No matter who ends up being named the next head coach of Penn State’s football program, that coach will likely have a bit more of a challenging time recruiting in some key recruiting battlegrounds in the years to come. That is because Penn State’s former head coach, James Franklin, is going to employ some very similar recruiting strategies with his new employer, Virginia Tech.

When Franklin was introduced as the head coach of Penn State back in 2014, he made it clear he wanted the Nittany Lions to dominate the state and keep all of Pennsylvania’s top recruits in the state. That “dominate the state” mantra served Penn State well and landed a number of highly talented players over the years like Saquon Barkley, Micah Parsons, and Abdul Carter. Franklin drew a line in the sand at the border of Pennsylvania, and even took some liberties extending his idea of a state into Maryland and New Jersey (not so coincidentally, the same year Maryland and Rutgers were set to join the Big Ten).

During his introductory press conference at Virginia Tech, Franklin commented on the importance of developing players and how much he believes in recruiting compared to using the transfer portal. You can count on Franklin making it a point of emphasis to start keeping more of Virginia’s top talent in Blacksburg moving forward, rather than allowing programs from the outside to pick from the cream of the crop.

Some of the recent commits landed out of Virginia by Penn State have included four-star athlete Matt Outten (Class of 2025, No. 4 overall in Virginia), four-star offensive linemen Alex Birchmeier (No. 2 in Virginia) and Anthony Donkoh (No. 9 in Virginia) and four-star linebackers Tony Rojas (No. 3 in Virginia) and Kaveion Keys (No. 6 in Virginia) in 2023. Penn State signed the top-rated players out of Virginia in back-to-back years in 2018 (RB Ricky Slade) and 2019 (LB Brandon Smith). It was before Franklin’s arrival in State College, but Bill O’Brien also managed to sign Virginia’s top-rated recruit in the Class of 2013, quarterback Christian Hackenberg.

Franklin says they’ve already started recruiting. Says two nights ago he already had 40 players on the phone, both guys that were committed to the #Hokies and all the top players in Virginia.

— Andy Bitter (@AndyBitterVT) November 19, 2025

You have to go all the way back to the Class of 2007 to find the last time Virginia Tech signed the top recruit in the Commonwealth of Virginia. That was quarterback Tyrod Taylor. So it has been a while for the Hokies, although they have scattered in some other top-5 in-state recruits along the way. But Franklin should inject some new life into the Virginia Tech recruiting machine.

Virginia has also proven to be a fertile recruiting ground for a number of programs, including Ohio State and SEC challengers like Georgia and South Carolina (Shane Beamer has some knowledge of the area, of course). And of course, many of Franklin’s newest conference rivals like Virginia, Clemson, and North Carolina are going to be obstacles for him in the region.

And so will Penn State.

Under Franklin, Penn State won a number of key recruiting battles against Virginia Tech over the years, even when former defensive coordinator Brent Pry left Penn State to be the head coach of the Hokies. But now, winning those battles head-to-head against Franklin may prove to be far more challenging. Not only is Franklin a brilliant recruiter who can sell his program, but he also knows exactly what angles Penn State has to offer and can combat that with his 12 years of inside knowledge the way few other coaches may be able.

Of course, we still wait to see who will be taking over the Penn State program moving forward. Perhaps they will be just as masterful, if not more, in recruiting and selling Penn State to key recruits Franklin may be battling for. If nothing else, the Penn State vs. Virginia Tech recruiting feud could be something to watch and could lead to another Kevin Jones situation.

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This article originally appeared on Nittany Lions Wire: James Franklin makes Virginia Tech tougher recruiting foe for PSU