The best coaches do not just limit their influence over players to sports alone. They show interest even in the details of their personal lives. James Franklin proved to be one of those coaches when his influence led a player to decommit from the Syracuse Orange to join him at Blacksburg. And in his latest post on X, he has shown how strong and involved his ties with his players are.

“Brotherhood doesn’t stop on the field. It shows up for moments like this. Congratulations on your baptism, @RosebyLubintus #VTFBFamily,” James Franklin posted on X, celebrating the baptism of Roseby Lubintus.

He wrote the message alongside a picture of Lubintus seated with a group of other guys who seem like fellow baptizands. James Franklin’s post was surprising because Lubintus hasn’t posted yet. But with his baptism, he continues the trend of college football players making public declarations of their faith. 

Last November, as part of the team’s faith activities, ten Baylor Bears players were baptized by teammates in a ceremony led by the quarterback. In the same month, 15 Stetson Hammers players were also baptized. The Carson-Newman Eagles, according to The Baptist Paper, had 18 players get baptized in Mossy Creek. This comes a year after a major event at Ohio State, where Emeka Egbuka, Gee Scott Jr., TreVeyon Henderson, and J.T. Tuimoloa led a ceremony in which 60 students were baptized. 

The 6-foot-6, 340-pound Roseby Lubintus signed with the Hokies during the December period after committing a month earlier. He was part of the group of high school recruits who followed James Franklin to Virginia Tech. The three-star prospect was the second commitment of Franklin after four-star running back Messiah Mickens. 

Roseby Lubintus’ turbulent commitment journey to Virginia

Roseby Lubintus had committed to Penn State last April, but he changed his mind three months later. He flipped his commitment and chose to join Fran Brown’s Syracuse Orange, a program he had many compliments for.

“Coach Fran and every other coach wanted to know me before the football aspect of it,” Lubintus emphasized. “Which I feel is really heavy in recruiting and the most important part to me. I don’t like being just number 58. I don’t like just being another kid. I try very hard to like show myself out and just put it out there to be the best that I can in any aspect of it, which I feel like Syracuse really showed interest in the most.”

However, like he did when he earlier committed to Penn State, he kept visiting campuses. And soon, he changed his mind again after paying an official visit to the Virginia Tech Hokies. He decommitted from Syracuse in October, visited Blacksburg in November, and committed in the same month.

From his comments about Syracuse, Lubintus is very intentional about personal relationships. And if anyone ever wondered how James Franklin was able to convince such a double-minded athlete, he has answered the question with his social media post on Lubintus’ baptism. 

Moreover, even when he decommitted from the Lions when James Franklin was the head coach, the latter didn’t cut ties with the player. And it wasn’t the first time Franklin did that. He is known for maintaining relationships with de-committed players. That paid off when he got hired by the Hokies. The new head coach chose Lubintus as one of his very first calls, and because of the relationship they had built, the OL followed Franklin to Virginia Tech.