James Franklin did Penn State a huge favor before taking the job at Virginia Tech, negotiating his buyout down from $49 million to $9 million. Considering the offset language that was in his buyout, Franklin could have taken a low-ball offer from the Hokies, used his buyout, which runs through 2031, to replace what he’d lose in salary, and invested that money into his roster.
That was the worst-case scenario for Penn State this offseason, and Franklin didn’t twist the knife that way. However, that doesn’t mean he’s not going to take a swing at Penn State and his longtime general manager, Andy Frank.
Frank is still in Happy Valley, presumably hoping to finish building out a 2026 recruiting class, as it crumbles in front of his eyes, before leaving to join Franklin in Blacksburg. That could leave Penn State in a precarious position, as Frank and interim head coach Terry Smith are the only thing standing between Franklin and a recruiting class that committed to play for him.
Franklin has already been in discussions with three-star linebacker commit Mathieu Lamah about flipping from Penn State to Virginia Tech. That conversation was easy to start up, considering that Lamah had already been offered by Franklin’s former defensive coordinator, Brent Pry, before he was fired as the head coach of Virginia Tech, and had already been on an official visit to Blacksburg.
For the other Penn State commits who weren’t targets of Pry’s Hokies, Franklin has to start at the beginning with an offer, and that’s exactly what came for three-star offensive tackle Benjamin Eziuka.
James Franklin extends Virginia Tech offer to 3-star OL Benjamin Eziuka
The 6-foot-3, 315-pound interior offensive line recruit committed to the Nittany Lions in June, but had reopened his recruiting in the wake of Franklin’s firing. He took an official visit to Cincinnati over the weekend, and now he’ll be heading to Blacksburg after reportedly locking in an official visit with Franklin’s Hokies.
Eziuka and Lamah won’t be the only Penn State commits that Franklin goes after in the coming days and weeks. Most of the 2026 class he constructed for the Nittany Lions has already been raided, including four-star offensive tackle Kevin Brown, who committed to West Virginia on Tuesday, but Virginia Tech will flip whoever it can before the early signing period. With Franklin in place so early in the process, the Hokies have a huge advantage over every other program in search of its next head coach this offseason.