Iowa, Ohio State, and Indiana, he made a strong case to stay regardless of who the next head coach of the Nittany Lions was.
Grunkemeyer’s play down the stretch, helping lead Penn State on a four-game win-streak to close the year 7-6 overall, seemed as though it was going to make Campbell’s QB conundrum a tough one to solve.
Whether or not he lost any sleep over the decision, we’ll never know, but Campbell ultimately opted to bring in Becht for his final season of eligibility, along with freshman Alex Manske, who backed up Becht in 2025. The QB duo were two of 16 former Iowa State players who committed to the Nittany Lions in the first two days of college football’s lone transfer portal window. And their inevitable arrival prompted Grunkemeyer, along with Jaxon Smolik and 2025 three-star Bekkem Kritza, to depart the program.
Grunkemeyer and 2024 five-star tight end Luke Reynolds are both expected to commit to Virginia Tech out of the portal. They would be the third and fourth former Nittany Lions to follow Franklin to Blacksburg, joining Daniel Jennings and Matt Henderson. That’s a far cry from the 16 Iowa State transfers committed to Penn State, but with the portal open until January 16, there is plenty of time for Franklin to make up ground on his successor.